I have to tell you—I had no idea even how to start this review, as this movie is pretty much sui generis—not your typical SF film. The IMDB tagline says “Two brothers discover an alien invasion hidden in a fast-food restaurant and must save Earth.” That hardly begins to describe this movie. Written and directed by Michael Kvamme and starring Simon Rex, Dustin Milligan, Brenda Song, Jason Biggs, Arturo Castro, Tony Cavalero, and Doug Jones. Apparently, this is Kvamme’s first feature film as director, and as far as I’m concerned—despite a few flaws, it’s an auspicious beginning. (This won’t be a lengthy review, I think, because a) the movie’s hard to desctibe; b) the plot, though primarily a chase/road movie at heart, is twisted and bent; and c) I really don’t want to disclose more than I have to. Please don’t get me wrong—I think it takes a mind with a weird, twisted sense of humour to really appreciate this filme (which I have), and many people might not like it at all.
The film opens with a figure running down a roadway in his underwear, clutching something to his chest. We don’t know it yet, but this is Danny Davenport (Simon Rex, known for Scary Movie(s)). Soon after the titles, which follow that scene, we meet brother Luke (Dustin Milligan, Figure 2), who is holding an apartment/garage/thrift sale: “Everything Must Go!”, because he’s moving to Ottawa (Ontario, Canada, for those who don’t know) and wants to clear out his old life and get ready for something new. One of his neighbours, clutching a toaster he got for free, offers Luke some advice: “Change your wifi (and other) password,” he says, “Add some numbers or something.” A mysterious figure appears from a darkened room (Figure 3)—it’s Luke’s brother Danny!
Here’s where it’s going to get hard to describe; although events happen in a linear way (one scene leads to another) the people and their motivations are almost anything but linear. I’ll see what I can do: It’s announced on radio and TV that actor Jason Biggs (American Pie) has died, and later that his death is being treated as a homicide. That will come into play later.
Luke has obtained a new job in Ottawa (Canada, remember?) at a paleontology lab—they’ve discovered a new Cretaceous-era theropod called Snommisddot, whose femurbone, coincidentally, is the exact height of Luke, who’s 5’10 1/2”. “For the first time in my life,” Luke says, “things are beginning to make sense.” Danny responds, “And that’s a good thing?” The job starts on Monday and Luke has to leave today—but Danny’s upset. “I wanted to spend time with you before I have to leave for Tucson,” he says. Luke asks him to come with him, and Danny’s overjoyed. A couple of times in conversation he quotes Todd Simmons, and Luke says “Who’s Todd Simmons.” There’s never any reply. “Just don’t forget what really killed the dinosaurs,” Danny says, “And it wasn’t any f***ing meteor.”
Unknown by Luke, law enforcement figures are looking for Danny; finding signs of Danny in the apartment Luke just vacated, they add Luke as an accessory to their search for Danny (Figure 4)Luke also finds that Danny has dumped his, Luke’s, cellphone “for your own safety and protection.” Luke attempts to give himself up, but finds out he’s also being pursued and shot at; they go see Danny’s ex-friend Klyle (Figure 5, Tony Cavalero, “The Righteous Gemstones”)(that’s “K-L-Y-L-E”; we don’t know exactly why he changed it) for guns and transportation; Luke also finds out he’ll need a badger (“the Canadian version of a coyote,” or surreptitious border crossing expert.) That badger turns out to be Brenda Song (alsoFigure 5).
Klyle doesn’t like Luke, and calls him a “sheep”—possibly figuring him for a spy. Through Klyle, we find out that Danny’s on the run because he stole something—something worth approximately “$27.7 million USD” (which is what he was holding when we first saw him)—Klyle and Allison (the “badger”) get to see it for verification, but neither Luke nor we viewers do. (FYI, Klyle used to be president of the Flat-Earth Society, according to Luke, but Danny says he’s gotten over that—he knows the Earth’s really—according to Danny—“a three-dimensional isosceles triangle,” so that’s okay.)
Well, the chase continues, and I would love to tell you more, but I can’t for two reasons: 1) it’s too freakin’ confused and confusing; and 2) you simply have to experience this for yourself and I just don’t want to spoil it. It gets better, sort of, later, when you meet Doug Jones’ character, who’s an Elder. I won’t tell you what that means. But you know what kind of characters Doug plays, like “Abe Sapien” in Hellboy, or Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water, “Saru” in Star Trek: Discovery, and the like. This character is more human(oid?) than most he plays. The film finally ends, although the ending is not really so much a resolution as you might like. Are they leaving it open for a sequel? Maybe so. The movie came out everywhere but North America in 2024; it was released on this continent in February of this year. Could be a rights issue, but it just could have been too odd for distributors. (Hey, I’m kidding. They release a lot odder movies all the time.)
Note: I’m hoping to do a short review—without spoilers—of the new Ryan Gosling film Project Hail Mary next week; that will depend on several factors. I did enjoy the movie a lot, and my interest was spiked by someone with whom I had a bit of a “new movie” discussion at Norwescon. Interestingly enough—at least to me—this person was lukewarm to a movie I quite enjoyed (Sinners), though they did like Michael B. Jordan’s performance. The comment that puzzled me was something like “the movie was okay (said in a sort of disparaging way), except for the werewolves or zombies or whatever they were.” (That’s not an exact quote, but close.) To me, that’s like saying “Star Wars was an okay movie, except for those spaceships, aliens, and rayguns or whatever they were.” But then again, people have told me I’m weird. I’m okay with that.
NOTE: This column is in no way written, edited, proofed or composed by AI, though some of my photo editing software uses it in some capacity. This is a human column and will remain so.
Let me know what you thought about this column. PM me on Facebook, or email me (stevefah at hotmail dot com). (I’m on TikTok, X, and Instagram, but I never go to those things, mostly) If you liked it, let me know—if you hated it, let me know as well. My opinion is, as always, my own, and doesn’t necessarily reflect the views of Amazing Stories or its owner, editor, publisher or other columnists. See you next time!
Steve has been an active fan since the 1970s, when he founded the Palouse Empire Science Fiction Association and the more-or-less late MosCon in Pullman, WA and Moscow, ID, though he started reading SF/F in the early-to-mid 1950s, when he was just a sprat. He moved to Canada in 1985 and quickly became involved with Canadian cons, including ConText (’89 and ’81) and VCON. He’s published a couple of books and a number of short stories, and has collaborated with his two-time Aurora-winning wife Lynne Taylor Fahnestalk on a number of art projects. As of this writing he’s the proofreader for R. Graeme Cameron’s Polar Borealis and Polar Starlight publications. He’s been writing for Amazing Stories off and on since the early 1980s. His column can be found on Amazing Stories most Fridays.
