OVERVIEW
There are few things in the world as enjoyable as watching Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Lily-Rose Depp, and other actors you wouldn’t normally associate with comedy making a complete fool of themselves, spontaneously dancing to the sound of The Crystals’ “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” as a brief obligatory interlude to their world domination schemes. In the Zellners’ latest deconstruction of what makes us human, the group plays six aliens beamed to Earth, one each day, with the overall plan to overcome humanity. They aren’t concerned about the plan’s feasibility, first because they see themselves as superior and second because they can’t feel emotions, which they treat as a dangerous human disease. During their stay, they start to notice that avoiding such a state is an impossible ask.
BACKGROUND
Alpha Gang marks the Zellner brothers’ first appearance at TIFF, and their sixth film overall. It was first announced in 2020 but stalled after a few actors dropped out for scheduling reasons, then resurfaced when Cate Blanchett met the duo and joined the project as both an ensemble member and a producer. It is their biggest production yet, due to its stacked cast and much larger physical scope, with the Zellners shooting entirely on real locations across Bulgaria and Croatia, including ancient Roman fortresses, medieval ruins and enormous Brutalist monuments.
THE REVIEW
Alpha Gang is a Zellner brothers film through and through, offering a new dressing in the form of creative gags while giving their usual critical yet surprisingly endearing look at humanity a fresh spin. Once again, much of the joke comes from watching characters who have no understanding of our most basic behaviors slowly figure out why we do the ridiculous things we do. Each alien delivers their lines with complete deadpan sincerity as they discover pain, jealousy, love, and other emotions they were supposed to be immune to. Much of the fun comes from how seriously they approach all of it, even as their supposedly rational mission gradually gives way to dancing, attraction, petty arguments, and increasingly irrational behavior. It is basically a bunch of Draxs, which is made even more obvious by the casting of Bautista himself.
Once again, the Zellners aren’t exactly hiding what they are trying to say here about the inevitability of succumbing to what the aliens see as humanity’s faults. Unlike its immediate predecessor, Sasquatch Sunset, which saw primitive creatures gradually reveal communities and jealousy, here we follow characters who see themselves as superior and are well aware of what they are up against, yet can’t help but fall into the same patterns. After all, how can you avoid negative emotions like jealousy when you are literally named in numerical order? Is it possible to feel fulfilled by even world domination if you are not caring for or being cared for by someone? Not new territory for sure, but it works as long as the jokes do.
It all hinges on how much and for how long this brand of humor works for you. While I found the dialogue-free previous film largely insufferable, I found something in the leather jackets and the cast willingly making fun of themselves strangely captivating. I particularly enjoyed the strange connection one of them makes with a bird, and how they bicker about their names, or their reaction to pain. Whenever things are starting to run in circles, the film keeps fresh by introducing new ingredients, such as Chris Pine’s unexpected arrival, which reexplores what we have already seen with a small twist, showing briefly how he arrives at the same conclusion even without a group.
It does eventually outstay its welcome, and no matter how amused you are at first, these sorts of films should rarely last over 90 minutes. By the time Cate Blanchett first appears, I was ready to call it a day. It doesn’t help that the actress’ humorous roles are always distractingly self-aware, seemingly forcing the silliness that comes naturally to Dave Bautista and Doona Bae, but by the point we reach her and her group, the film has already said what it had to say. It follows with an increasingly tiring battle that grows even more indulgent as it shifts to fighting humans. Here and there, a few chuckles still work, but they are all variations of what the film has already shown.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In the end, Alpha Gang offers plenty of zany fun thanks to its terrific cast, all committed to making fools of themselves as much as they possibly can. The mixture of their often extreme behavior and childlike expressions of discovery keeps the dynamic worthwhile, even as the Zellners revisit many of their usual themes. It doesn’t quite justify its length; with films like this, it is usually better to leave us wanting more, but overall, it still makes you happy to have spent time with the Alpha Gang.
- Where to watch
- Coming soon
- Where to watch
- Coming soon
- Original title
- Alpha Gang
- Director
- Nathan Zellner, David Zellner
- Genre
- Comedy, Science Fiction
- Cast
- Cate Blanchett, Chris Pine, Dave Bautista, Léa Seydoux, Lily-Rose Depp, Bae Doona, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Riley Keough
- Screenwriter
- David Zellner
- Cinematography
- Mike Gioulakis
- Country
- Language
- English