Encounter, the next great movie for Amazon! And Riz Ahmed shines just like he did in his last movie on Amazon, Sound of Metal. While there are plenty of movies that try to recreate what films have done in the past, they tend to miss. However, sometimes someone stumbles upon it and makes it a different take on something we loved that feels like something we can love again. And this just might be it.
Encounter is a movie about a Marine who tries to save his sons from an alien invasion where anyone could be an alien. That’s probably the scariest scenario of all, kind of like a terminator who looks like a human. While they are on the run, they try to figure out more about the invaders and end up finding out more about themselves as a family in the process because as with all good storytelling, the real journey for characters is the journey into themselves. The film does a good with this and it makes the characters more compelling.
The aesthetics of the film aren’t anything new, but there is some good mood manipulation in the color palette and audio. While the frames aren’t artistic, there is definitely good framing and direction. It isn’t anything noteworthy, but it definitely doesn’t suck. It works great for a Sci-Fi film without being too stylish or suffering with too many lens flairs as if JJ Abrams was directing the film. The acting is ok, for the movie they were making. Don’t get me wrong, the performances are good and the film has a great cast. I doubt they intended it to be Oscar-worthy, but Rez Ahmed is always worth watching and gives it his all. As I said, he shines in this movie. There were a few moments where I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at some of the absurdities in the film, but only a few and that’s saying a lot these days. I feel like we all do that in any film we see these days.
The storyline is ok. It isn’t anything new, but the film is worth watching on Amazon. You won’t see any new ideas or twists, but Encounter is good. Overall, the movie is ok. It is somewhere between Independence Day and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, which I guess can be considered a compliment because both of those movies are fun to watch so you can say they’re good. If you get bored and need something to watch while you cruise your phone, it’s a good option. But, I wouldn’t get your hopes up or invest a lot of time in it like the film is going to change Sci-Fi for the better. It’s not that kind of movie and only so many Sci-Fi films can be almost perfect. I would give it a seven and a half, but we don’t do that here. So, eight it is. Yes, Encounter is a good movie and certainly made better by the performance of Riz Ahmed.
