FILM REVIEW: Netflix’s Spectral – Basically Aliens

Spectral trailer

Spectral, recently released on Netflix, was pencilled in for a theatrical release this year. After a loss of confidence from Universal, it was quickly wiped from their slate and pawned off to the streaming giant in November.

It’s easy to see why the studio stepped back from the film, but not because it’s at all a bad movie. In fact, it’s hugely entertaining and perfect for a lazy Sunday. What’s great for the couch and a sleepy mind doesn’t quite translate to the big screen, however, as against all of the big hitters, it’s hard to see where Spectral could compete.

Centering on the appearance of a strange spectre in Moldova, Spectral follows DARPA engineer Mark Clyne (James Badge Dale) as he tries to uncover the mystery. An American soldier’s sudden death by an anomaly that’s only visible through goggles of Clyne’s creation puzzles the military, so he’s drafted in to offer answers. It’s the initial ambiguity over what killed the soldier that makes Spectral’s opening sequences so fascinating. That it should, not necessarily devolve, but rather lean too heavily on tropes and inspirations for the rest of the movie is a shame.

Spectral Netflix

As soon as a clunky-looking military truck makes its way through a war-torn area in a sumptuous bird’s eye tracking shot, Aliens’ influence becomes apparent. The cast of characters are more or less identikit and offer little to nothing for you to invest in, from Badge Dale’s more reserved version of Ripley to the expendable cast of hoo-rah soldiers. So much time is spent coddling the audience with iffy science than on the personalities of the characters, their motivations, backstories; basically anything to set them apart from each other.

It’s not just Spectral’s weak characterisation that makes it suffer from the feeling of being Aliens-lite. There’s a siege, a final stand, even a helpless and traumatised little girl to make everyone’s jobs that little bit harder. Watch Aliens and Spectral side-by-side and it’s clear that first-time director Nic Mathieu has a lot of love for the James Cameron classic, often to the detriment of the original ideas Spectral so dearly wants to bring up.

What saves Spectral, however, is its spectacle. The “ghostly apparitions” picking people off with nothing more than a touch are fascinating to watch, whether they’re half-formed or shown as they really are. An early scene stands out the most and sees a single spectre take on squads of seasoned war veterans and dispatch them with almost aloof ease. It’s not what you see that grabs the attention – it’s what you don’t. They’re only visible through certain technology, so to see our heroes flail around valiantly to try to stop them is gripping and almost sad. Once they’re properly revealed and come at the protagonists in hordes, they lose some of their lustre, but are still a very real menace, even if they are a bit too Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within at times.

For a film that’s deliberate in its message on the dangers of science, Spectral is unashamedly heavy-handed in its explanations. At one point, Clyne is able to reverse engineer a camera and turn it into a light so that everyone can see the spectres “because science”. Later, Clyne is able to “because science” his way into building an armoury of Gears of War weaponry using only his MacGyver know how. The climax of the movie is “because science” at its purest and although it’s not something I want to spoil here, you will have seen the deus ex machina a million times before.

Despite some gripes, Spectral achieves what not enough of its peers do: it lets you decompress without any guilt. It’s brainy while being brainless, deep but only as far as a shallow puddle goes, and hackneyed to the point of wearing a facehugger t-shirt, but it’s still genuinely fun escapism. Sit back, unwind, and watch smart people do stupid things for a little under two hours.

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