B Directed by Albert Hughes Starring Kodi Smit-McPhee Review by Jon Kissel |  |
If the Great Man theory of history had to be applied to the symbiotic relationship between humans and dogs, some nameless, intrepid human had to be the first one to extend their hand to some nameless, curious, probably low-testosterone wolf. Such a pivotal, nonexistent moment gets adapted into Albert Hughes’ Alpha, a deft and effective picture of survival left to languish in the dregs of summer. Hughes brings a mythic sweep to a film that many directors hackier than him would have contentedly left as a marginally grittier Incredible Journey or an equally corny 10,000 BC. From its opening sequence to its rousing ending, Alpha emerges as one of 2018’s biggest surprises.
For a viewer who’s not an expert in Paleolithic man, Alpha smacks of realism despite its far-fetched premise. Canadian wilderness is swapped out for Stone Age Europe, a time before agriculture when small human tribes of a few dozen apiece hunted and gathered. The cast is given an invented language to learn, and a believably ancient one with little connection to the modern world. Clothing and weaponry seem to be period-appropriate, and most cinematically, so do hunting tactics, brought to spectacular life in the film’s opening scene, an in media res stunner that depicts the recognizable herding of buffalo towards a cliff. Against the perceived realism, Hughes and cinematographer Martin Gschlacht take a page from 300 and Thor: Ragnarok, with speed ramping used to accentuate the epic nature of the tale.
The characters speaking this language and executing these maneuvers are playing into instantly recognizable boxes, but as Alpha takes the shape of a founding myth, archetypes are called for. Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as Keda, the son of chief Tau (Johannes Haukur Johannesson), and a rookie hunter on his first expedition. Smit-McPhee has inhabited this kind of role before as a child in The Road, and ten years later, he again is a reticent novice, trained in the ways of the tribe but not certain that he can perform all these tasks out in the field. He elevates this trope by conveying that he is indeed capable and knowledgeable of the tricks of the trade, but he needs that extra bit of luck to carry him through. Early scenes demonstrate that luck is often all that differentiates between life and death, that nothing can be done to stave off a fatal result in such an untamed and dangerous place.
As Keda’s father, Johannesson’s Tau could also revert to tropes and be a harsh taskmaster who demands too much of his son. Instead, Hughes, the actors, and writer Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt create an affecting paternal bond with Keda that runs directly counter to Johannesson’s towering stature. When Keda hesitates to deal the killing blow to a wild boar, he isn’t disciplined by Tau, but this is instead treated as an opportunity for closer teaching and instruction, the exact opposite response expected after decades of harsh masculine figures in film and TV. When Keda is separated from the tribe in the film’s instigating incident, Tau’s grief and desperation at this cruel development again runs counter to expectations. He’s expressive and heartbroken instead of stoic and withdrawn, his keening wails for his son intruding on conversations that other tribesmen are having about what to do next. Alpha continually subverts in this fashion for its thrilling first act, building real people out of its archetypes.
Once Keda is on his own, Hughes gradually runs out of invention when there aren’t any more conversations to have. The journey to the hunting grounds was shown to be perilous with a full complement of hunters, and the return trip, alone and injured, immediately becomes nigh-impossible. Here, Hughes doesn’t surprise in his introduction of Alpha’s hook, as Keda first injures an attacking wolf, and then takes pity on it and nurses it back to health. The film doesn’t lose its epic sweep, but it begins to tick boxes. Here’s the just-in-time rescue, here’s the team-up against a common predator, and here’s the bonding and obedience training.
Though the less-than survival aspect takes up most of Alpha’s runtime, the markedly superior tribal and familial dynamics of the first half hour sustains the film. With the deluge of films whose sole draw is the relationship between dogs and humans, Alpha aims much higher than it needs to, foregrounding the relationships between humans and then making the viewer grateful towards the proto-dog who helps Keda keep that relationship intact, a far more admirable path than showing the invention of fetch, a scene that some producer probably insisted be in the film. Thankfully, Hughes has higher aspirations. B
The characters speaking this language and executing these maneuvers are playing into instantly recognizable boxes, but as Alpha takes the shape of a founding myth, archetypes are called for. Kodi Smit-McPhee stars as Keda, the son of chief Tau (Johannes Haukur Johannesson), and a rookie hunter on his first expedition. Smit-McPhee has inhabited this kind of role before as a child in The Road, and ten years later, he again is a reticent novice, trained in the ways of the tribe but not certain that he can perform all these tasks out in the field. He elevates this trope by conveying that he is indeed capable and knowledgeable of the tricks of the trade, but he needs that extra bit of luck to carry him through. Early scenes demonstrate that luck is often all that differentiates between life and death, that nothing can be done to stave off a fatal result in such an untamed and dangerous place.
As Keda’s father, Johannesson’s Tau could also revert to tropes and be a harsh taskmaster who demands too much of his son. Instead, Hughes, the actors, and writer Daniele Sebastian Wiedenhaupt create an affecting paternal bond with Keda that runs directly counter to Johannesson’s towering stature. When Keda hesitates to deal the killing blow to a wild boar, he isn’t disciplined by Tau, but this is instead treated as an opportunity for closer teaching and instruction, the exact opposite response expected after decades of harsh masculine figures in film and TV. When Keda is separated from the tribe in the film’s instigating incident, Tau’s grief and desperation at this cruel development again runs counter to expectations. He’s expressive and heartbroken instead of stoic and withdrawn, his keening wails for his son intruding on conversations that other tribesmen are having about what to do next. Alpha continually subverts in this fashion for its thrilling first act, building real people out of its archetypes.
Once Keda is on his own, Hughes gradually runs out of invention when there aren’t any more conversations to have. The journey to the hunting grounds was shown to be perilous with a full complement of hunters, and the return trip, alone and injured, immediately becomes nigh-impossible. Here, Hughes doesn’t surprise in his introduction of Alpha’s hook, as Keda first injures an attacking wolf, and then takes pity on it and nurses it back to health. The film doesn’t lose its epic sweep, but it begins to tick boxes. Here’s the just-in-time rescue, here’s the team-up against a common predator, and here’s the bonding and obedience training.
Though the less-than survival aspect takes up most of Alpha’s runtime, the markedly superior tribal and familial dynamics of the first half hour sustains the film. With the deluge of films whose sole draw is the relationship between dogs and humans, Alpha aims much higher than it needs to, foregrounding the relationships between humans and then making the viewer grateful towards the proto-dog who helps Keda keep that relationship intact, a far more admirable path than showing the invention of fetch, a scene that some producer probably insisted be in the film. Thankfully, Hughes has higher aspirations. B
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