Alpha (2018)

Director: Albert Hughes
Stars: Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Morgan Freeman
Runtime: 96 minutes

Synopsis: The story of a friendship between a young man and a wolf, set in prehistoric times.

• Performances: 6/10

Why? A bit over the top at times, the performances were still pretty solid overall. Too bad the material given to the actors wasn't up to their standards. 

• Screenplay: 3/10

Why? As a dog owner myself, the movie immediately lost me when the wolf (or dog) was introduced to the story. The animal's actions didn't fit at all with her wild profile, as it was pretty obvious that she was trained and domesticated. This issue ruined what essentially was the main focus of the film, and that is the relationship between Keda, the young man trying to return to his family, and the wolf. Other than that, the subtitled dialogue was cheesy, the story unoriginal and a bit cliché, and the ending so ridiculous that it made me laugh out loud in the theater.   

• Costumes/Makeup: 2/10

Why? A huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to historical films is when the costumes don't respect the era represented. The characters looked nothing like prehistoric men. Instead, they looked like actors wearing some fur jackets with a bit of dirt thrown on them. This, unfortunately, took away from the realism of the movie and distracted me for its entire runtime.  

• Editing: 6/10

 Why? Since the film is built on the development of a relationship between two characters, it's completely normal that its pacing would be slow. And the editor understood that, and made the film only 96 minutes long, which I felt was neither too long nor too short. However, I did feel that some cuts were a bit sloppy and that some scenes would've turned out better had it not been for the slow motion used in them. 

• Cinematography: 7/10

Why? The movie may have been a disappointment, but at least it was a well-shot disappointment. The scenery shown mostly through wide shots was absolutely breathtaking. My only complaint is that it wasn't really consistent, and it felt like the cinematographer only chose some scenes to be shot interestingly instead of the entire movie.  

• Score/Soundtrack: 5/10

Why? Was there even a soundtrack? I don't remember hearing one. This is both a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It means that the score was too boring to notice, but also that it blended well with the movie to the point that the audience won't find it distracting.  

FINAL GRADE: 4/10