Extinction (2018 film)

Extinction is a 2018 American science fiction thriller film directed by Ben Young and written by Spenser Cohen, Eric Heisserer and Brad Kane. The film is about a father who has a recurring dream about the loss of his family while witnessing a force bent on destruction. The film stars Lizzy Caplan, Michael Peña, Mike Colter, Lilly Aspell, Emma Booth, Israel Broussard, and Lex Shrapnel. It was released on Netflix on July 27, 2018.

Plot
Peter, an engineer, has recurring nightmares in which he and everyone he knows suffer through violent, alien invasion-like confrontations with an unknown enemy. He reluctantly visits a clinic to receive psychiatric help, only to find a patient there who reveals that he is having the same visions, prompting Peter to believe his visions are of an upcoming invasion.

That night, invading spaceships open fire on the city, causing significant damage. Peter and his wife Alice barricade their apartment amid the sounds of slaughter from ground troops. A soldier dressed in insectoid-looking armor breaks through anyway and finds Lucy, one of their two daughters, hiding underneath a table. The soldier pauses to examine her long enough to allow Peter and Alice to attack. Peter and his family then escape with the soldier's rifle.

Based on his visions, Peter and his family agree that the factory he works at is a safe spot. He is able to bypass the rifle's biometric authentication and kill soldiers guarding the apartment building's exit. They make their way to a tunnel entrance to safely travel to the factory, but not before Alice is injured from a bomb blast. As they regroup, the soldier from their apartment appears, having tracked them with a homing signal on the rifle they took. To Peter's shock, the soldier removes his helmet and appears human. Peter forces the soldier to carry Alice to the factory. There, his boss, David, explains that the invasion has been expected for many years. A medic examines Alice but informs Peter that he cannot save her. As David's men drag the invading soldier off to execute him, he yells to Peter that he can save Alice. Peter agrees to stay with the soldier to save Alice; David will evacuate their children to a subway station where a transport train awaits to take them all to an offsite base.

The soldier surprises Peter by revealing that Alice is an android. To save Alice, she needs an alternate source of power: Peter himself. At the soldier's guidance, Peter cuts open his own chest with a pocket knife, confirming that he is also an android. The soldier connects a cable between the two androids and Peter passes out, experiencing in detail what he had thought were visions of the future but are actually memories of a past war. Fearing that android workers ("synths") might rise up against humans, protesters attack unarmed synths. The synths fight back and eventually drive all humans off the whole planet. In order to deal with the guilt of what they have done and prevent themselves from living in fear of a reprisal from humans, the synths have wiped their memories out and lived normal lives.

Peter wakes up and the soldier, Miles, explains that humans have been living on Mars for 50 years. He had expected the synths to be monsters, not families with children. Peter and Alice part amicably with Miles to find their daughters as humans breach the roof of the factory. As they all depart on the train, David explains that he and a handful of other synths kept their memories to stay prepared for the inevitable return of the humans. Peter suggests that some day there could be peace between humans and synths.

Cast

 * Michael Peña as Peter
 * Lizzy Caplan as Alice, Peter’s wife
 * Mike Colter as David, Peter’s boss
 * Amelia Crouch as Hanna, Alice and Peter’s daughter
 * Erica Tremblay as Lucy, Alice and Peter’s daughter
 * Israel Broussard as Miles, a soldier
 * Lex Shrapnel as Ray, Samantha’s husband
 * Emma Booth as Samantha, Ray’s wife
 * Lilly Aspell as Megan, Ray and Samantha's daughter

Production
In December 2013, it was revealed that the screenplay for Extinction, written by Spenser Cohen, had been included in the 2013 Black List of the year’s best unproduced scripts in Hollywood, as voted on by more than 250 studio execs. In January 2014, Joe Johnston signed on to direct the film, and in September 2016, it was revealed that James McAvoy was "in talks" to star.

In October 2016, Ben Young signed on to direct the film, with Johnston having left the project a while back. In January 2017, it was announced that Michael Peña would star in the role McAvoy had been courted for. In February 2017, Universal Pictures won worldwide distribution rights to the film, with principal production set to begin in April 2017. In March 2017, Lizzy Caplan and Israel Broussard joined the cast, while Mike Colter and Lex Shrapnel joined in April,  and Emma Booth in May.

Release
Extinction was released on July 27, 2018, on Netflix. The film had originally been scheduled for a theatrical release on January 26, 2018, by Universal Pictures, but was pulled from the release schedule. Later in February 2018, it was reported that Netflix had acquired the film from Universal.

Reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 37% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 3.7/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Jake Nevins of The Guardian gave it 2/5 stars and called the film "a competent, if formulaic film", writing that, by virtue of not being viewed theatrically, the film's flaws are magnified and its strengths were weakened. In his 1.5/4 star review for RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen wrote "There's a tightness that I respect with Extinction. It's not so much a thrill-ride but a movie monorail, with one revelation at the end meant to reconsider the entire journey. That speaks to its efficiency as the latest in mindless, if not attention-less Netflix movies. Extinction doesn't seek to be much, but it's just not all that charming, either."