“Alpha” Review

Alpha shows the unbelievable first bond between man and canine after a young boy, Keda, is left for dead by his tribe when they witness him rendered unconscious by a bison attack.  Now it’s up to Keda to find his way home while braving the harsh wilderness with nothing but the companionship of a lone grey wolf that he befriends.  Will it be enough to make it home in the midst of the unpredictable wilderness and harsh environment.

Filmed on location in Vancouver, Canada and Iceland, the camera angles provide exceptional shots that alone will have audiences marveling in the beauty of the openness and rawness that the original natives had to endure some 20,000 years ago.  The director definitely had a challenge in recreating that experience, but he captured what might have been in such a way that it seems believable.  Alpha as well contains certain special effects with regards to the weather and imagery that will have photographers marveling at the techniques that the filmmakers used throughout.  That alone is definitely worth seeing.

As far as the story goes, Alpha follows the coming of age story of one boy, Keda, as he is about to embark on his first hunt with his tribe leader/father.  During the journey, he must decide if it’s better to lead with his heart or his head.  The young actor who plays Keda did an exceptional job in portraying a teenager who faces the challenges of survival.  Coming from other films, including his most recent role as Nightcrawler in the superhero films Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Apocalypse, Kodi Smit- McPhee stars as the boy who will become a man.  He encounters Alpha, a lone wolf, separated from its pack as well, and injured.  The boy instantly nurses the animal back to health and earns its trust as both wolf and boy help one another survive against the forces of nature.  Prior to this film, I must say that I hadn’t paid much attention to McPhee, but the young actor does display certain characteristics that make him one actor with a lot of passion.  Ultimately it’ll be interesting to see how he grows his career in future films.

At just about a 96 minute runtime, Alpha is a film for the ultimate photographer/special effects expert as the CGI and imagery will have anyone marveling over the beauty.  The film can be seen as a truly original storyline, though one might find themselves comparing certain scenes to that of Dancing With Wolves for the native aspects.  That aside, it is definitely one to consider viewing.  The only viewer discretion is if anyone has a problem with subtitles, as the film is entirely in a primitive language.

Overall, Alpha is a great movie with stunning visuals, an original story and exceptional visual effects.  Subtitles aside, it seems the director deceived the viewers with the trailer (in English) in a way that as soon as people began talking, I found the audience taken aback by the language difference.  I have not problems with it, but I do think the director should have included it in the trailer rather than sugarcoating it with English dialogue.  Also the film has a way of surprising the viewer even down to the last scene in such a way that it will leave the audience saying, “What the heck?” in a good way.

Alpha came out in theaters August 13th and is currently playing in one near you.