Occupation: Blu-Ray Review

Arriving on Blu-ray this week is the Australia-set alien invasion flick, “Occupation”, written and directed by Luke Sparke (“Red Billabong”). Those who love sci-fi invasion films may want to check this one out, even though it doesn’t offer anything new to the genre. It reminded me quite a bit of the television series “Falling Skies” and much like that, “Occupation” works better when centered on the characters and their motivations, rather than the action.

Two of the best things about “Occupation” is the casting of Stephany Jacobsen (“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Melrose Place”) and Temuera Morrison (“Star Wars: Episode II/III”). Even with some of the uninspired writing, they are-able-to sell their characters. I also am glad that the aliens were costumed actors rather than CGI. This is not a big budget film and CGI creatures would have been sub-par. I dug the look of the aliens (at least before their masks came off).

One of the biggest issues with “Occupation” is the runtime, clocking in at two hours, there are times when the film just drags on at a snail’s pace.  The lack of originality doesn’t help, but there is a final act twist that I can honestly say I didn’t see coming.

By: Marc Ferman