THE STORY – Alien invaders, in the form of a 1950’s biker gang, are sent on a mission to conquer Earth.
THE CAST – Cate Blanchett, Chris Pine, Dave Bautista, Léa Seydoux, Lily-Rose Depp, Adria Arjona & Doona Bae
THE TEAM – David Zellner (Director/Writer) & Nathan Zellner (Director)
THE RUNNING TIME – 109 Minutes
“Alpha Gang” is a mixed bag. It does, however, have the honor of being the best film I have seen about World War III as fought by Nazis, Polish resistance fighters, leather-daddy bikers, and space aliens, with submachine guns, 19th-century Gatling guns, bazookas, and pitchforks deployed in World War I-style trenches. At the same time, ’50s doo-wop plays in the background.
The latest from directors David and Nathan Zellner (“Sasquatch Sunset,” “Damsel”) follows a gang of leather-clad extraterrestrials known as the “Alpha Gang,” sent to Earth to conquer the planet. How are they to do so? They can’t recall. The process that reconstituted them in human form robbed them of much of their intelligence. Worse, it has made them vulnerable to a mysterious human virus: “emotions.” All those who succumb to emotions must be quarantined, or worse.
Fortunately for the invaders, humanity seems well on its way to exterminating itself without their help. The Alpha Gang arrives in a dystopian wasteland ravaged by civil war. While the humans (who appear to be versions of Nazis and early 20th century Polish resistance fighters) do their best to exterminate one another, the Alpha Gang divides their time between riding throughout the war-scarred landscape, exploring abandoned medieval castles, experiencing newfound human sensations like explosive diarrhea, menstruation, and romantic attraction, and engaging in the odd full-scale massacre of humans and fire ants while they strategize about the best means for an intergalactic takeover. But when another Alpha (Chris Pine) arrives, the Alpha Gang learns that a more advanced team, the Beta Gang, led by an eyepatch-wearing, Australian-accented Cate Blanchett, has arrived on Earth and intends to exterminate both humanity and the Alphas. The Alpha Gang realizes that if they are to survive, they may have to embrace the dreaded “emotions” virus and learn what it means to be human.
If “Alpha Gang” sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. The Zellners are religious adherents to the concept of “committing to the bit.” On paper, the premise sounds like something two people would come up with while riffing on a comedy podcast. The Zellners have put such thought into their world, though, no matter how silly. Does it sound stupid to combine World War I, World War II, Cold War Eastern Europe, medieval castles, and 1950s juke joints into a single environment seemingly separated by a few miles? Yes. But the details of this world, even when played for absurdist comedy, adhere to an internal logic. The Alpha Gang carries portable record players that blast ’50s doo-wop. When we meet the more advanced Beta Gang, they carry ’80s boomboxes blasting techno. The first reveal of the Betas writhing in pseudo-breakdancing form to techno music is played for laughs. And again, it is absurd. But the Betas are more advanced, so naturally they are a few decades ahead in music technology and taste. Similarly, the film abides by Chekhov’s gun rule, even for its sillier gags. For example, when the film introduces a toilet into the frame, that toilet must be used, first for a poop joke, but then as a key element in a fight scene.
The thought and care put into fleshing out the world also bleeds over into the film’s sumptuous cinematography and production design. It is far better lensed than most absurdist comedy, boasting wide shots of sunset-brushed vistas and artfully lit castle interiors. The wide vistas and candlelit castle interiors are gorgeous. The Zellners also find ways to work visual gags into even non-comedic scenes. One scene involving a conversation at a dinner table, where Chris Pine’s chair seems to shrink every time the scene cuts back to him, garnered particular giggles in the theater. The film’s frequent shootouts and fight scenes are well choreographed and thrillingly edited. Of course, these scenes also serve as vessels for additional comedy. Shootouts start with machine guns, escalate to Gatling guns, bazookas, and Panzer tanks. Every time a person is hit with bullets, they die in a convulsing, bloody heap like Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway at the end of “Bonnie and Clyde.”
The film’s sound design is just as effective. The filmmakers employ exaggerated sound effects and jarring transitions to punctuate comedic beats. For example, a scene might feature music swelling in the background before jarringly cutting to a silent shot of Kelvin Harrison Jr. making out with a pillow. Other times, a music-backed montage might drop the music in favor of revealing the sounds of squeaking leather or clanking armor as the characters slowly move.
Just as the Zellners, cinematographer Mike Gioulakis and production designer Scott Kuzio are far more committed to creating thoughtful, well-crafted work in a ridiculous setting, the A-list cast is also fully on board. Dave Bautista, Léa Seydoux, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Doona Bae, Riley Keough, and Lily-Rose Depp play most of their scenes with deadly seriousness, which, as Leslie Nielsen long ago established, can be much funnier than overt shtick. Their seriousness also makes the exaggerated absurdity Blanchett and Pine bring to the film all the funnier.
If the Zellners commit to absurdist comedy, they also commit to the earnest messaging beneath it. The Zellners’ ideas about love, collaboration, and the destructive power of technology aren’t novel, and the film’s handling of them can be overly simplistic. At the same time, there are individual moments – a shot of a tank rolling over a bike, or characters overcoming fear to physically embrace amid a hail of gunfire that are at times genuinely moving.
At the same time, the absurdity can grow grating at times. The silliness works better when seen in a crowded theater with a sleep-deprived audience who is willing to giggle at the film’s dumbest gags. One imagines that seen alone, the film wouldn’t land nearly as well. Still, one can’t admire the care and love the film’s cast and crew have poured into an objectively stupid concept.
Will the film work for everyone? Absolutely not. Is it a better-realized film than many absurdist comedies? Absolutely.
