Extraterrestrial

Nacho Vigalondo’s first film since 2007’s Timecrimes, Extraterrestrial details the chaos that ensues among several characters after enormous spaceships appear over Spain – with the film primarily detailing the protagonists’ dishearteningly sitcom-like exploits. Filmmaker Vigalondo does a complete 180 from the serious-minded, sci-fi-heavy nature of Timecrimes, as Extraterrestrial boasts a pervasively lighthearted vibe that immediately sets the viewer on edge – with the complete and total absence of laughs effectively exacerbating the movie’s increasingly stagnant atmosphere. Vigalondo’s decision to infuse Extraterrestrial with a seriously (and, eventually, oppressively) stagy feel proves disastrous, and there’s simply never a point at which one is able to work up an ounce of interest in the characters’ astonishingly dull exploits. Vigalondo’s penchant for extreme silliness (eg the mere presence of a Kramer-esque wacky neighbor) ensures that Extraterrestrial, for the most part, comes off as an old-school farce, which is rather odd, to put it mildly, given the film’s otherworldly premise. (The presence of the spaceships is ultimately meaningless.) The inclusion of a few earnest and sentimental moments towards the end are fine, sort of, though it’s virtually impossible to wholeheartedly care about the characters or their respective fates by then. Extraterrestrial is, in the final analysis, nothing short of a disaster, and it’s depressing to think that fans of Timecrimes or science fiction in general might be tricked into checking the film out based on the premise.

*1/2 out of ****