Joe Miale’s first feature film Revolt keeps things simple and straightforward. With credible visual effects and a watchable protagonist, the audience follows U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Bo (Lee Pace) and French doctor Nadia (Bérénice Marlohe) in Kenya as they find the world at unrest as odd-looking machines wipe out the human species with their “pulse guns”.
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Waking up and not recalling anything before being told that mechanical aliens have devastated the world is an audacious premise for a science fiction film. A well-rounded concept has to be in place in order to keep interest high, which is often what differentiates between a good and a great genre production.
Joe Miale’s first feature film Revolt keeps things simple and straightforward. With credible visual effects and a watchable protagonist, the audience follows U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Bo (Lee Pace) and French doctor Nadia (Bérénice Marlohe) in Kenya as they find the world at unrest as odd-looking machines wipe out the human species with their “pulse guns”. Most films would have decent design to keep their antagonists looking good, but not Revolt as its machines are designed to look ad-hoc.
Bo and Nadia soon find that civil unrest is still taking place, even as humanity faces a harsh struggle for survival. As both of them navigate through the Kenyan landscape to Bo’s assumed base to seek help and shelter, Miale and his co-writer Rowan Athale removes Nadia from the film with a questionable approach. Just as Bo and Nadia build up precious chemistry on the silver screen, the audience is being robbed of one of two focal points.
The film then sends Bo to join a small faction that is protecting survivors and also planning for a revolt against the machines. It appears that all is not lost as Kenyan youth stand up against the machines.
Revolt plays out with action in the second half juxtaposed against an influential soundtrack by Bear McCreary that complements the mood and pace as Bo and his comrades proceed with their final strike against the machines’ mother ship.
It would not be difficult to imagine what the conclusion is likely to be, but this lack of imagination should leave genre fans high and dry. Several questions are left unanswered, especially the origins of the machines and why did they invade. It is also interesting to witness a scripted scenario where every modern civilisation in the world had lost their fight against the machine – except Nairobi.
With detailed screenwriting and a more robust story concept, Revolt might have been a more ambitious production by Miale. Disappointingly, Revolt is nothing more than Miale’s feature-length pitch to genre fans and keen studios of what he is capable of in time to come.
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