Occupation Blu-ray Review

Lionsgate; Rated R; 120 minutes

Arriving on Blu-ray (+Digital), DVD, and Digital on September 25th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the Australian science fiction flick Occupation. Written & Directed by Luke Sparke, the film stars Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Stephany Jacobsen, Zachary Garred, Izzy Stevens, Charles Mesure Boogeyman, Felix Williamson, Jacqueline McKenzie, Aaron Jeffery, and Bruce Spence.

Set in a small Australian town, the opening of the movie centers around the residents gathering around a hometown football game; well, until spaceships descend from the skies and start blowing everything up. A small group of survivors - Matt (played by Dan Ewing) and his girlfriend, Amelia (played by Stephany Jacobsen), Jackson (played by Charles Terrier) and his pregnant girlfriend Vanessa (played by Rhiannon Fish), Peter (played by Temuera Morrison) and his daughter, Isabella (played by Izzy Stevens), and a local farmer, Arnold (played by Charles Mesure), flee into the nearby forest, where they take shelter and plan a resistance against the invaders.

The invaders are extraterrestrial lifeforms from another world (or galaxy, as it was never really explained where they are from), who came to Earth to colonize Australia after they had already used up all the natural resources on their former planet. While they do kill many humans during the invasion, their main goal is capture and force the humans to grow and work field crops.

The remaining human survivors join forces with what's left of the Australian's military and they strike back against the alien invaders, in the hope of saving their country.

Dan Ewing ("Matt Simmons") stars in Lionsgate Home Entertainment's OCCUPATION.

Final Thoughts

While I'm not the biggest science fiction fan in the world, I have seen my share of alien invasion films, which most of them tend to be really "cheesy." Occupation tries to be the next Independence Day, but due to it's low-budget it feels more like an episode of Falling Skies. Actually, the plot feels like a ripoff of Falling Skies. The only differences is Occupation is set in the Australia instead of America.

For the most part, the acting is pretty decent for a B-movie. Despite the low-budget, the CGI spaceships look amazing, but the explosions and fights scenes look cheaply done, like it was made for SyFy movie. The aliens' armor look like something from a video game. Once their helmets are removed, this is where the cheesiness comes in, as they resemble a typical extraterrestrial from any other film, but poorly done.

Overall, Occupation is an odd alien invasion flick. The acting is good and the cinematography is beautiful, but the plot borrows a little too heavily from other films and television series. However, that's not exactly a bad thing, if you're already a fan of alien invasion movies. In the end, despite many flaws, I still enjoyed watching Occupation.

A sequel, Occupation: Rainfall, is already in the works from director Luke Sparke.