Yi xing ji sheng: Qi yuan

When I stumbled upon this 2024 Chinese action sci-fi movie, I have to admit that my first thought was 'great, another run-of-the-mill Chinese creature feature'. Yeah, the Chinese cinema has been flooded with creature features of very varying quality the recent years.

But still, with "The Captives" being an Asian movie that I hadn't already seen, much less ever actually heard about, of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance, especially since I am a big fan of the Asian cinema in general.

The storyline was pretty straightforward, but at the same time it was also a very generic action sci-fi script. So you're not in for anything revolutionizing.

And the name of the alien invading race was Zerg. Yup, just like the alien race in the "StarCraft" computer games.

Of the cast ensemble in the movie, I was only familiar with Hong Kong actor Eric Tsang. I have to say that it is beyond my comprehension how Dongdong Xu landed the leading role, as she is certainly not an overly talented actress, and she has one single expression throughout the course of the movie; constipated. The acting performances in the movie were, for the most parts, okay.

Visually then you're not in for anything grand. The CGI effects in the movie doesn't look like they were made in 2024. The CGI was wobbly, questionable and sort of looked like a third or fourth attempt at a concept art for the alien design. Sort of think Xenomorphs from the "Alien" franchise infused with a hefty doze of Lovecraftian tentacled terror. Sure, it sounds very interesting, I will admit that, but the dubious CGI rendered left much to be desired. And with this being an action sci-fi movie with alien lifeforms taking over the Earth, special effects were a crucial part for a make or break deal.

Semi-watchable, if you gobble all things extraterrestrial, but otherwise it was a rather generic action sci-fi movie. It is definitely not a movie that will find its way back to my screen a second time.

My rating of director Frankie Chung's 2024 movie "The Captives" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

This Chinese 'bug hunt' sci-fi is set some time after aliens have taken over the Earth. Survivors live in secure domes but now it appears that even these aren't safe. The action follows one team of soldiers fighting to halt the alien progress. Matters are complicated by the fact that the girlfriend of one of the team is under the control of the aliens and he is infected in some way.

The plot to this is decent enough in a 'low budget sci-fi' way; it is there to provide an excuse for plenty of bug hunting action. Unfortunately the bugs are low budget CGI that probably wouldn't pass muster in a video game and certainly doesn't in a live action film. Back in the day films would only show glimpses of scary creatures till the end, I wish this had done the same as that could create real scares on a low budget. That way they could have afforded to put good effects for a short time as the creature design was pretty good but its CGI rendering wasn't. The acting was okay, certainly no worse than one would expect from such a film. Overall I'd obviously not say this was a must see but suspect it would be fun to watch with a few sci-fi loving mates and a few beers; at only around an hour and a quarter in length you won't waste much time at least.

These comments are based on watching the film in Mandarin with English subtitles.

With the advent of cheap CGI I'm starting to wonder if maybe it's gotten a little too cheap. The Captives is only passable entertainment (although not a complete waste of time for those inclined) as the lack of budget really does seem to impair the underlying vision for the whole film.

Pretty much your basic bug hunt science fiction film, aliens have invaded Earth with the survivors living under (formerly) secure domes but the creatures are now evolving and are able to penetrate Earth defenses. Xu Dongdong leads the military team trying to overcome the challenges the invaders are throwing their way as well as some personal demons of her own but the price grows increasingly high.

I can't point to any one thing that really stands out - the sets are cheap, the CGI goes between barely OK to passable video game level but the story did keep me from switching off. If you've got some time to kill and need a dose of alien invader fu this might be worth checking out. More like a 5 1/2 than 5 stars.