Starring: Kaitlyn Dever, Elizabeth Kaulev, Zach Duham Rated PG13
Streaming on Hulu
First Impression: “No One Will Save You” is an entertaining yet frustrating alien invasion thriller that will leave you with more questions than answers.
Ah, what can I say about this movie that it refuses to say about itself? You are going to have a hard time believing me but there are literally fewer than ten lines of audible dialogue in this film that clocks in at one hour and 33 minutes. How the film manages to get away with such a feat is by making it as tense and unnerving as possible. This film reminded me instantly of a classic Twilight Zone episode called “The Invaders,” where an isolated woman is terrorized by tiny aliens who have invaded her home. Notably, there is also minimal dialogue in that episode as well, and what is emphasized instead is the terror and unnerving feeling of one’s peace of mind being violated by an entity that is not of this world.
The film also has shades of other recent alien invasion movies, such as director John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place” and Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” where we are forced to subvert our expectations of what an alien invasion would look like and what the motives of the aliens actually are. Why are they interested in us? What is their end goal for contact with us and our planet? Is it sinister in nature? Are the aliens simply looking to conquer Earth and become the new apex predator? Or are the reasons more egalitarian in nature, where these hyper-advanced beings are looking to help our species become more enlightened and brought up to their speed — heck, maybe even teach us some of the secrets of the universe, so we can all live in peace and harmony?
Unfortunately for us “No One Can Save You” isn’t really interested in answering any of those questions and wants to leave its message open to each individual’s interpretation.
The film starts out simply enough: we are introduced to a young woman named Brynn (played by Kaitlyn Dever, who delivers a terrific performance in the starring and only main role) who likes to tinker in her home with her small models, and likes to dance to classic music. Brynn is very anxious and antisocial when it comes to her relationship with her community, which is odd at first, but then later explained throughout the course of the film. The invasion takes place rather quickly and we are introduced to the extraterrestrials — which should be very familiar to anyone who’s seen or heard of aliens in pop culture over the last half century — green skin, large bulbous heads, giant bug eyes. It’s almost comical as to how generic they look. The real joy of the film is seeing Brynn outsmarting the creatures who are equipped with telekinetic powers. But I must warn you as the film reaches its climax, we get a very polarizing resolution and very bizarre ending that is going to either amuse you or make you kind of angry. All in all, I think it’s a film worth seeing, just for the novelty of a film like this having been made in the first place!
