We took our granddaughter to see Alpha today. It was a movie set in Europe 20,000 years ago about a young man who becomes injured and separated from his tribe on an extended hunt and attempts to find his way over dozens (or perhaps hundreds) of miles to his home with winter coming all with the help of a wolf. The trailers looked interesting and I think it COULD have been a really good film but it wasn't. There were so many holes in the story that even tho it got good reviews on average, I can't give my recommendation to anyone to see it. I found I kept saying to myself, "That would never happen" throughout most of the movie and I've listed a few of these scenes below (there were many more). I guess I want the makers of the films I see to be smarter than me and give me a story I can not only enjoy but believe. This wasn't one of them.
SPOILERS!
1. To 'toughen' the young boys up before the hunt, they are severely beaten up by the older men. Life was so very tenuous and precious back then that I don't believe they would have purposefully hurt their young like that because of the risk of inflicting life threatening injuries... and besides I'm pretty sure just living 20,000 years ago would naturally make everyone tough. 2. This boy seems to be about 14/15 (the actor was actually about 21 when he made the film) and it seems the boy is just now learning how to make fire with a stick while they are out on the hunt... when I'm sure he would have been taught this skill already at a much younger age. He seems to know how to set his broken ankle/foot and put a splint on it but not make fire? And of course he can walk and even run on his severely swollen injured foot right after he sets it without hardly a limp which seemed very bogus. 3. The entire part of taming of an injured adult wolf which is the crux of the whole film just didn't feel credible at all. I know it could be done but it would take a lot more time than the film had to spend on this part. Too disney-ish for me. 4. The boy and the wolf swim in a lake like it was summer when it was supposed to be early winter... then later he falls through the ice into a frozen river and is submerged for several minutes. In reality he would have succumbed to hyperthermia within minutes, but of course he survives.
SPOILERS!
1. To 'toughen' the young boys up before the hunt, they are severely beaten up by the older men. Life was so very tenuous and precious back then that I don't believe they would have purposefully hurt their young like that because of the risk of inflicting life threatening injuries... and besides I'm pretty sure just living 20,000 years ago would naturally make everyone tough. 2. This boy seems to be about 14/15 (the actor was actually about 21 when he made the film) and it seems the boy is just now learning how to make fire with a stick while they are out on the hunt... when I'm sure he would have been taught this skill already at a much younger age. He seems to know how to set his broken ankle/foot and put a splint on it but not make fire? And of course he can walk and even run on his severely swollen injured foot right after he sets it without hardly a limp which seemed very bogus. 3. The entire part of taming of an injured adult wolf which is the crux of the whole film just didn't feel credible at all. I know it could be done but it would take a lot more time than the film had to spend on this part. Too disney-ish for me. 4. The boy and the wolf swim in a lake like it was summer when it was supposed to be early winter... then later he falls through the ice into a frozen river and is submerged for several minutes. In reality he would have succumbed to hyperthermia within minutes, but of course he survives.