Watch Videos: John Oliver Exposes the 'Ray Liotta of Dogs' - This 'Gruff A-hole' Who Hates Humane Society In his solo directorial debut, he uses the space between Keda and his home, and the space between one side quest and the next, to visually explore the vastness of the world before mankind restructured it. What could have made other storytellers stir-crazy seems to have unleashed something philosophical in Albert Hughes. The story is straightforward and directional, a direct but difficult path from danger to safety, punctuated by life-threatening adventures. And so begins their epic journey of discovery, friendship, adventure, and so on and so forth. He slowly nurses the wolf, and himself, back to health. The pack leaves the injured wolf for dead, and Keda can’t bring himself to kill it, presumably because he recognizes the dramatic parallels between their plights. When Keda gets treed by a pack of wolves, he injuries one of them. He’s alone, he’s broken, and he’s hunted by every animal under the sun.Īlso Read: Rachael Ray Nutrish's 'Natural' Dog Food Contains 'Potentially Harmful' Herbicide, Lawsuit Says Wouldn’t you know it, that’s when Keda finally wakes up and begins the perilous journey home. Keda is injured and thrown off a cliff in the middle of a stampede, and Tau mourns for days before leaving his side. And it all looks impossibly gorgeous, thanks to the expert cinematography by Martin Gschlacht (“Goodnight Mommy”). We watch these people on their hunt, walking vast expanses under stars unfiltered by haze or light pollution. Meanwhile, Keda looks on from across the tent, making no contributions to the conversation, and indeed, never quite mentioning how he feels about being pulled in two directions. Tau wants Keda to lead with his spear, and Rho wants him to lead with his heart. We learn early on that Keda’s father and his mother, Rho (Natassia Malthe, “Battle Drone”), are worried about his future. Keda is about to embark on his first hunt, and along the way earns his tattoo of the Big Dipper (which might be important later) but also earns scorn for his inability to kill a captured boar.Īlso Read: 'Dog Days' Film Review: Intertwined Lives of Owners and Pets Makes for Obediently Heartwarming Comedy
“Alpha” stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (“X-Men: Apocalypse”) as Keda, a teenage caveman from thousands of years ago, whose father Tau (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, “Atomic Blonde”) is chief of their tribe. But where did all that love come from?Īlbert Hughes’ “Alpha” tells the story of the first wolf who became man’s best friend, in a film that could have been cheap and saccharine - like so many dog films before - but instead feels almost, but not entirely, mythic. Heck, everyone seems to love dogs, period. Everyone loves a dog who can play basketball, learn karate, save children from wells or help Tom Hanks solve mysteries.