If you'd like to be surprised by the Encounter film, I don't recommend you to watch the trailer beyond 1:00, because it gives away too much of the plot.
Encounter, movie (2021) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
video © Amazon Content Services
The Encounter (2021) is a family drama film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Encounter, movie (2021)
Original title: Encounter
Series: -
Setting: contemporary Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: family drama, Style: drama, family drama, thriller, action, road movie
Release: Premiere: 2021.09.03 (Telluride Film Festival), Release: 2021.12.03
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2022.01), first time
Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points)
* * *
This is my review of Encounter, a contemporary family drama movie from 2021. It's about a father kidnapping his sons, with the intention of saving them from something bad. The Encounter film is boring, I don't recommend it to anyone.
Encounter, movie (2021)
image © Amazon Content Services
* * *
Review (spoiler-free) - Encounter, movie (2021)
I didn't know anything about Encounter, when I've run into it. It looked interesting, I like sci-fi movies, so I gave it a try. I didn't watch the trailer.
The Encounter movie is about a father kidnapping his sons, with the intention of saving them from something bad
The story is too long and boring for its content. The pacing is consistently slow. There are no real character arcs. I didn't find any logical problems.
The cinematography is okay. By having different sets, they make the film look interesting visually. There are some action scenes, they look good.
Even though there's only a few characters, we don't get to know them. As the whole story is about the interaction of these characters, I find this the biggest fault of the movie. The actors are good. The kids were cute.
The music (by Jed Kurzel) is okay, it fits the movie. It's mostly silent, atmospheric ambience.
Encounter is a boring family drama, I don't think anyone would really enjoy it.
My experience
I wasn't satisfied with Encounter (2021). I like stories that have an arc, and feel complete, and Encounter couldn't deliver just that.
Rating: Weak (2- out of 3 points). Encounter is a well-made film in every aspect, except for the story.
Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Encounter was boring for me.
Rewatchability: I'm not sure. I think it's mostly the surprise of the story that makes you feel interested.
Chance of watching it again: No.
Chance of watching a sequel: No. Also, I can't see how could they continue this story.
Encounter, movie (2021)
image © Amazon Content Services
Will you enjoy this?
If you like mystery or thriller movies, you might like Encounter.
If you can get through the first half hour of the movie still interested, the rest will be practically the same.
If you prefer visuals over story, Encounters is not for you.
If you enjoy watching kids getting kidnapped, you might like to watch Encounter.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in kidnapping stories, it might be worth watching the Encounter movie for the plot points, but it's probably easier to just read the plot summary.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals probably look similar, wherever you watch it.
* * *
Encounter, movie (2021)
image © Amazon Content Services
Review with spoilers - Encounter, movie (2021)
I didn't like the Encounter movie.
At 50 minutes, I was bored. Nothing really happened yet, and we didn't even got to know the characters. I kept watching the movie, in hopes that they'll come up with something interesting. But that didn't happen.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is basically a substitute for watching the movie. It also makes it look like it's an action movie, though it's not.
If you prefer spoilers, it's a great trailer for the Encounter film. If you prefer to avoid spoilers, it will ruin the movie for you.
Promise of the first scene
We see something entering the atmosphere of Earth. Then we see insects. A mosquito bites a human, and some small insect enters the body through its proboscis. Seeing that it was listed as a sci-fi movie, I assume there's going to be some space-born alien parasite.
Execution: There was nothing even close to that. I feel myself being mislead to watch a boring movie with false advertisement.
Plot summary / Synopsis
There's a soldier (Riz Ahmed as Malik Khan), in a motel, looking at a dossier about mind controlling insect parasites. He is armed with insect repellents.
There's his son (Lucian-River Chauhan as Jay Khan), and his younger brother (Aditya Geddada as Bobby Khan), staying at their home farm, with their mother (Janina Gavankar as Piya), and a man (Misha Collins as Dylan). It's been two years since they have seen their father.
Their father arrives in the middle of the night, and checks the eyes of his kids, then takes them on a trip in his car. He tells them not to talk to anyone. He also sprays them with insect repellent. While the soldier buys some supplies, the son reads the dossier about the mind controlling insects.
On the road, a cop stops them. The soldier sees that he is infected, so he beats him, and they escape. He tells them that they can't go back home, as alien parasites invaded the Earth, and their mother is infected. The kids tell him that their mother acted strangely recently, and from their tales, the soldier deduces that she was pregnant.
The soldier calls his parole officer (Octavia Spencer as Hattie Hayes), and asks her to check the mother and the man, whom he had closed in the garage. They get out. A detective (Rory Cochrane as Shepard West) talks to the parole officer, who tell them, that the soldier is a good man. The detective tells her that the soldier didn't pack any clothes, toys, or any necessities for the kids, but he brought a gun. They suspect that he'll kill the boys, then shoots himself.
When the soldier tells the boy that he sees hundreds of meteors, the boy starts to suspect that something is not right with his father.
The parole officer talks to a man, who served with the soldier, and he shows her drawings the soldier made, seemingly obsessed with insects.
Their tire goes flat, so the soldier sneaks into a house to steal another car. The owner stops him, but when the soldier sees that he is infected, they start fighting. The soldier gets shot, but he knocks the man out, and steals his car. While he is doing that, the boy calls the parole officer from the soldier's cell phone, and tells her they are in Nevada, but they get interrupted.
The parole officer convinces the detective to take her with him.
While the soldier is unconscious, the boys go shopping for medicine and food. The pharmacist reports them to the police. The sons of the man the soldier knocked out find the boys in the stolen car.
The sons, armed with submachine guns, yell to the soldier to give himself up. Then, one of the sons immediately starts shooting, so the soldier captures both of them, and handcuffs them to a pole. During the shoot-out, both boys were in danger of getting shot.
After this, the soldier decides to give the address of the restaurant to the mother, where they'll find the boys, but he says that he won't go back to jail. He leaves the boys in the restaurant, but the older boy sneaks into his car. When the police chase is over, the boy is still in the car. The parole officer tries to calm the soldier, to no avail. The soldier is ready to be shot, so he asks the boy to get out of the car. The boy instead takes the gun, and threatens the police officers. The soldier calms the boy down, and he is so relieved that the boy does, that he lets himself be captured alive.
The setting
Contemporary Earth.
Encounter, movie (2021)
image © Amazon Content Services
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one. "Don't trust your parents, they can go crazy"?
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Encounter film are played in sequence, following the same storyline.
There is no single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution.
* * *
Things I liked
* * *
How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
From the writer (Joe Barton), I've seen The Ritual (2017), that was good. This was not.
From the writer / director (Michael Pearce), this is the first movie I've seen. I'm not sure I'm interested in his further works.
* * *
Encounter, movie (2021)
image © Amazon Content Services
Analysis of the story - Encounter, movie (2021)
I didn't like the story, it was mostly dramatic problems that prevented me from enjoying Encounter.
Problematic elements
The title: Why is it "Encounter"? Who or what do they encounter?
Lack of background: We don't get to know practically anything about the father and the two boys, even though we watch them being together. We don't get to know their history, their personality, their dreams, beyond superficial things.
Lack of character arcs: There might be character arcs for everyone involved, but as the audience doesn't know these characters, it's not noticeable. For example, the father could have learnt to give up. The son might have learnt to stand up for himself. The parole officer might have learnt to take a step outside her comfort zone. The detective might have learnt that it's useful to have a partner. But as we don't learn about their original habits and personality, we can't appreciate these.
Lack of tension: We knew that nothing bad will happen to the boys, as the father wants to protect them, and nothing in the movie indicates that bad things could happen to children. Had they thrown in some glimpses of determination to kill them if they are infected, it might have helped.
Misleading the audience: The movie intentionally tries to mislead the viewer:
- The beginning with the meteor and the insects.
- The mother gets stung by some insect.
- The boyfriend of the mother says that the mother has got a bug.
- We are constantly shown insects crawling on the sets.
Switching viewpoints: The scenes when we see worms and insects, are the viewpoint of the father. That would be okay, but as the movie constantly switches viewpoints, it's hard to tell witch viewpoint we have at the moment, so the audience just accepts the viewpoint of the father as reality. This might have even been the intention of the creators, but this is misleading the audience, hurting the movie.
Unanswered questions
* * *
Possibilities of improvement
- Cut the beginning with the insects.
- Cut the insect stinging the mother.
- Cut the dialogue about the bug of the mother.
How it could have been better?
By making the father the single viewpoint character, it would be better. That way, when we see bugs crawling around, we know that we see what the father sees.
Don't imply we are going to watch a science fiction movie in the description and taglines.
* * *
Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
* * *
Encounter, movie (2021)
image © Amazon Content Services
Uses for the film - Encounter, movie (2021)
Plot
- A father kidnaps his children, because he believes that aliens take over the planet.
- Aliens use spores on insects to infect humans, and take over the world.
- The police hunts a man, who kidnapped his own children.
Scenes
Designs
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
- One of the friends of the team sees things nobody has seen outside of him. Should they believe him? Has he gone crazy?
- One of their friends kidnapped his kids. What does he want with them? How can they help him? How can they get the kids free?
- The team is sent to capture a criminal. The criminal has kids with him. If they start fighting, the kids act randomly - they attack the characters, or hide, or run around the place, screaming.
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Fight with children: The defender side has children around the place. For example, for every 3 adult models, there could be 1 child model. Neither side want to hurt them. The child models stay in place until the first turn when combat breaks out. At the end of that turn, the child models take their actions. After that turn, at the end of every turn, child models will act. For every child, roll a d6: 1: runs towards the nearest defender adult, 2: runs away from the nearest attacker, 3: runs towards the nearest attacker, to attack them, 4: runs towards the nearest cover, to hide, 5: runs in a random direction, 6: freezes in terror. When a child starts hiding, you don't need to roll further, it will stay in hiding. When the attacker attacks an adult who has child models in base contact, there's a chance they will hit the children. If either side misses a ranged attack, roll for misfire, to see if it hits a nearby child model. If the attacker hits a child model, they lose an amount of Victory points. If the defender loses a child model, they lose double that amount of Victory points. If the defender kills a child model accidentally (through area attack or misfire), they lose triple that amount of Victory points.
Lots of children: There are more children models than adult models.
Groups of children: The children stay in groups. Deploy them in groups, and they act together in groups. If there are many children, it's probably easier to handle them this way.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.
* * *
Similar stories - Encounter, movie (2021)
Movies
A Perfect World (1993): A man kidnaps a boy. They are chased by the police. It's a much better movie then Encounter.
* * *
Frequently asked questions - Encounter, movie (2021)
Is the Encounter film based on a book or comics?
No, Encounter is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Encounter film a remake or reboot?
No, the Encounter film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in Encounter? Does Encounter have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Encounter.
Where can I see Encounter? Where can I watch Encounter online? Is Encounter available on Netflix? Is Encounter on Amazon?
As of 2022.01.05, Encounter is only available on Amazon Prime Video.
* * *
Resources - Encounter, movie (2021)
Official
Encounter: Official website.
Information
IMDB: Encounter (III) (2021): Database article.
WikiPedia: Encounter (2021 film): Database article.
Letterboxd: Encounter 2021: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Encounter 2021: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Encounter film (2021)
: Review video about the Encounter film with no spoilers.¤
Reviews with spoilers - Encounter film (2021)
: Review article of the Encounter movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Encounter movie (2021)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Encounter.¤
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/dec/05/encounter-review-riz-ahmed-michael-pearce-alien-invasion-road-movie-thriller
https://www.glamsham.com/ott/web-review/movie-review-encounter
https://www.filmtekercs.hu/kritikak/szine-es-a-fonakja-talalkozas-encounter-2021
* * *
Buying the product - Encounter, movie (2021)
* * *
Have you seen the Encounter film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
Comments powered by CComment