Netflix's 'Extinction' trailer: Michael Pena will stop at nothing to save mankind amid alien invasion
Netflix just dropped the trailer for its new sci-fi film, 'Extinction,' an interesting tale of a father's (played by Michael Pena) fight for survival and saving his family amid alien invasions. What makes the plot even more interesting is the fact this guy had been having nightmares of losing his family amid alien invasion, which has now turned into reality. Fans have lauded Netflix for resurrecting the project after Universal officially yanked it from its January releases, which means you'll get to watch this sci-fi thriller in just two weeks!
Directed by the award-winning Australian director Ben Young (director of 'Hounds of Love'), 'Extinction' will see a less goofy version of Michael Pena from Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' who plays the role of a working father.
The trailer opens to Pena's character holding a dull face and a monologue that narrates his monotonous routine of life - work, home and family: "Everyday we go about our routines. Work. Home. Family. Work. Home. Family.” His life goes for a downward swirl when he actually starts dreaming about losing his family to an unknown fear. Things begin to take turn for the worse when Pena starts having visions of destruction and alien attacks. It starts affecting his personal and professional life but he takes it upon himself to protect his family from the impending doom. Soon he is accused by his wife and colleagues of paying too much attention to the voices inside his head instead of focusing on his routine life.
Reportedly, Netflix acquired worldwide rights for the sci-fi thriller from Universal in just two months. Variety reports that the company had confirmed the move in February after it began streaming JJ Abram's 'The Cloverfield Paradox' following the Super Bowl, and after the streaming channel was buying the rights of 'God Particle' from Paramount which was supposed to be the next installment connected to the 'Cloverfield' film series. However, 'The Cloverfield Paradox' didn't fare well to fans' expectation, who anticipated something big to hit them, especially after it was released without any previews, notice or promotion.
Directed by Julius Onah, written by Oren Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by JJ Abrams, the movie unlike its predecessors 'Cloverfield' (2008) and '10 Cloverfield Lane' (2016) lacked energy. Germain Lussier, an entertainment reporter for io9/Gizmodo, stated in his review that the movie was "incredibly flat" with an ordinary structure to rely on and characters who did not have much to offer. In spite of a few cool design choices, the film lacked tension. He comments, "Most of the movie feels like it’s in there just to get the runtime up to 100 minutes.
By the end, the one emotional through-line the story has been building gets a decent payoff, but it’s so totally off from the rest of the movie, it doesn’t land. However, 'Extinction' might help Netflix recover from the trauma of the aforemention flop sci-fi movie.
Alongside Pena, there is a promising strong cast which includes 'Luke Cage's Mike Colter, along with Lilly Aspell, Emma Booth, Israel Broussard, Erica Tremblay, Lex Shrapnel and Lizzy Caplan. Ben Young directed the film from a script written by Spenser Cohen and Bradley Caleb Kane. The film is being produced by Todd Lieberman and David Hoberman (founders of Mandeville Films and Television).
'Extinction' premieres on July 27 on Netflix.