Alpha Gang Review: Zellners' Quirky Alien Spoof With A-List Cast — SkimNews
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- Alpha Gang, directed by David and Nathan Zellner and written by David alone, follows six leather-clad space aliens in '50s biker gear — played by Léa Seydoux, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Doona Bae, Riley Keough, Dave Bautista, and Lily-Rose Depp — who arrive on Earth aiming to conquer it while dreading a contagious human disease called emotions.
- Chris Pine joins the gang later as a new Alpha and is singled out as the film's funniest presence, with over-the-top mannerisms that draw the loudest laughs in a cast the reviewer says is clearly having a ball.
- Cate Blanchett, who also serves as a producer on the film, plays a member of a rival '80s-style gang called the Betas, arriving with an eye patch and a comic accent that the reviewer flags as a standout bit.
- The Zellner brothers construct a "Terminator"-style alien hierarchy in which the Betas are more advanced and refuse to ally with the naïve Alphas, while body parts are severed, blue blood is spilled, and extreme violence erupts inside brutalist, immersive world-building.
- Beneath its toilet jokes and doo-wop jukebox soundtrack, Alpha Gang carries a melancholy undercurrent about seclusion, connection, belonging, and a divided world, though the reviewer finds it begins to overstay its welcome before it ends.
- The Zellners' growing filmography — from "Kid-Thing" to "Kumiko the Treasure Hunter" to "Damsel" — is cited as evidence that the duo keeps scaling up their uncompromising DIY indie sandbox, with marquee actors queuing up to join.
Why it matters: The Zellner brothers continue to scale their handmade indie sensibility into a bigger sandbox by attracting A-list talent like Blanchett and Pine, reinforcing their reputation as a destination for actors who want to play in a lo-fi, unhinged register. The review treats the film as a case study in how uncompromising indie filmmaking can still pull stars away from franchise work, even if the film's late act overstays its welcome.
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