He’s not who you think he is.

To start, whoever designed the title screen needs to be fired, rehired, and then fired again.

I mean, the poster is great, the VFX are great… and then there’s this title screen.

The film starts out oddly and kind of randomly, showing a man running across a field for no apparent reason. Later, we find out why, but just to give you that slight “what the fuck?” moment in the beginning, they throw this random scene at you. Oddly enough, even when you do learn the reason behind it, you’re still going to ask “why the fuck?” But don’t worry, it’ll all soon be answered.

Now, you might be wondering how well it’s answered. The truth? Ridiculously—and not very originally. About an hour into the movie, you’ll start to realize, “I know what’s going on here,” and by that time, it’ll pretty much be predictable until the end.

What really throws you is… nothing. Because it’s a basic plotline.

Extreme Simplicity:

• Man is an experiment.
• Man escapes experiment.
• Man poses as a veteran.
• Man is found out.
• Man kills everyone.
• Man fails.
• Man leaves.
• Fin.

That is literally the entire plotline of this movie.

Now, what they did with it was really funny. I can’t even complain about how overdone this premise is because they threw in some unexpected comedy. Usually, you don’t get sarcasm in these types of films unless it’s intentionally marketed that way.

“David” (real name unknown because nobody ever says it) is an experimental subject. (Don’t worry, you’ll have absolutely no idea what the experiment was for, what it did, etc.) What you will know—for about 10 seconds—is that it somehow involved the military and some secret program.

I’m going to throw a wild card here and say David was part of a Super Soldier program because that’s the only thing that makes sense. Unless they trained him to be extremely polite.

David escapes his room/experiment/facility by blowing up an oxygen tank, killing 21 people. (The extra 1 was supposed to be him.) We can assume he really just shot them all.

I honestly don’t understand his connection to Kaleb—if there was one at all. Yes, they were part of the same experiment, but that barely counts. So I have trouble understanding why he came to Kaleb’s family and decided to “help” them.

Another wild card: he was going to kill them anyway. He just helped them first. Whether or not Anna stupidly contacted the military and doomed her entire family, his plan probably wouldn’t have changed.

Nice going, Anna.

Does This Movie Make Sense?

Not really. But it’s a fun watch and a time killer.

If they had a larger budget, this movie could have actually been amazing—provided it made sense.

David (Dan Stevens)

Dan Stevens was great for this role. He’s already got that “fuck off” badass look, and he completes the character with sarcastic smiles and perfectly timed smirks. I can’t think of anyone else who could have played this role, except maybe Paul Walker. But we know why he can’t. R.I.P.

Anna Peterson (Maika Monroe)

She’s the daughter. She parties, does drugs, wears oddly interesting clothing for 2-3 days straight, and then decides to call the military, steal David’s phone, and basically set off the chain of events that gets her whole family killed.

I mean, I’m not saying it’s her fault that everyone (except her and Luke) died. But… it is.

Luke Peterson (Brendan Meyer)

The brother. That’s it. He’s a minor character until the end.

For a while, David is his “friend,” going around being his knight in shining armor and beating up all the bad guys. David also teaches Luke an important life lesson: stand up for yourself—maybe not so much burn their families, but you get the point, right?

Laura Peterson (Sheila Kelley)

The mother. She’s decent. Laura is the first to meet David and the first to die, so it kind of balances out in the end. (A messed-up way of looking at it, but still.)

Spencer Peterson (Leland Orser)

The father, who just can’t seem to drink enough beer. But don’t worry, he’ll offer you one every two minutes just for an excuse to have another.

Spencer can’t get his shit together. He’s been working at his job for years and still can’t get the raise he deserves. But hey, nothing David can’t fix. Bang bang.

Major Carver (Lance Reddick)

The name says it all.

Also, this man’s eyes are the biggest, scariest things I’ve ever seen someone enlarge in my life. It’s a spectacle.

Other than that, he’s solid. Standard yell orders at soldiers and shoot everything in sight kind of guy.

At the end of the day, nobody really cared about Zeke being in prison—not even Zeke himself.

And let’s not forget…

David’s still alive.

Now these kids are orphans. All their friends are dead. The boyfriend is jailed. They’re tragically scarred for life.

But hey—what a ride, right?

If you like shooting, funny sarcasm, weirdly polite murderers who apologize when they stab you, and a stand against bullying (sue that school), give this movie a watch!