Encounter Movie Review

Limited theatrical release on December 3, 2021
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video on December 10, 2021.

“Encounter” has a premise that starts out as a cosmic invasion of micro-bugs from space. But it soon turns into a journey of a father and his two young boys on a trip into the unknown. The main ‘Narrator’ might turn out to be unreliable. So, will this road trip be a rescue of his kids from the infestation of micro-aliens? Or is there a different destination for the group? Is this a road to revenge?

Malik Khan (played by Riz Ahmed) is an intense man. He is a former Special Forces soldier, and he has troubles on his mind. His life has been turned around because he believes that recent meteors and comets have introduced alien life forms to Earth. These are microscopic creatures that take over the body they inhabit. First it is the bugs and insects that are infected. But soon more and more people are also taken over by these parasites. Malik is worried that his family has been taken over by the aliens.

Malik runs a quick in-and-out rescue mission. But it is not for the Military. He goes after his two boys. He retrieves his sons. They are ready to go on a Secret Mission with their dad, even though he has been absent for the past couple of years. They do not know that Malik had attacked an officer and been put in Military prison for a while, and then dishonorably discharged. To the boys, he is still their dad – the War Hero.

But they do not know that Malik has been fighting a war of his own. His personal war is with reality. He is getting deeper into his unbelievable belief of the alien takeover. It now controls his life, and by extension — the lives of his two sons. The older boy is ten-year-old Jay Khan (played by Lucian-River Chauhan). He is ready to go anywhere with his dad, because he trusts in him. The younger son is Bobby (played by Aditya Geddada). He wants to go, because there will be adventure — and maybe some ice cream.

Since Malik has effectively kidnapped his sons, he calls to his Parole Officer. Hattie (played by Octavia Spencer) wants to know why he has not been in contact with her and has not been to work. He explains that the stakes are too high for him to allow his sons to be in contact with the ‘infected’.

Hattie is puzzled and wants to know what is going on. Malik had taken the boys from his wife’s home. And he left her and her new husband locked in the garage. Hattie gets the officials involved. One of them is Shepard West (played by Rory Cochrane). He is a profiler, and he does not like what he sees. He thinks Malik Khan has all the signs of a “family annihilator”. Not sounding good…

Malik and the boys get pulled over at 3 AM by a highway patrolman. Malik sees signs of the ‘infection’ in the officer. So there is tussle and the officer is on the ground. Jay and Bobby are starting to get scared about what is going on. But they do not have any say in what is happening. Jay is given the responsibility to watch over Bobby. But that does not work too well. They are out driving through some pretty desolate areas in the Southwest. They need to get away from all civilization, according to Malik. They have a flat tire on his truck and look for something else.

Malik finds a small house on the side of the road. He is about to take a car, but the owner confronts him. Again, Malik knows that this guy is ‘infected’, so there is another guy on the ground. They take off in a different vehicle. Malik is wounded, and he gets Jay to take over driving the car. They find an abandoned town, and it has plenty of houses that they can sneak into to get some rest. They do not know that two sons of that guy he just beat up are out to find him and get him. They also do not know that Police and the FBI are out on his trail, led by Shepard West and Hattie.

This entire episode comes to ahead, with Malik facing off against the two guys out to get him for what he did (and the car he stole). They are all able to get away, but Malik wants the two boys to stay safe. He no longer knows what he believes. Is the ‘Alien Infestation’ real? Or is his mind playing tricks on him? Is his life starting to unravel to the point where it will harm his sons?  He cannot allow that to happen. But he does not want to be sent to a prison. He is all but out of options.

“Encounter” is a sneaky plot stew of Science-Fiction that quickly turns into Family Road Trip & Family Drama, and gets to a Police Procedural somewhere near the end.  The character study is fascinating, and the acting is wonderful, even for the younger members of the cast. The idea that the movie is going to be one type of thing, and then it quickly glides into a totally different genre – that is difficult task to pull off. But that is exactly what is done here by director Michael Pearce.

Riz Ahmed takes this character of Malik and gives the troubled soldier a sympathetic examination. He wants nothing but safety for his children. Yet by his actions, he puts them into very unsafe conditions. He deep down believes that alien control is coming for everyone on Earth. But he does not recognize that other people might have a different viewpoint. That makes them ‘infected’ – so he cannot win at this game his mind playing with his psyche.

Lucian-River Chauhan (who plays Jay) and Aditya Geddada (who play Bobby) are also really good as young actors. They are very believable. Octavia Spencer (as Hattie) and Rory Cochrane (as Shepard) are both very underused. The scenes of the Southwest deserts and long twisty roads to nowhere are breathtaking. The locations are set with a lot of care and make you feel that world very well might be deserted. There is one shot that is same location from the movie ‘Tenet’ from a couple of years back. See if you can spot where it is!

“Encounter” is darkly entertaining movie about a troubled mind who thinks the world might be coming to an end. But because of his actions, the character who wants to do something good – is bringing that end down on himself…

Limited theatrical release on December 3, 2021
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video on December 10, 2021.