REVIEW:
Here’s the thing. What we have here, with Bogonia, is basically a more dramatic, less fun version of 10 Cloverfield Lane. It’s not nearly as good as that film, but it takes the skeleton of it and runs in a slightly different direction. Like that movie, is one is down to the basics of just three characters in a house, with one of them being held there by the others. And the reason why is because the captors believe there is an oncoming alien attack. Yes, both movies follow those very same beats.
Here in Bogonia, story is about these two men who kidnap and capture a high level CEO, (Michelle, played by Emma Stone,) who they are convinced is an alien. That premise itself is what sets it apart from the other movie and gives it a somewhat original edge. But for almost the entire movie, that’s s there is to the story. Nothing more.
The prisoner -kidnapping stuff is fine. It mostly deals with conversations between Teddy (Jesse Plemmons,) and Michelle. Some of the most interesting elements involve the third character, Don, who is Teddy’s mentally challenged cousin. Don is caught in between the two other characters, being manipulated by Teddy, but not agreeing with all that he does, and yet still going along with it all.
The movie is definitely interesting, even if it does feel familiar. There’s a lot of back and forth here, without actually getting anywhere. For example, Michelle tries everything she can think of from denying she’s an alien, and telling the boys how crazy this all is, to playing sling and telling them they’re right. and she is indeed an alien. She tries it all, and none of it seems to work.
And then we arrive at the ending. I won’t give anything away, other than to say that it is so extreme in the wrong direction, it actually makes the movie worse. On the one hand, it’s certainly not boring or predictable, but on the other, it’s a little too much, and it doesn’t work at all. It’s dark and disturbing, and maybe it’s meant to be comedic somehow, only it’s not. The movie is just okay, and probably would have been a whole lot better had not the ending dragged it down.