OCCUPATION: RAINFALL (2021)

OCCUPATION:  RAINFALL (2021)

Tagline: Bring The Rain

(Action, Sci-Fi, Go Home ET) [R]

In this one Sydney, Australia, one of the last remaining human strongholds, is under a massive alien attack from an invasion that happened two years early. Humanity is being brought to its knees and there are rumors the only thing that can save us is a classified object called “Rainfall”. Is it already too late?

First off, there is just tons of cool going on in this freakin movie. I mean we’ve got alien horse-like creatures that look better than the ones in STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. We have stuff just flying all over the place and blowing up. There are really cool ship designs and tech as well as decent CGI and even a bit of good acting. It’s actually the direct sequel to a movie called OCCUPATION by the same studio. The motives and plotline aren’t always super clear, but this is a really fun ride a few levels above any b-movie regarding production. 

This movie actually does a good job of exploring grace in a war situation and how easy it is to lose our humanity in the midst of fear and chaos. The real-life irony is that this movie was filmed in Australia and celebrates the bravery, compassion, freedom fighting, and morals of its people. Sadly in real life, Australia has basically become a wasteland of medical tyranny the likes of which very few countries even ventured to impose upon their own citizens. All over a virus that had a 98% survival rate in 2020. Now it’s closer to 99.5% or higher. Anyway, reviews that are saying this is all flash and action are just probably people that fast-forwarded through the movie to get to the points that they found interesting. 

Acting-wise like I mentioned, we actually get good acting in this movie. It features a lot of names you wouldn’t recognize maybe at first glance, but let me get into it just a bit. One of the main actors is Temuera Morrison as Peter. He is best known for playing Boba Fett in THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT but was also in other STAR WARS films as well as AQUAMAN. Lawrence Makoare plays Garry The Alien but is well known for his work in THE LORD OF THE RINGS series playing several different Orcs. Daniel Gillies who plays Winged Commander Hayes was actually in SPIDER-MAN 2. Dan Ewing who plays Matt Simmons in this is best known as Cap from LOVE AND MONSTERS, and finally, Jet Tranter who plays Amelia had a small role in THOR: RAGNAROK. The basic idea is that this isn’t just a bunch of b-movie actors making a b-movie. It’s a really solid flick with a bunch of wonderful talents involved. The movie also has a little fun regarding the script and dialog. Ken Jeong ( who has been in a ton of stuff including MY SPY) actually plays a character named Bud Miller. He’s essentially a walking beer commercial. 

I found the scale of this thing a blast and as the story moved along and we got to know the characters I started caring about them more and more. For me, this doesn’t quite crack the top 10 for 2021, but if it had been released in the US in 2020, it definitely would have been in the TOP 10 that year. I am guessing some of the complaints were more about the Australian accents, but I’ve watched several Australian films this year and this one is probably the easiest of the bunch to understand aside from CROCODILE DUNDEE. There are some borrowed designs and ideas, but a lot of design work is pretty amazing as well and shouldn't be overlooked.

Overall I have to give this flick a solid 6 out of 7. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hope for future sequels. 

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF OCCUPATION TWO PRODUCTIONS  AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

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