Today’s quick review: The Recall. Charlie (Jedidiah Goodacre), Annie (Laura Bilgeri), Brendan (RJ Mitte), Rob (Niko Pepaj), and Kara (Hannah Rose May) are staying at a cabin in the woods when a mysterious cloud formation heralds the arrival of an alien spacecraft. As aliens stalk the woods around the cabin, the friends must join forces with a paranoid hunter (Wesley Snipes) to survive the night.
The Recall is a budget sci-fi thriller that pits five young adults and a hunter against an alien abduction force. The Recall gets the basics right, with a viable setup, a few interesting ideas, and a good sense of anticipation. However, it struggles to weave these elements together into a cohesive whole. Pacing issues, weak thrills, and a general lack of payoff make The Recall a less-than-satisfying pick.
The Recall never figures out the right way to escalate. The groundwork is fine, but as soon as the aliens are introduced, the movie struggles. The brief encounters that are meant to build tension mostly fall flat, the main characters are given very little to do, and the explanations come a while after they would have been useful. As such, The Recall misses the chance to capitalize on its ideas. By the time they blossom, it is too late.
The Recall has glimmers of potential, enough to make it a fair pick for connoisseurs of budget sci-fi or horror. But the movie strikes out on the countless little details needed to make its ideas work. Viewers who are interested can do better for both thrills and mystery.
For a stranger horror movie about five friends being hunted in the woods, check out The Cabin in the Woods. For a more action-packed alien encounter that plays by similar rules, try Skyline or Predator. For a more thought-provoking brush with alien intelligence, try Chronicle, The Signal, or Solaris. For a non-science fiction thriller about a group of friends who tangle with a gunman in the woods, try Blood Money.
[4.2 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5669936/). I give it a 4.5 for workable ideas that are poorly executed.