If Wes Anderson were asked to make “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” it might look something like the charmingly bespoke sci-fi satire “Alpha Gang,” though to suggest that there really is any comparison at all for what the Zellner Brothers are doing these days is a bit of a fool’s errand. Then again, fools are of great interest to David and Nathan, who have been increasingly attracting more famous casts to their films where the bigger their actors’ stature, the sillier the characters are bound to be. After making the world’s greatest coward out of a game Robert Pattinson in “Damsel” or outfitting Jesse Eisenberg as a grumbling bigfoot in “Sasquatch Summer,” their latest has attracted a true rogues’ gallery with Lea Seydoux, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Dave Bautista, Lily Rose Depp, Doona Bae and Riley Keough all playing aliens somewhat frustrated with having to take human form to fulfill plans by their species to overtake earth. Impressively as much fun as the starry ensemble look to be having in leather biker gang gear, somehow it may be even more for an audience.
The Zellners waste no time assuring that even as their resources have grown, their juvenile streak has remained intact when shortly after “Alpha Gang” begins, the “Kumiko: The Treasure Hunter” filmmakers have all involved in what’s quite literally one of the longest exercises in bathroom humor that’s been captured on film as a roll of two-ply is passed down a hall to Alpha 6 (Keough), who is experiencing a bowel movement for the first time shortly after arriving to the castle that the Alpha Gang calls home. No explanation is given for how exactly this remote lair was picked for the start of world domination or why “The Wild One” appears to have been such a strong influence on their attire — the Alpha Gang themselves seem to be mostly in the dark about what they’re actually supposed to do in these bags of flesh they’ve been beamed into when they don’t greet each other, they just dance when there’s a jukebox at their disposal, along with a badminton court for their entertainment. However, with Alpha 6’s arrival, they know they have a complete group to begin their mission, only it appears that the humans are doing a decent enough job of eradicating themselves when trips outside the castle are full of representatives of wars throughout human history in combat against one another.
That the Alpha Gang may not have purpose starts to eat away at the group, as does the fact that they’ve been instilled with fear about having any emotions as it is thought to be the humans’ greatest weakness to exploit. While they’re occasionally pulled into conflict outside their walls, a war starts within when Alpha 1 (Seydoux) is adamant about preventing the “disease” of emotions from creeping in. It’s a bit hypocritical of her when she can’t hide her anger for whoever keeps leaving the toilet seat up, but the suppression of feelings that others have, whether it is Alpha 3’s (Bae) yearning for a physical connection or Alpha 4’s (Harrison Jr.) hopes for just someone to talk to, grows toxic in other ways and the latter’s discovery of a “Beta Gang” jacket leads to distrust within the group that their home planet has sent a backup crew.
It is here where the Zellners get their James Cameron on a bit, complete with Chris Pine entering the mix as an Alpha that’s late to the party, bearing a fair yet likely inadvertent resemblance to the T-100 with shades and a leather jacket, as well as Cate Blanchett, looking as if she’s made a dream come true of being in an early ‘80s Ozploitation movie complete with an eyepatch and a grizzly accent. Although no one would guess that an “Avatar” is in the filmmakers’ future when they keep things charmingly handmade, the Zellners continue to show a real proficiency for world-building and sophisticated action set-pieces, though in the case of “Alpha Gang,” the violence is always in service of something ridiculous where the kineticism leaves you cackling. (As has happened before, Nathan reserves one of the most brutal deaths for himself as someone who gets in Pine’s way.)
The filmmakers also continue a thread they began in “Sasquatch Summer” when the central characters’ inherit lack of humanity opened up all kinds of questions about what it is that makes people the way they are on a fundamental level, previously pushing past a modest plot and indecipherable language to hold attention when the evolution of the Bigfoot family at its center became more and more familiar as their most basic needs were revealed. When humor is clearly one of those things as well as a sense of community, there’s an even more guttural feeling to the many belly laughs that “Alpha Gang” has and while much of that is derived from watching people fight, the Zellners show their unique genius in making all that time spent on war look silly.
“Alpha Gang” will screen again at the Telluride Film Festival on September 6th at 10 pm at the Palm and September 7th at the Galaxy at 1:30 pm.