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Just weeks after the Pentagon quietly released footage of what they call “unidentified aerial phenomena,” it seems like the perfect time to release a sci-fi movie about alien abduction and government cover-ups. And if you’re eagerly digging back into conspiracies and alien stories, you can get your fix from the UFO thriller Proximity.
Proximity stars Ryan Masson as Isaac, a young engineer working for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. One Saturday afternoon, while he’s out hiking, he witnesses what looks like a craft racing through the sky and crashing nearby. When he goes to investigate, he comes face to face with an alien being—and he’s able to get a brief video of the encounter. He then disappears for three days. When he returns, he’s eager to share his story—and his video—but no one believes him. And he becomes obsessed with proving that his story isn’t just another hoax.
After Isaac posts his video online, hoping to share this incredible experience with the world, things don’t go as he expected. His old life simply falls away as the film gets caught up in the media frenzy—a blur of news stories and Internet trolls. But the film never really stays in one place—nor does it stick with one tone—for very long. And Isaac soon finds himself on the run, trying to evade capture by a bunch of totally conspicuous white-suited agents of a supposedly secretive international organization.
Proximity does have a lot of cool sci-fi elements and a number of striking settings. It’s certainly a visually interesting film. But it switches gears so often—and so drastically—that it seems unsure of the tone it wants to stick with. It wants to be slick and futuristic. But it also wants to be moody and off the grid. And it wants to capture classic Spielberg, too. But all of those different styles just don’t work well together—and it makes for a film that feels uneven and unfocused.
The story, too, is lacking. The idea is intriguing, but it needed to be more fleshed out. At times, it’s over-the-top; at other times, it drags. And though it seems to be building up to something extraordinary, the conclusion is surprisingly unremarkable and anticlimactic.
Visually, Proximity is a pretty cool sci-fi film. The effects and cinematography are impressive. But it simply tries to do too much in one movie—and the unfocused, underdeveloped story isn’t able to make up for it.
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