Occupation: Rainfall

Official Australian release date: 28/1/21. Viewed: 5/2/21.
Director: Luke Sparke
Actors: Dan Ewing, Jet Tranter, Lawrence Makoare, Daniel Gillies
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Occupation: Rainfall’ is a sequel to the low-budget Australian-alien-invasion film from 2018 – but this time it’s bigger and better – in all respects. Returning from the first film, attempting to save Sydney, are Matt (Ewing), Amelia (Tranter, in place of Jacobsen), Marcus (Go) and Dennis (Gerred), who are joined again by Peter (Morrison) & Bella (Stevens) in the third act. This time, they’re helped by General Abraham (Roberts), Wing Commander Hayes (Gillies), Captain Wessex (Coles Smith) and Gary (Makoare), one of the ‘greys’. The film wastes no time is setting up where things are – the aliens have essentially destroyed most of the world, and only small pockets of resistance remain, such as Sydney. The survivors then evacuate to the Blue Mountains.

Director Sparke has a much bigger budget this time, and isn’t afraid to use it, with the aliens being a good mix of costumes and CGI, and the spaceships and air battles are really well done. This is definitely not a Hollywood film, but he does well to blend all the film’s inspirations – ‘Star Wars’, ‘Avatar’, ‘Predator’ – into a mostly-cohesive whole. At the film’s core is Matt – hero from the first film who despises the “maggots” – being forced to team up with “Gary”, one of the aliens who is now on the humans’ side. Gary is also the most well-rounded character – and gets some good fight scenes too!

As always with Aussie cinema, it’s good to see local scenery, although a bit of it is CGI-Sydney in ruins! Still the Blue Mountains look nice – but I’m not sure why it’s not snowing there if it is snowing where the small village is, presumably near Jindabyne. Near the end, Bud (Jeong) and Steve (Issacs, another alien) provide some comedic relief and a futile battle takes place, leaving everything set up for a third film. Doesn’t always hit the mark, some stilted dialogue, but a good score, some well-made battles, believable alien villains, a bigger question of “do humans deserve our planet?” and an undercurrent of “what would I do in this situation?”

Overall: Mostly fun, action-packed sci-fi.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.