We love movies about alien invasions, so we patiently waited to see Blasted, a brand-new science fiction comedy on Netflix. This video will provide you with all the information you need to know about the excellent Norwegian film. You should be aware that the video contains some spoilers as we discuss the aliens and their abilities.
Exploring the story in detail:
Here at the new-age cheese-fest, welcome! But Blasted’s opening sequence is anything but corny—it is actually extremely eerie. A blogger and a scientist are shown chatting at the space observatory, where they discover something surprising. The scientist has been changed into a zombie-like creature, so when the extraterrestrial presence is proven, it is too late for the blogger!
Meanwhile, Sebastian, a new character, is introduced. This man is a typical blue-collar worker who is groveling before his boss. He no longer has any joy or pleasure in life, and his entire existence is focused on winning the boss’s approval, who is notoriously difficult to win over. Even though he is going to get married, all he seems to care about is his job. But his fiancee appears to be a fun-loving person who is aware of the mechanical monotony of her lover’s life.
She brings him a paper-cutting that shows how Sebastian and his childhood friend Mikkel won a laser tag tournament when they were young. Currently, Sebastian is not even in touch with his best buddy, and his wife makes arrangements so that he can enjoy his bachelorette party. What she doesn’t know is that his bachelorette plans are simply an elaborate scheme to entertain his boss so that he gains his approval. He convinces a couple of his other friends to play along so that the party can be all about the boss, but one of them ends up inviting Mikkel as well.
It is an awkward moment, when Sebastian meets Mikkel after a long time. Mikkel has continued living a carefree life, far opposite of what Sebastian has done, and clearly, the two don’t have much in common anymore. Mikkel’s inappropriate jokes and leg-pulling are hilarious for Sebastian’s boss, but he is not amused by these childish antics. Unfortunately, his friends fail to make the party interesting, and ultimately, the onus is on Mikkel to make things lively. Obviously, a bunch of geeks wouldn’t have the first clue about the perfect party, and the fun guy could think of the best ways to enjoy!
In one such moment, Mikkel suggests a game of paintball at the park, and the clichéd boss guy readily agrees. Sebastian and the others reluctantly follow, and the game goes horribly wrong. The boss is defeated very quickly, but more importantly, this is where they realize that something weird is going on.
An accidental shot from Sebastian hits one of the alien-transformed humans, and the group is confused about the nature of the threat! At the heart of the narrative is the friendship between Mikkel and Sebastian, and this is highlighted every now and then. They quickly find their old team game, and it doesn’t take them long to figure out that the laser gun that Mikkel brought can do some serious damage to the aliens and the transformed humans.
They try to inform the police, but the quaint little town doesn’t have the most enthusiastic police force. One of the cops is pregnant, and she doesn’t even take them seriously at first, dismissing them as drug addicts. However, she does turn the tables and take charge when the need arises. There are a couple of thrilling moments that feature her taking down a few zombie-like alien transformed humans. She is one character that you will love, and probably the only character apart from Sebastian who has quite an interesting development.
The group comes across the observatory in the middle of the woods, and to their horror they watch the facility abandoned. Later, Mikkel and Sebastian discover a few corpses in the basement, and at this point their worst fears are confirmed. It is clearly some kind of an alien invasion, and things are about to go South from here! It is a hilarious moment when the duo is separated from the others, and you see them all suited up and prepared with their laser guns.
They take down a bunch of the transformed humans, and the laser beams hitting the aliens are enough to bring them down. A similar adrenaline-pumping moment arises when the two cops of the town are locked up inside a facility with a horde of transformed humans attacking them. They manage to survive the attack, and meanwhile, we get to see more of the boss and Sebastian’s other two friends.
The boss somehow manages to strike a deal with the aliens, promising them more energy to satisfy their demands. The woman from the first scene, the scientist from the observatory seems to be some kind of a leader among the transformed humans, and she speaks for the aliens. When one of Sebastian’s friends gets transformed, he is too dejected and hopeless, and in this hour of crisis his childhood friend comes up with a few words to inspire him and remind him of how fun he used to be back in the day.
Their friendship is reignited, and the laser-tag champions are back in business! Finally, we get to see the main alien, the monstrous creature who is probably the leader of the lot and controlling all the transformed humans. It has wiggling tentacles hanging from his face, and there are plenty of eye-like glossy black spots all over his face.
Its structure is not rigid, but the slimy creature seems to be intelligent enough to orchestrate the whole thing. It turns out that the whole event was a ploy to head back home. The aliens were somehow trapped on Earth, and the scientist at the observatory somehow woke them up. Now, they simply want to find the means to head back to their own planet, and hence the need for energy and using humans to complete the means.
In a final scene of extreme action, Mikkel keeps shooting at the monstrous alien as he tries to give the others time to escape. Finally, there is a massive explosion of green energy, and Sebastian and his friends are thrown outside. An alien spaceship flies out, presumably with some survivors, or maybe the alien creature. A brief glimpse suggests that they left something behind, and it gets to the boss.
Most of the other transformed humans are back to their usual selves, and it seems everything else is back to normal as well. Overall, it is what you call the conventional happy ending. Sebastian is getting married, and Mikkel is now the best man at his wedding. He is happy to see his old fun-loving friend back, and the most unlikely duo managed to fight the extraterrestrial threat with the most uncharacteristic weapon – a laser gun!
All about the blubber-like aliens:
If this was a serious alien flick, you could have expected more of a backstory to the alien creatures, and maybe a more intimidating appearance. Blasted, however, makes no efforts to terrify or startle you. They focus more on the comedic element of things, and this is pretty evident from the physiology and activities of the aliens as well.
The alien creatures are first shown to turn humans into zombie-like creatures, and in this transformed state, the humans have glowing green eyes. They become extremely violent and attack the others in the vicinity, but there have been instances that suggest that the transformed humans were being controlled by the aliens. They could control their violence, and exercise restraint when it was required.
From what has been observed, the aliens are intelligent creatures, and their powers of mind-control are quite extreme. They use their green energy sort of thing to take control, and they can be freakishly strong as we found out in the zombie-like state of the transformed humans.
The final scene presents a master monstrous alien, who is probably the leader of the pack. This one will remind you of something from Monsters Inc paired with Jabba the Hut. The massive structure is like a blob of giant flesh organized to look threatening. However, it becomes difficult to take things seriously, when the alien creature is deterred by shots of laser guns! The final battle scene is a memorable moment, and it is fun to see this alien monstrosity being defeated by someone you have been laughing at all along.
The other exploding green alien structures throughout the movie are similar to Slimer from Ghostbusters, and it is almost like a green mass of energy that takes over the human consciousness transforming them into zombie-like entities. When shot with powerful laser beams, this green blob of energy exits from the human bodies and knocks them unconscious. It seems that the goal of the aliens was to utilize the energy sources of Earth, and there was something about laser beams that they couldn’t withstand.
A few direct hits were enough to immobilize the aliens, and even the strongest among them had to escape. The scenes where the aliens would explode into green goo are a bit too familiar because too many alien flicks have tried this out in various forms. Finally, when the aliens are forced to retreat, we see that the zombie-like humans are back to their normal state, and this further point to the fact that the transformation was only temporary, somewhat like a mind-control for the time being.
Marvelous Verdict: As entertaining as it is cheesy!
Those who have grown up watching loads of sci-fi and action B-movies from the 80s, often complain that the genre has dried up over the years. However, this new Netflix movie Blasted brings back some of the golden memories of the bygone era. This is a film that will remind you of movies like The Blob, and the cheesy nature of the narrative is actually what drives the movie.
The story is pretty straight-forward, and it is a basic tale of aliens invading a city and taking over the citizen. It is all about the presentation that steals the show, and full marks to the director for getting the shots right. The intelligent script is lively and filled with humor.
Even in the most serious moments, you will encounter the most unexpected jokes and hilarious turn of events. The movie shows you an unlikely group fighting aliens, but the story also takes time to focus on the bromance of the protagonists. The main characters are young adults and they are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives. This is exactly the target audience of the film, and the young people will love the fun-filled adrenaline rush throughout the movie.
Apparently, the story is based on a real-life UFO incident that took place in Hessdalen, Norway, and the reimagining of things with the added juice certainly spiced things up perfectly. The movie is helped by some decent CGI work, and the final moments where you see the alien have been handled nicely. The crazy story unfolds with plenty of cheesy moments, but the storytelling never gets dull. Yes, the movie could have been a bit shorter, especially with the first fifteen-twenty minutes being a tad bit slow.
But, once the story picks up, there is no looking back. If you are looking for a serious and terrifying alien experience, this is not the movie for you. It is all about the light-hearted nature of the narrative, and nothing is to be taken seriously. Go ahead and enjoy this movie with your whole family because there is nothing like some classic Norwegian humor to get you off the workday blues! If you want to go for a guilty pleasure that entertains with good special effects and a fun story, Blasted will be the perfect movie to opt for. Do let us know your thoughts on the movie in the comments below, and your theories about the alien creatures, if any!