‘No One Will Save You’ Movie Review: Kaitlyn Dever Rocks Battling Aliens In A Surprisingly Fun Film
Photo from 20th Century Studios
From Joe Peltzer
There has been no shortage of alien invasion flicks over the years, some leaning to the serious side (War of the Worlds) and others fully embracing the silly (Mars Attacks!). Brian Duffield’s No One Will Save You falls more towards the former with a survivalist energy that blends elements of Home Alone, Scream, and Signs for a surprisingly tense film where Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart, Dear Evan Hansen) shines.
Brynn (Dever) seems like a kind enough woman, tending to her home while listening to wholesome music and setting up a small village of miniatures in her dining room, but it quickly becomes clear that her community is alienating her. What’s more, she seems to be stuck reminiscing about an individual named Maude day in and day out when alien visitors descend upon her home, a battle for her future ensuing. There is a mysterious nature to No One Will Save You that is immediately intriguing, puzzle pieces hitting the table while the final picture is far from complete. A mystery is established early on: what did this woman do to ostracize her neighbors and others in town? Then, not far into the film, an alien arrives and the action begins.
I reference some of the sillier alien films because my first thought when seeing one of the creatures was that it was plucked straight from 2011’s Paul with big eyes and that round gray head on a lanky body. Design aside, the creatures’ presence is strange and their motives unknown, but actions incited by Dever’s Brynn soon lead to an adversarial posturing that results in alien after alien coming for her. It’s in these moments that the No One Will Save You shines, combining colorfully stunning visuals with a weaponized sound design that balances unique noise with impatient silence to really ratchet up the stakes. In the absence of much dialogue (or really none as Brynn takes it to the aliens), your emotional wellbeing is in the hands of the filmmaker. Duffield here takes a simple concept, one that has been done countless times, and injects a fresh direction thanks to excelling at the basics. Dever’s fantastic performance certainly helps, too.
The aforementioned mystery yields an emotional reveal in the third act that is cleverly intertwined with the main alien plot, but fails to satisfy in the end. Duffield seems to be playing with the ideas of remorse, forgiveness, and second chances, but it is clumsily pieced together in an ambiguous conclusion that doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the film. Viewers are left questioning whether they really do like this Brynn character; I am still not sure if I like where she ends up or feel as though she deserves another fate.
Regardless of the last 10 minutes, No One Will Save You is a pleasant surprise and a ton of edge-of-your-seat fun. Dever once again shows why she is one of the best young actors working today and Duffield uses all of the tools in the cinematic war-chest to ensure she has a worthy, effective vehicle. Like last year’s Prey, this is a film that should have bypassed Hulu and went to theaters. Audiences would have had a blast!
Rating: 4/5
No One Will Save You streams on Hulu this Friday.
