Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.
Story that is so down to earth in spite of talking about alien creatures that you think it could really happen ... only, it is not thrilling and gets boring at some point. The two main characters, though, are very well played by McNairy and Able.
I enjoyed this film. There, I said it. I have watched it twice and will again at a future time. I see it more as suspense rather than as an action thriller, the difference Hitchcock explained between a bomb going off and the tension of wondering if it is going to go off. A bulging muscled hero or a bulging cleavaged heroine wouldn't have improved it in my eyes.
This is a different sort of alien invasion movie. In fact, it almost feels to me like the invaders dropped in on the planet like drunken tourists and now find they aren't able to fit in or leave but are instead stuck in one bar fight after another. Hmm, okay, that metaphor doesn't quite work, but it feels to me that they aren't here to conquer but rather to try to live their lives...