Synopsis
A decorated Marine goes on a rescue mission to save his two young sons from an unhuman threat. As their journey takes them in increasingly dangerous directions, the boys will need to leave their childhoods behind.
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Cast
- Riz AhmedMalik Khan
- Octavia SpencerHattie Hayes
- Lucian-River Mirage ChauhanJay Khan
- Rory CochraneShepard West
- Aditya GeddadaBobby Khan
- Janina GavankarPiya
- Misha CollinsDylan
- Keith SzarabajkaGrant
- Shane McRaeLance
- Antonio JaramilloRaul
Recommendations
- 80
Time Out
Encounter has a whole lot of heart and takes a sensitive approach to PTSD that is underscored by a cultural tension that comes to a head in its high-octane, action-packed final act. - 80
The Hollywood Reporter
It’s a surprisingly meaty work that works on several levels at once. - 80
Screen Daily
In Pearce’s sure hands, the film sustains its tension, even as it sideswipes the audience with slickly executed change of tone. - 80
Variety
It’s deceptively simple yet deeply philosophical stuff, channeled by first-rate genre filmmaking. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
Riz Ahmed takes Encounter a long way. But he can't single-handedly carry a film that never quite figures out what it wants to be — stark sci-fi paranoia? Psychological family drama? Desert road-trip apocalypse? - 60
Screen Rant
While the drama gets the wind knocked out of its sails after introducing other characters, Encounter gets in plenty of emotional, nuanced scenes between Malik and his sons that become the beating heart of this often unsettling, uneven, yet strangely mesmerizing film. - 55
TheWrap
For a film that tries to be a bravura piece of genre-hopping cinema, “Encounter” too often feels confused rather than assured. - 50
The Playlist
The film’s saving graces is not only Ahmed, who, as you’d expect, elevates the material every chance he gets, but his on-screen connection with Chauhan. Somehow, the relatively unknown Canadian actor gives one of the best performances from a young actor in recent memory.
