Short FilmShort Film Review

RAKKA (2017) Short Film: Aliens Have Invaded, Enslaved Humanity, & Terraformed Earth

Bleeding Alien Rakka

Sigourney Weaver Stars in Rakka Short Film

Neill Blomkamp‘s Rakka (2017) short film stars Sigourney Weaver, Brandon Auret, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Mike Huff, and Carly Pope. The Rakka short film is about the fall of humanity, humanity’s conquerors, and the underground resistance (literally) that has persisted, undaunted by overwhelming opposition.

The first few minutes of Rakka are comprised of an exquisite voice-over (performed by Carly Pope) detailing humanity’s enslavement and what the aliens were doing to Earth. Seeing it as it was spoken of was thrilling.

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I have seen numerous short films over the years that have run the gamut of quality, from low to high. Rakka is at the very top-end of the short film food chain. I tried to multi-task while watching Rakka but it was futile. I couldn’t. I stopped and stared at the computer screen as the narrative of Rakka unfolded.

One of the narrative’s standout elements was the pyromaniac Nosh (Brandon Auret). Like the criminals in The Walking Dead that had either been locked up or had lived on the fringes of society before its collapse, Nosh was in bliss. He was gleeful and only helped the resistance to kill people, blow stuff up, and give birth to bigger fire creations. The invasion to Nosh was a God-send and he was not afraid to say it.

The human experimentation aspect of Rakka was excellent. I was dying to see if Amir (Eugene Khumbanyiwa) was going to speak to Sarah (Carly Pope) about what it was that he saw in his visions. Rakka leaves the viewer wanting more, whether that was its purpose or not. A lot of thought went into characters that were only on-screen for twenty plus minutes.

Spoiler Begin – The idiotic narrative of the fifth season of Fringe contained a terraforming subplot like in Rakka. In Rakka, however, the viewer could see and feel the effects that it had and was continuing to have on Earth – End Spoiler. The shot from outer-space was a stunner and highly effective.

I am looking forward to watching the other two short films in Volume 1 from Oats Studios.

Rakka also starred Connor Page, Jay Anstey, Justin Shaw, Carla Marais, Ryan Angilley, Alec Gillis, Ruan Coetzee, Paul Davies, and Pieter Jacobz.

Watch the Rakka Short Film. Leave your thoughts on it below in the comments section. Readers seeking more short films can visit our Short Film Page, our Short Film Twitter Page, our Short Film Facebook Page, and our Short Film Google+ Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.

Rakka Short Film

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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