Alpha is perhaps an odd departure for movie maker Albert Hughes, it also proved to be a good move financially. While it sports a familiar story line and unnecessarily stretches the boundaries of believability - it just looks so visually striking you can't help getting involved with its protagonists struggle to survive.

All performances are first class (including the Wolf) and the main characters persona is likeable, there's a fine ethereal music score but, it's the production design and sweeping vistas that are the real star. The decision to let the viewer imagine much of the off-screen violence helped, that said, with so much CGI used why the need to kill 5 real animals!? Something wrong here moviemakers!