**UPDATE** Hah! I came here to review this sad film after watching it last night (Dec 2023).... only to find I'd already seen the film and extensively reviewed it here (below) sometime in the past. That's how unmemorable Alpha is. Sad to say. Had potential and clearly much investment, but lame directing and acting through and through neuters it completely.

**ORIGINAL** Off the top, this is a visually beautiful film in terms of landscapes, vistas, skies. But don't be fooled... there's more CGI in them thar views than you can even dream of. Trained eyes see that most of this film was shot on green screen and the rest is entirely CGI compositing. But hey, that's not my gripe with this film. I enjoyed all those views and scenes.

My gripe is with the utter lack of attention to making the acting characters authentic, every one of them. It is all too common and disappointing for films with stories in exotic settings -- in this case, 20k yrs ago -- to completely blow it when it comes to making the characters believable.

For me, every single character in Alpha looked like a modern person that had walked into the studio off the street an hour or two earlier. Start with the white perfect teeth -- completely unrealistic since way back then most teeth would be missing, malformed or dirtier than dirt. Then there's the freshly scrubbed faces, and the coiffed hair. For example, every time the young man at the center of the story leans forward, his straight line hair cut would sway into view revealing the precision cut work of the hairstylist he'd just been to.

Continuing... the behaviors and gestures of the characters, especially the lead characters, were totally modern, self-assured, wink-and-a-nod, knowing glances, charismatic smiles (main dude, mainly), smooth movements in every step. I swear there was one point in the film when it became so obvious that these guys (I think there was one very modern looking woman) were just walking through the script paces, no attempt to seem natural.

Here's the deal. The producers of Alpha should have invested in a qualified technical expert on paleo human behavior, anthropology and forensic anatomy as it applies to motion. WIkipedia is not enough if you want a film that rises to the level of authenticity this one could have. Yes, as is often quoted, humans from that era were anatomically identical (for the most part) to modern humans -- they'd mix in with a modern crowd. But only on macro appearance. They'd stand out glaringly for their lesser evolved behaviors, movements and sensibilities -- not to mention their stinking dirty bodies, horrid teeth, shocking scars and wounds, and vastly different psychologies and social skills.

For me, lack of authenticity turned Alpha into a silly-but-beautifully-rendered film instead of a masterpiece that'll stand the test of time. This was not a Stanley Kubrick film. And, I didn't even mention the horrible cardboard acting. The young boy at the center has no acting talent whatsoever. Send him back for seasoning. Woof!