Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou and Eliane Umuhire

Directed by Michael Samoski

Paramount, out now

Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) is a hospice patient who cares about her cat, Frodo, and no one else. Trapped in New York when the aliens fall, Sam finds herself strangely liberated. Everyone else wants out. She wants pizza. And terrified law student Eric (Joseph Quinn) is going to help her get it.

Director and co-writer Michael Samoski is best known for the quietly extraordinary Cage movie Pig and he brings the same emotional awareness, and eccentricity, to this story.  Sam really does just want pizza. She gets it too and Samoski and co-writer John Krasinski do great work showing how that single-minded determination is both armour and cage for her. It’s an act of very specific rebellion, denial faced outwards and Nyong’o’s exploration of it cannot be looked away from. It’s one of the most intelligent, near silent performances I’ve seen in a long time.

Quinn’s Eric is both the perfect companion for her and just as quietly revolutionary. Quinn’s a big hearted actor and the perfect choice for Eric. Young, innocent, terrified and much easier to rattle than Sam, Eric feels like he’s in danger throughout the movie, and having the young white male lead fill that spot is as refreshing as it is unsettling.

Together, these two wounded people make their way across a wounded city, shot with clear eyes by Pat Scola. This is where the monsters get to show their teeth and there are countless scenes with them where Scola and Samoski found new ways to terrify us. A chase through a flooding tunnel, a second down a pier and a rain of them falling from skyscrapers are all terrifyingly handled and viscerally executed. There’s also some interesting lore implications here, as we see what they feed from and, perhaps, that there is more than one type. The ties to the previous movies are nicely handled too, especially the welcome return of Djimon Hounsou as Henri.

But this is ultimately a story about two people and pizza, with the end of the world as a backdrop. It’s sweet and spiky, deeply moving and features a superhumanly patient cat and an ending which mirrors and tops the cathartic shotgun pump of the original.

Verdict: Not the movie you expect, but the one we deserve and a remarkable cinematic experience. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart