Captive State is a sometimes frustrating, but always captivating, gritty alien thriller. The frustration comes from the way the film is constructed, in that it can feel disjointed, lacking a natural flow of things. This is especially evident in the middle of the film when characters are just “forgotten about” for 30 or so minutes before re-appearing again. But everything does come together nicely in the end, not without a couple of head scratching revelations though. However, the mood here is perfectly set from the get-go as it’s all very darkly paranoid, and stays that way for the duration of the film.  And while there are no breakthrough performances, Goodman proves once more to be reliably good in everything he does (just try to name a bad John Goodman film). So while not perfect, the intriguing plot and cerebral tone are more than enough to keep you captivated during Captive State.