Alice is a film with a very similar premise to the 2020 film Antebellum but Alice takes the earlier film’s concept further. Indeed, it takes the more interesting route. Where Antebellum ends and I asked the question “OK… now what?”, this film answers it. Mostly.

Minor spoilers for this movie and Antebellum. Antebellum was about a slave plantation where, unbeknownst to the audience, the slaves were actually kidnapped black people from modern America. Alice is more interesting in that the black folk were born into this cruel, throwback system and don’t realize it’s not the 1800s. In fact, it’s 1973 as runaway Alice finds out half-way through the film.

There’s the kernel of two potentially great movies here but the film squanders its opportunity to go with either. It’s unfortunate because I was really into this flick for the first two acts, only to have the third act simply not deliver.

The first film could have taken the premise more seriously. Really analyze the horror, involve the justice system, reveal the plantation to the rest of the country, and show us how people react. That would probably require a full season of prestige television though.

The second film could have been a Tarantino-esque blood-filled revenge fantasy. And it’s no accident the film is set in 1973 where Alice experiences for the first time Jet magazine, Sanford and Son, and, most importantly, Pam motherfucking Grier. It really felt like it was going to go for some action-packed catharsis in a ’70s era Coffee/Cleopatra Jones throwback.

But… it only kind of half-way does that and ends pretty much exactly the way Antebellum ends: with the question of “now what?” going unanswered. So we don’t really get the mad-dog joy of a revenge fantasy and we don’t get the serious approach either. We get a movie that goes half-way only and stops. And where it stops just feels messy and unrewarding.

Such a disappointment… but the movie is still pretty enjoyable for the first two acts. Watching Keke Palmer come to grips with reality is interesting on both a Twilight Zone and honest, emotionally raw level. Though, honestly, I’d also understand if a viewer takes a look at the premise and considers it in bad taste. Fair enough.

Score: 79