49
Metascore
5 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- The rare example of an understated, effectively told young-adult yarn that places emphasis on grounded characters, nuanced performances and stunning visuals over convolution and clichés, Canadian filmmaker Jason Stone’s At First Light boasts unpretentious but exciting surface-level charms.
- 70Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustLos Angeles TimesKevin CrustStone doesn’t explicitly ask the straightforward, big-picture questions you’ll find in a film like “Arrival.” But his attention to detail and character, and his ability to render those people in recognizable settings, is engrossing.
- 40Film ThreatFilm ThreatTry as I might, I just wasn’t all that invested in the fate of Alex and Sean or their own private close encounter with the third kind. Which is a shame as the filmmaker shows a keen flair for creating both an interesting visual and aural palette.
- 40The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweThe Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweLacking the flash of big-budget blockbusters or the originality of a uniquely imagined world, First Light is left trying to make the best of overly familiar sci-fi themes.
- 40VarietyPeter DebrugeVarietyPeter DebrugeApart from the uncommon notion that these mysterious visitors may actually mean us well, the film seems a little too comfortable with clichés, right down to the men in black who show up mid-movie to ruin everybody’s fun.