The UFO community isn’t a monolith. Among true believers, there are two large factions butting heads over why E.T. is visiting earth.
First, there are the people who believe aliens are cosmic space brothers. This train of thought gained momentum way back in the ’50s with the wave of UFO contactees. This group thinks alien races are here on earth for humanity’s benefit. They see aliens as enlightened beings, here to prevent nuclear war, cure cancer, and end our dependency on fossil fuels.
And then there are the people preaching the UFO threat narrative. These folks claim aliens are here to mutilate our cattle, abduct unwilling citizens, and plunder our natural resources. In their eyes, we’re in the early stages of an invasion.
Both points of view are just theories. No one has irrefutable evidence to back up either claim. But the phenomenon’s head-scratching nature means there are plenty of opportunities for believers on both sides to project their beliefs.
Alien Endgame goes all-in on the alien threat narrative.
In its opening moments, the documentary asks viewers if they’re prepared for a war of the worlds before throwing out the claim we’re in an alien cold war.
Despite dropping this explosive claim, Alien Endgame isn’t as off-the-wall bonkers as other investigative docs in the genre. Alien Endgame makes a lot of bold claims, and it (mostly) attempts to back them up with well-researched cases and knowledgeable interview subjects.
Alien Endgame is an investigative documentary that follows “government insider” Rich Emberlin. Emberlin spent 30 years in law enforcement, working for the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service. He believes we’re in the midst of a military coverup. The film follows him on his mission to expose “the government’s greatest secret.”
And what is that secret, you ask? Why are aliens stalking our military, and is our planet in jeopardy?
Emberlin travels across the United States speaking to people with incredible UFO stories. Folks like retired air force security officer Mario Woods. In the late ‘70s, Woods oversaw security at a nuclear missile launch control facility.
On one fateful night, Woods and his partner investigated an alert at a nearby facility. The men encountered a giant glowing sphere hovering over a missile silo. Woods describes it as about 100 feet tall and several hundred feet in diameter, and says he felt the heat radiating off the object.
Woods breaks into tears describing the encounter’s surreal turn of events. While he can share what happened now, Woods required a hypnotist to uncover the traumatic memories he buried away that night.
The doc features footage of his hypnosis session. Woods lays spread out on the hypnotist’s couch like he’s making a snow angel, and it’s hard not to feel for the guy as his voice trembles and his body quakes. I wouldn’t bet my life that he encountered alien beings, but I have no doubt he believes this happened.
Woods remembers being taken aboard a craft by “long-headed beings with eyes that looked right through him.” He recalls being separated from his partner and receiving a physical inspection by beings that are not kind, not good people. He claims that whatever it is these beings continue to do, they’re not done yet.
Alien Endgame spotlights more stories like Woods, detailing nuclear site incursions, fighter plane dog fights, and encounters with USOs (unidentified submerged objects). The film features a host of credible witnesses, such as former military personnel and CIA operatives.
If you’re part of UFO Twitter, you’ll recognize names like Nick Pope and Jeremy McGowan. And Michio Kaku seems to be making the UFO documentary rounds. After his enthusiastic showing in Caroline Cory’s A Tear in the Sky, the theoretical physicist shows up to chime in on UFOs. It’s about time someone of his stature joins the conversation. Kaku enthusiastically points out how the burden of proof has shifted from the believers to the scientists.
Alien Endgame doesn’t hide its desire to be provocative reality TV. So it doesn’t hold itself to the highest journalistic standards. A literal shadowy figure called Agent X shows up to gossip about the granddaddy of all UFO stories: Roswell. Agent X tells a story about working in a facility where he stumbled into a box marked Roswell. He won’t share the details, of course, but he states what was inside 100% proves Roswell happened.
I say this all the time in my UFO Movie Club reviews, and I’ll say it again. This movie could use some critical voices. I’m talking about UFO non-believers and people who believe UFOs are real but don’t subscribe to the threat narrative.
Alien Endgame makes some all-caps WILD claims and backs them up with mostly credible witness accounts. This isn’t one of those docs that claims the Loch Ness monster is guarding an underwater alien base for beings from Zeta Reticuli. These cases have merit, and not challenging them only does each account a disservice. If these alleged encounters hold up to scrutiny, it makes them even more credible.
Presenting alternative points of view prevents these types of docs from coming off like tabloidy hack jobs. Alien Endgame sensationalizes the UFO mystery to stir up drama, much like Fox News manufacturing a crisis-of-the-week to scare people into panic-watching.
When given the option to titillate or educate, Alien Endgame chooses the former every time. So if you’re agnostic about UFOs, all the doc’s fearmongering may be too much to bear – no one has proven UFOs are alien craft. And yet, this doc tells us we’re currently at war. But there are still plenty of fascinating accounts and intriguing interviewees wrapped up in shameless sensationalism.
If you take the doc for what it is, Alien Endgame offers 90-minutes of conspiratorial edutainment.
Alien Endgame arrives on Discovery+ on May 20, 2022.
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