I went into this one cold and was expecting a bit of an action movie about resistance against alien invaders. While I got the resistance part right, the action part was not there. It turned out to be a good thing as Captive State was more interested in a long game approach to storytelling and planning against the aliens, than the smashy exploding of an action film.
I don't think I have seen a modern sci-fi war film that takes the road of proper revolution planning against a foe that is much more capable than you are. Captive State weaves a tale about a human resistance cell and how they operate to keep hidden and prepare for a counter-attack. The problem I had with the story was that they kind of gave away the exact plan at the beginning of the film. Then instead of getting to the meat of the story, we are red herringed with snippets of random people who are involved in the fighting of aliens. But since they are not all part of the resistance group, they never really connect. The idea of showing the way people have taken to having alien overlords, while not a bad concept, lead Captive State to feel very disjointed for the first half. We jumped from person to person, never really getting enough time with any of them to begin to care. It's realistic for the scenario but made for a dull watch for at least the first third of the movie. When it does finally settle in, the plot kicks it into high gear, and although you pretty much know what's going to happen. The last half is quite compelling.
As for the cast, John Goodman always seems to impress me, and although some of the other more recognizable actors don't really see a lot of screen time, they all fit. The movie's dialogue can be a bit cliched, especially when it comes to the two brothers, but it gets the job done. I think the biggest shame, which may be mostly due to budget constraints, is that we never really get a feel for the aliens. Their takeover of the earth is done with newsreel exposition. We barely see the Legislators, which isn't necessarily bad, but we also learn very little about them as a race. They act as effective villains from behind the scenes, and yet they seemed so faceless. My brain just sees some shots of far off alien mobile armor and wants to know more.
So after a rocky start, Captive State rights itself enough to be worth recommending. It won't blow your mind, especially if you have seen a lot of sci-fi and war movies, but there are a lot worse examples of alien occupation movies out there.