Lumina delivers an action-packed alien adventure (spoiler-free review)

Lumina is one of those films that's a heck of a lot of fun to watch on a Saturday night in the summer. It has aliens, alien/human hybrids, and gnarly creatures that look like they belong in something from a midnight creature feature. While it's certainly not A-grade sci-fi horror, Lumina has more than its fair share of entertaining sequences and deadly alien action.

Written and directed by Gino McKoy, the feature stars Rupert Lazarus as Alex, whose girlfriend, Tatiana (Eleanor Williams), goes missing from Alex's party after a freak attack by aliens.

The rest of the film centers around Alex's quest to save his beloved from the sinister ETs before they make her a human/alien hybrid. He's joined by his friends, Patricia (Sidney Nicole Rogers), George (Ken Lawson), and his ex, Delilah (Andrea Tivada), many of whom were at the party the night Tatiana disappeared.

One of the film's strongest elements is its eye-popping locations and settings. The Moroccan locations are very much their own characters, including a few that serve as other planets. The cinematography successfully makes Morocco look both beautiful and totally strange and uncanny. Meanwhile, the set designs in the film's final act also look really cool, enhancing the film's sci-fi elements and making it feel like these characters are actually in an alien space station.

The feature's premise also works to create a high-stakes gambit to find Tatiana and save her from frightening forces. Yet, the journey to her feels like it takes too long. The film's middle sags quite a bit, even when the group encounters Thom, in a glorified cameo by Eric Roberts, who poses a threat and is either some Man in Black or an alien/human hybrid. I'm not quite sure. Despite the slow pacing, however, the last act is action packed and features some cool alien creature designs that look like a B-movie cross between Venom and a Xenomorph.

Overall, while Lumina isn't groundbreaking, it's still decent sci-fi horror and a gratifying summer movie. It features wild alien conspiracy theories, threatening creatures, and a decent pack of core characters. The pacing is sluggish at points, but the last act makes up for it.

Lumina arrives in theaters on July 12.