Occupation: Rainfall Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		1.5

Occupation: Rainfall Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 10, 2021

I'm frankly not sure what is funnier, the fact that Occupation: Rainfall is a sequel to a film few will probably have ever heard of, or the fact that I actually reviewed Occupation a few years ago and had absolutely no memory of it until I started doing background research on this particular film. As I jokingly mentioned in our Occupation Blu-ray review, Australia has been the unlikely focal nation for all sorts of apocalyptic mayhem in any number of films, and this apparently nascent franchise is just one of several movies that feature plucky Down Under-ers proving they have the "right stuff", in this particular case the fortitude to fight invading aliens.

With a plot that seems cobbled together from any number of higher profile alien invasion movies, and characters who are similarly ripped from the headlines of other, better, films, a plot summary for Occupation: Rainfall can probably be adequately summed up with the phrase "things go boom. . .again". This is a film where any ostensible "human" or even human-alien interaction is merely a pretense to get to the next action set piece, and the film at least offers some passably visceral effects work in that regard.

For those who have an unquenchable thirst for more story details, my colleague Brian Orndorf offers some in his review of the film.

Occupation: Rainfall Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Occupation: Rainfall is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I'm starting to wonder if Lionsgate has "changed partners" in terms of some of its workflow to get Blu-rays ready for market, for this is another relatively recent release from the studio/label that shows pretty significant banding, something that only rarely used to show up on Lionsgate releases. This time it's noticeable throughout the transfer, perhaps exacerbated by special effects that tend to feature sudden changes in lighting intensity, but anyone used to catching sight of those telltale "ripples" in differing tones of light will have the makings of a perhaps dangerous drinking game if they take a sip every time some show up. The film was captured with ever popular Arri Alexa and I'm assuming the DI was finished at 2K, and aside from the omnipresent banding, occasional noise and just a hint of macroblocking (that's said with tongue at least a bit in cheek, lest it not be clear), things look relatively well detailed, especially in the non-CGI moments. This film does have a bit more grading and lighting tweaks than its predecessor, and occasional dimly lit or heavily graded moments fall prey to what I've termed "Alexa murk". That said, it's probably some of the compression anomalies that will be most distracting to ardent videophiles. My score is 3.25.

Occupation: Rainfall Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For what I'm assuming was not an overly extravagantly budgeted feature, Occupation: Rainfall offers a reasonably robust DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, though the closing credits tout a Dolby Atmos track ("in selected theaters") which, considering some of the "over the top" effects work (literally and figuratively) probably would have been preferable for this Blu-ray release. What's here, though, is nicely immersive in the many action sequences, where battle sounds populate the surround channels and LFE makes regular incursions. Dialogue and score are rendered without any issues. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Occupation: Rainfall Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Luke Sparke


• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Luke Sparke, Producers Carly Imrie & Carmel Imrie, Actor Zachary Garred and Visual Effects Supervisor Alex Becconsall


• Sydney Escape (HD; 3:51) intercuts scenes from the film with one of the recording sessions for the score. You figure it out.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 12:57) feature optional commentary by Writer / Director Luke Sparke.

Additionally, a digital copy is included, and packaging features a slipcover.

Occupation: Rainfall Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kind of incredibly, there's evidently a third film in the Occupation universe currently in the planning stages. This strikes me as kind of unbelievable, since according to some online aggregators, the first film only brought in a few thousand bucks at the box office, and this second film probably suffered in terms of ticket sales due to the ongoing pandemic. One way or the other, though, there's simply not anything very exciting here, and certainly nothing at all innovative. This is the rare Lionsgate release that is beset with some noticeable compression issues, but audio is fine and the supplements enjoyable, for those who are considering making a purchase.