Alarum (film)
2025 film by Michael Polish
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Alarum is a 2025 American action crime thriller film directed by Michael Polish and starring Scott Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Willa Fitzgerald, Mike Colter, Ísis Valverde, and Joel Cohen. In this film, Joe and Lara, who were once rivals, fall in love during a mission and decide to go rogue to get married. They manage to escape their respective agencies and establish a quiet life, but their peace is shattered when a plane crash near their cabin reveals a hard drive that several organizations want.
- Joel Cohen
- Thiago Andreo Barbosa Nogueira
- Randall Emmett
| Alarum | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Michael Polish |
| Written by | Alexander Vesha |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Jayson Crothers |
| Edited by | Paul Buhl |
| Music by | Yagmur Kaplan |
Production company | Convergence Entertainment Group |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $254,370[2] |
Alarum was released in the United States in select theaters and on video on demand on January 17, 2025.
Plot
In 2019, CIA spy Archibald falls in love with rival spy Lara during a mission in Prague and decides to leave the organization and marry her. They successfully escape their respective organizations and she joins the mysterious organization "Alarum", which aims to overthrow the tyranny of the global intelligence network; Archibald adopts the name Joe.
Five years later, during their honeymoon at a remote Polish resort, Lara secretly monitors Roland Rousseau, a businessman who had laundered money for arms dealers. One morning, a light aircraft belonging to the Alarum crashes near the resort. Joe recovers a USB drive he cuts out of one the assasinated pilots that appears to be from the DEA.
Soon after, Orlin, an agent of the Yellowjacket organization, and several of his henchmen attack for the drive. Orlin kills Roland's wife, Bridgette, who happened to be with Joe in the woods when the plane went down.[3]
CIA Director Burbridge sends an Arbiter named Chester to steal the USB drive and execute Joe. Orlin leads a large group of Russian mercenaries to hunt down Joe and Lara; Joe temporarily teams up with Chester to fight the mercenaries, while Lara tells Roland to hide and then she faces the mercenaries who have taken over the resort alone.
To be on the safe side, Chester sneakily injects Joe with what appears to be the same poison he used to kill someone earlier, giving him only an hour to live. While Orlin and his men are bombarding them, Chester discovers that Joe always had the USB drive, so he took it and left, leaving Joe alone to face Orlin. Orlin accepted Joe's suggestion to team up and temporarily cease hostilities.
Burbridge decides to send two drones to wipe out Joe, Lara, and Orlin. After Joe and Orlin shoot down one of the drones, Orlin is poised to kill Joe, but Lara appears in time and shoots him dead.
At dawn, Joe and the injured Lara are by the lake when Chester arrives. Chester discovers earlier he had been tricked by Joe to drank the poison he thought he had used on Joe, so proposes an alliance to help them wipe out Burbridge and their enemies. Joe agrees and gives him the antidote, after which an Alarum helicopter arrives to pick them up.
Cast
- Scott Eastwood as Agent Joe Travers / Archibald
- Sylvester Stallone as Agent Chester
- Willa Fitzgerald as Agent Lara Travers
- Mike Colter as Orlin
- Ísis Valverde as Bridgette Rousseau
- Joel Cohen as Roland Rousseau[3]
- D. W. Moffett as Director Burbridge
- Mark Polish as CIA Agent Kirby
- Abigail Spear as Poppy
- Anton Narinsky as Krol
- La Monde Byrd as Splinter
Production
The film was awarded $5,863,392 from the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit Program on February 13, 2024.[4][5]
Principal photography began on February 26 in Oxford, Ohio at Hueston Woods State Park,[6] and wrapped on May 14.[7]
In May 2024, it was announced that Signature Entertainment acquired U.K. and Irish distribution rights to the film.[8]
Release
Theatrical
Alarum was released in the United States in select theaters and on video on demand on January 17, 2025.[9]
Reception
Box office
As of September 24, 2025, Alarum grossed $254,370 in the United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Colombia, and Russia.[2]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 0% of 22 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Alarum is nothing less than a lackluster spy thriller with uninspired performances, pedestrian action, and a convoluted but banal plot."[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 23 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[11]
Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com awarded the film one star out of four.[12] On The Guardian, Leslie Felperin awarded the film one star out of five, writing that "a film so bad it shames American cinema itself. And it wasn’t even made in Hollywood!"[13]
Accolades
| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Raspberry Awards | March 14, 2026 | Worst Actor | Scott Eastwood | Nominated | [14] |
| Worst Supporting Actor | Sylvester Stallone | Nominated | |||
| Worst Supporting Actress | Isis Valverde | Nominated |
