Tag Archives: Aliens

Starship Troopers Review

Posted on by
Reply

This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Starship Troopers is definitely a very well known film even if it’s one that you might not know the details of. It’s the title itself that is more popular than anything and the franchise has withstood the test of time. It fully embraces the sci-fi nature of the adventure and this feels like a true Star Trek type adventure. It can get a little overly violent at times and you should definitely expect a big body count. There are parts of the film that work better than others but at the end of the day I’d say it was solid.

The movie starts off by explaining the situation which is that the bugs are slowly taking over large parts of the universe and the federation isn’t having any of that. They are always recruiting more people to stop these monsters but that also means that the body count is rather high. A lot of people don’t make it out of the situation in one piece which is what makes things tricky. Johnny’s parents don’t want him to enlist because they are wealthy so they could shield him from having to go and fight. Johnny wants to do his part though and additionally his girlfriend Carmen is enlisting so this way they can be together.

Unfortunately they are assigned to different platoons so they will need to try and make a long distance relationship work. This will be tricky though because Carmen’s commanding officer is a guy named Zander who has a lot of natural charm. Meanwhile Dizzy has always liked Johnny but he never really noticed her since he only had eyes for Carmen. Carl is the only one standing apart from all of the drama and he is determined to do his part for the war effort. This is a huge war against the bugs and so it makes sense that the friends wouldn’t all be together. That would probably be a little too convenient right? That’s actually something the movie does really well which is to build a realistic environment and world that shows the scope of this battle.

One thing Starship Troopers does right here is establishing all of the characters and giving them each things to do. They all have individual goals of their own outside of what they are doing as a team. Sometimes it can be easy to zero in on the main character but everyone gets their time to shine here. Now some characters like Carl do look really suspect in the end though. It’s hard to tell me that the sacrifices were really worth it. Carl ends up being a very logical type of character who believes the ends justify the means and I tend to be at odds with characters like that. After a point sacrifices just get too numerous even if you do win in the end.

Johnny was a decent character but he made a whole lot of mistakes. I would say 1 or 2 too many as the movie went on. The scene where he takes off someone’s helmet to try and repair it before that guy gets blown to smithereens was a bad look. It seems like this is textbook safety 101 not to remove a helmet during a live firing session so that just wasn’t good. Then later on he’s still chasing after Carmen even when it’s clear that she’s moved on. Yeah it probably sucks for him that they had to break up like this but try to take it with class. Instead he picks a fight with Zander and the whole thing wasn’t a good look for him. He does put up a good fight there so physically he is strong but it wasn’t the best battle to fight.

Meanwhile Zander seemed rather reasonable the whole time. Yeah I thought the romance was weak since it felt like a total rebound but as a character he’s just really confident in himself and has the skills to back it up. He’s very similar to Johnny since they’re both rather cocky but Zander has more experience under his belt and you figure that he won’t be making any critical mistakes during clutch time. That’s what really separates the two of them.

Dizzy is definitely more on the tragic side since her feelings for Johnny are basically shut out for most of the adventure and then things get tricky later on. She was always good at giving him moral support though and seemed like a good friend. As for Carmen, well breaking up with Johnny and moving on so quickly was definitely not doing her any favors here. I feel like moving on that quickly just isn’t good and it was a little overly optimistic to assume they could go back to being good friends right off the bat. It’s really not a relationship change that can be accomplished so quickly and she should have given Johnny more space. He didn’t take this very well of course and at the same time it’s fair to say that rushing up to him as if they were still good friends was too soon.

By the end of the film the heroes all have to put aside their differences to take down the bugs though. The war is what matters above all else and these bugs are strong. Half of the landing parties are decimated on site because the bugs are largely immune to the guns except for if you hit them in very specific places. It is difficult to do that though and so the body count continues to rise real fast. This is mainly where the violence comes from as the characters are eaten and quite literally ripped apart. You feel like the main characters needed better weapons badly because otherwise it’s like you’re entering just to get slaughtered.

The film does acknowledge the propaganda the federation puts out to the new recruits. It was handled in an interesting way where commercials just take over the movie from time to time and they’re all about how cool it is to become a soldier. The whole world is built that way and it makes for an interesting dynamic. Most of the commercials are fairly cringe although I suspect that is the point here.

It’ll be fun to see Johnny as more of an experienced pilot. There’s a lot more you could do with this premise and way more battles that are to be fought. The aliens continue to improve after all and the humans have to follow suit or they will quickly be surpassed on the evolutionary ladder. It adds an extra layer of tension to the adventure as opposed to these being mindless monsters so that’s a good thing. You also had a number of solid supporting characters like Jonny’s teacher and the head drill instructor. All of this combined to help make the film a more complete package.

Overall, Starship Troopers is a good movie. If you’re a little queasy about violence then it may give you pause but beyond that the movie delivers on the sci-fi aspects and there are a lot of fights. The movie also fleshes out the world around the fights a whole lot which I thought was a very good idea. It’s an important way to make you more invested in the overall experience and it succeeds. We’ll see if the other installments in the franchise can top this one or not.

Overall 6/10

The Tomorrow War Review

Posted on by
Reply


I remember thinking this film looked pretty good when the trailer first came out. Who doesn’t like a solid sci-fi film with aliens running around right? Throw in a bit of time travel and now you’ve got a recipe for success. It’s a pretty good film with a fun premise and a lot going on. You could definitely have some fun with sequels and other idea to expand the franchise especially depending on what time travel rules you want to use.

The movie starts out with Dan unfortunately not getting the job that he was hoping for. It puts a bit of a damper on things but he tries to keep a brave face on. Then during the World Cup a bunch of soldiers appear from the future. They explain that humanity is currently losing a battle against a bunch of aliens in 2051. They’ve run out of people to die in the present so they need sacrifices from the current timeline. Perhaps if they throw enough bodies at the aliens then they can finally win. This quickly becomes common place and over time there is a global draft where everyone has to participate.

If you are selected then you are warped into the future to be destroyed by the aliens. If you somehow manage to survive then you come back to the present with significant PTSD. Your family is given a lot of money though so they will be well taken care of. People are very jaded with this because of the low survival rate and people begin to wonder if this war is even worth it. When Dan is selected his wife Emmy says he should run away but he doesn’t like his odds and so he goes into the future. Time to blast some aliens!

I think one of the interesting aspects of the film is deciding if you would support the future war. After all I do think the opposing side here has some good points. One, this war has been going on for years and there has been no noticeable victories or reason for hope on the human side. So it really seems like people are just being sent to their deaths instead of being out there to make a difference. After a point, what is the use in sending more people to a war that has effectively already been lost? You also have to take a whole lot at face value from these soldiers because you don’t know for sure that the future is exactly as they say it is. The army won’t even let people see what these supposed aliens look like. What if they’re lying? If this was an M. Night Shymalan film you get the feeling that it all would have been a big trick and they were fighting in another country or something.

So the skepticism is absolutely justified. Personally I wouldn’t be a fan of fighting in the war and would be one of the ones trying to stop it. It’s deeper than a “This isn’t my problem” kind of mindset but just throwing your life away seems like a really bad idea. The army would need to be a lot more transparent about exactly what our lives are being used for before I could actually open myself up to the idea. It would also be a little concerning how the whole world just went along with this idea so quickly. It wouldn’t pass the smell test.

Of course the aliens are real and Dan finds this out the hard way as he goes to the future. These things look like mini Clovers from Cloverfield which seems to be an American monster thing at this point where Clover is used as the base for quite a few different creatures. They definitely look really intense and you would not want to have to fight one. The movie does a great job of really showing just how scary these creatures are and why people would get intimidated and traumatized so quickly. They would absolutely be enough to give a person nightmares. They’re also very durable as the guns don’t do much to them unless you strike at the weak point. A ton of people die during every skirmish for this reason.

Dan used to be a soldier and so he does a good job of adapting. I liked that he wasn’t like your typical rookie who has to ask a ton of questions and is constantly getting into trouble. Instead he puts his military experience to good use and is always ready for the fight. He does well all things considered and does have to make a lot of tough choices the whole time. He’s a character that is easy to sympathize with and root for.

Then you have Charlie who is effectively the comic relief here. He didn’t want to be here but it’s not like you can say no to the draft so he does his best. He’s a scientist which does come in handy later on in the film. Another ally is Dorian who has been through this draft several times at this point. He joins optionally because he would like to die on the battlefield and so he keeps on testing his limits. It’s really impressive that he lasted so long and the guy has great fundamentals. He makes sure to keep on learning from each of his trips and this pays off.

In the future Dan also meets his daughter Muri who is all grown up now. She’s a solid general even if I wouldn’t say all of the plans are sound. It’s got to be a big shock to be working with her father but Muri keeps her emotions grounded and does a good job of continuing to lead. She has a plan to possibly end this whole war but it won’t be easy and so the project is mainly kept a secret from most people. It’s no guarantee of victory after all so she can only hope that this will work out. It was nice to see her and Dan team up.

Dan’s father James also gets a fairly big role. The two of them had a falling out and the reasons for this are explained later on in the movie. Well this is James’ big chance to step up now since Dan really needs him and it’s a life or death moment. Both of them are able to put their history to the side to try and help out which was great. James was a fun character. He could certainly be gruff and is probably not the biggest people person but without him Dan would have absolutely been in trouble.

Finally you have Dan’s wife Emmy who has the tough job of working with survivors through their PTSD. It’s not a fun job and of course that’s a big part of why she doesn’t want Dan to leave since she knows this could happen to him. She was very supportive the whole time through thick and thin so she was a very solid character.

The movie has a number of plot twists and developments as things go on. They help to keep you on your toes the whole time and you expect this since there are aliens and time travel running around. There is one twist about Dan that is a little hard to believe though even if the circumstances had been different. I suppose within the multiverse of timelines it can happen though so you just have to really not think of this Dan as the same with an alternate version. This film isn’t portrayed as a multiverse though as it’s more of a linear timestream in which case I don’t think the twist would hold true.

I liked the time travel rules here though. Basically you can anchor the present and future together. Both are still moving forward so once you pick a spot then you are stuck to it. Additionally if the past you dies then the future you and your kids will immediately die if you were going to have them after the adventure. It’s a direct time travel system with clear rules that are easy to understand. It works well within this context and also explains why they wouldn’t just time travel to a few years ago to win the war quickly. There are rules that they just have to abide by.

It would have been fun to have seen the initial invasion by the aliens though. Maybe that could be for a prequel or something. There are a lot of ways to handle an alien invasion film though and starting off in the middle always works well. There is a lot of suspense here and the battles are on point. The graphics look good as well and the movie holds up well. I think it would have made for a fun theater watch if it had gone there.

There will be some times where you have to suspend your disbelief though when the humans are fighting the creatures. They are so fast and so powerful that you can’t outrun them and Dan has some plot armor to stay alive during some of the fights. It feels like the aliens drag things out against him when they were one hit KO’ng the other characters. The very last fight on the mountain is also hard to buy into. I just have to say that the humans are losing that fight. There’s no way they come out on top especially with how long the fight dragged on.

The final fight is rather brutal with the battle going back and forth but humans are going to lose that battle of attrition every time. It made for an epic climax but I didn’t buy into the outcome. The film can be a little brutal and violent with the humans and aliens fighting. It’s nothing like Alien or anything like that but these creatures are certainly not taking prisoners. You can expect a lot of big injuries and fatalities throughout. It does really show why the casualties kept going up at the rate with which the aliens were slaughtering everyone though. The film doesn’t really linger on any moment too long though so I wouldn’t say it’s anything that should hit you too hard for the most part. Mainly it’s standard thriller stuff.

Overall, The Tomorrow War is a good alien invasion movie. The body count is definitely very high with just about everyone dying in the future and a ton in the present. This was not going to be an easy fight for the human race that’s for sure. There’s a lot of avenues you can take for a sequel so it’ll be interesting to see how that goes. The ending probably could have been a bit happier and I probably would have changed one scene but ultimately it’s got a lot of replay value throughout.

Overall 6/10

Battle in Outer Space Review

Posted on by
Reply


With a title like this you know that you’re gonna be in for a fun sci-fi ride. Well, Battle in Outer Space definitely does not disappoint on that front. You’ve got a lot going on here right from the jump and the pacing never slows down. The movie actually goes on past where I thought it was going to end and makes for a good final act. While I would have liked the aliens to have definitely appeared more, I can’t say that the film ultimately disappointed me. It had a lot of fun moments throughout.

The film starts off with a lot of crazy disasters happening across the planet. It’s almost as if gravity just stops working at times which is making things very tricky. The UN holds a summit and while this is going on the aliens abduct Dr. Ahmed using some kind of tractor beam. When he shows up again to sabotage things the scientists are ready and take him out. We are able to locate the enemy base in space and so we send a rocket over there to stop them. What will make matters difficult though is how easily they can mind control someone. What if one of the main characters has been taken? Iwamura and Katsumiya have two main objectives. They have to stop the aliens once and for all, then they also have to rescue Etsuko who was kidnapped.

Let me start off with the weakest part of the film which is definitely the fact that the aliens barely appear at all throughout the story. There is one main scene where you actually see them but they look super weak as Katsumiya is able to take down a bunch of them. Basically these guys are not immune to the space guns and also have no super strength. Katsumiya literally just runs over and grabs Etsuko. He then pulls her out despite the two of them being surrounded by so many aliens. Even all of them combined weren’t able to do anything to him and that’s just a bad look.

It’s clear that the aliens absolutely need their tech to win in this case as the individual aliens are super weak. It’s certainly an odd thing to see as you’re usually used to the aliens looking really tough and formidable. That just wasn’t the case here, not by a longshot. I liked the tech and they certainly talk a good game from behind the loudspeakers but that’s about it. You would need to see a whole lot more out of them in order to really have any kind of confidence in them as true antagonists.

Well, I suppose you don’t need a strong antagonist to have a good alien invasion film and this title proves it. The reason I enjoyed this film first boils down to the writing. The film stays engaging throughout as we have quality characters here and a solid story going on. I always like a classic alien invasion and getting to see the United Nations deliberating about it was cool. We really got to see the governmental side of things here as there is no super main character here to save the day.

Katsumiya would be the main character here but he’s not some super skilled CIA fighter or someone that can stop the invasion with a well placed explosive. He’s just here to save Etsuko and then get out. The army is still the one pulling in the big guns to try and stop the invasion as a whole. It’s not so easy to take on so many fighters like that and this is a movie that is using a teamwork approach. Then there is Iwamura but unfortunately he doesn’t look great here. He is often out of his depths and so he isn’t able to be nearly as helpful. Etsuko unfortunately spends a decent chunk of the movie being kidnapped so she isn’t able to help too much either.

So the individuals aren’t the important factor here but what the army is doing to stop these aliens. The movie definitely nails that aspect right out of the gate. The aliens also deal a whole lot of damage to the planet so you know that even if they are defeated, it’s not going to immediately be all sunshine and smiles for the heroes. Now I mentioned how the film seemed like it was about to end. Well, the main chunk of the film is the rescue mission in space and of course we start blasting away but then we get a whole other act on Earth as the aliens prepare another assault.

It does make sense in hindsight that they still had more weapons at the ready but it had just felt like so much of a climax already in space. Regardless it was nice to get some extra action at the end there. You can never have too much combat after all. I don’t think this will end up being more memorable than most of the other big action titles out there. It really lacked the aliens in an alien invasion film but since the rest of the elements were still in play it ended up working out.

Overall, Battle in Outer Space is a film that I would recommend people to check out but I would do so with the reservation that they know the aliens won’t really be appearing. It’s important to underscore that since some people may go in expecting them to not only be appearing but to get a big role. It’s totally understandable but the film is engaging enough even without them. A modern remake would probably be fun with this concept but in the meantime I just enjoy any alien invasion film I can get my hands on. Particularly one from the olden days like this installment since they really knew how to build up to the attacks and have a lot of very solid dialogue between the characters. It’s all handled in a rather low key/calm way that you wouldn’t expect to usually see. There’s not much more to say about the film because it is quiet direct and the story is straight forward. What you see is what you get and in this case that works out well.

Overall 7/10

The Cloverfield Paradox Review

Posted on by
Reply


The Cloverfield series loves to have movies with pretty much nothing to do with the original. You always get a little stinger at the end and that’s basically it. Unfortunately that is the case here as well as it just isn’t very relevant until the final scene and even then that is more of a tease than a full connection. The series is toying with the fans by this point so it’s best to watch this as a stand alone sci-fi film instead. Even then I would say it’s below average but I suppose it’s not super bad or anything. The logic of the universe just isn’t that great so while it’s trying to be very mysterious and cryptic, it feels like the movie is just cheating instead. There’s definitely one scene in particular that I’d say fits this bill.

So the Earth is in a big energy crisis and they have sent representatives from various countries to find a solution. This group was thrown onto a space station far in the sky and they have to do whatever they can. So they decide to work on a device that should give the Earth unlimited energy but unfortunately this goes sideways and they seem to open up a portal into another world. They have to try and get back to where they used to be but it won’t be easy. They have to fix parts of the spaceship that don’t work anymore and a lot of weird things keep happening on the ship. Are aliens among us?

This movie is dealing with a lot of sci-fi elements but doesn’t really get too out there with creatures and the like. The main dilemma here is really that they have to question everything they knew about physics. Everything’s just scattered and odd happenings start occurring like people phasing through walls and a hand just running around. Where I thought the film messed up was in throwing some clickbait to try and make you think that a bunch of aliens would show up. There’s an odd scene where these cables start choking someone and basically murder him as he gets crushed by a super magnet but you have to question how it happened. It seemed completely sentient the way it was moving but the rest of the film gives no indicat4ion that it was. So yes it’s a strong scene and definitely gets you nervous but it doesn’t make much sense within the context of the rest of the film. It’s more shock value than anything.

Not saying the movie would have been better off with aliens but this scene could have been changed a lot. The idea of trying to help an alternate version of yourself through writing is interesting and the film could have made that something interesting but even that element doesn’t get as much depth as you would expect. So what we have here is a sci-fi film that is only half heartedly jumping into the various concepts that it introduces. This is what keeps it from being the next big thing. Well, at least that’s one of the reasons.

We’ve got a decently big cast here and I wouldn’t even say the members are that bad. First up is Ava who is the main heroine here. She didn’t even want to go on this mission but it was the only way to potentially save her husband since the Earth wouldn’t be surviving much longer. So now that she is in space she has a lot of regrets and the idea of an alternate planet appeals to her. I will say from the jump that I think even being tempted to leave is not a good idea here. An alternate version of you may seem similar but ultimately it’s a complete different person.

So it’s best not to get attached or to distract yourself from the mission. Meanwhile you have Jensen who is a mysterious lady that appears on the ship after things start to get crazy. She reminds me of a lady who showed up late in the game in another sci-fi title called Astra Lost in Space. Jensen is a wild card here as of course the main characters can’t trust her but at the same time it’s not like they have a lot of choices either. At this point you really need all the help that you can get and you just have to hope that it goes well.

Ava’s husband doesn’t get a huge role but in a small subplot he tries to help a kid stay safe. It’s not like there are too many safe areas left but at least helping someone would be good. This plot is definitely going for the more emotional kind of vibes as it’s rather somber. It’s not until the end that this really goes anywhere. At least I did like the ending here though. This was a good cliffhanger and it gets you ready for the next film. Of course as always that seems like it’s probably a longshot but if it were to happen then that would definitely be cool. At least it ends things off on a hype note.

With a lot of drama going on in the ship you feel like this is yet another case where the heroes would do so much better if they weren’t constantly fighting among themselves. Inevitably this starts to become a country vs country thing. Some characters at least try not to get mixed up on this but it’s a very enclosed battleground so it’s not like there are a lot of places to run either. You’re basically stuck here as you just try to stay alive. There are some things that happen where you can’t blame the character for being in a bad spot like the poor guy who started merging with the wall. There wasn’t really a way to avoid that one but other things like creating a gun just amps up the odds of people snapping at each other.

The effects are good though. I thought that the spaceship looked good and it was big enough where you didn’t feel that the crew was too confined. We still got a decent amount of other sceneries throughout. On land everything was in a fairly bad spot early on so this may have been the best location for the movie to take place if you were trying to avoid the monsters for some reason. Meanwhile having the film take place on land would have been the best way to do a proper Cloverfield 2 so even to the end it feels like they are avoiding giving us what we’re really looking forward to and that’s another giant monster movie.

Overall, The Cloverfield Paradox shouldn’t have included the word “Cloverfield” at the end because this movie is barely connected to the franchise at all. They seem to love including this word just to drum up sales and it’s a bad idea. Keeping this as an individual sci-fi film would have been a much better idea. Ultimately it’s not like it would have changed a whole lot about the story itself but you can probably enjoy it more that way as opposed to waiting for the monster to appear each time. I think there are some interesting nuggets here to be sure but ultimately not enough to keep you really invested. This would have worked better as a full TV series as they start to see the differences between the Earths or maybe as a multi film series. As a stand alone you have to cover a lot of ground and so there isn’t time to really have the characters talk about this situation that they’re in. It makes for a bit of an underwhelming experience especially when it feels like the movie isn’t exactly sure of how these things work. Spending more time on the implications of this other world and some good dialogue could have helped it go to the next stage. Instead you will want to wait for the next Cloverfield film.

Overall 4/10

Body Snatchers Review

Posted on by
2

This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Time for another Body Snatchers film. This one doesn’t really take the concept as far as it could have gone though. There isn’t a whole lot of focus on the actual alien dopplegangers running around until near the end and by then the film is almost over so it’s more about running and shooting. I would have liked to have seen the humans have to walk among them a bit more, use some strategy and all of that. It felt like we missed out on a pretty hype amount of potential scenes there.

So the film starts with Steve and his family heading over to a military base to run some samples. Steve is part of the EPA and it seemed like their might be some health issues over here. Little did he know that the issues run deeper than he could suspect. The base is slowly being taken over by aliens who are kidnapping the humans in their sleep and replacing them with an alien body double. A guy tries to warn Steve’s daughter Marti inside of the bathroom but considering how crazy he looked and how he had a knife, the guy just seemed insane. Once the heroes start being picked off, they have to wonder if it might already be too late.

One thing that the film does really well is the dialogue from the alien version of Carol. While Steve looks horrible during this whole sequence, she starts talking about how there is no place to hide. The aliens are everywhere already and the instant he falls asleep it will be game over. She makes a solid case for why he should give up. This is usually where the guy would yell about friendship, determination, how he’ll fight to the last breath, etc. Instead he doesn’t do any of that and falls into her arms. It was quite embarrassing really but the speech was given in a good way. The film made the speech actually appear to be rather creepy which isn’t easy.

Lets talk about Steve though and why he’s such a bad character here. The guy just doesn’t take any hints and he’s not very available for Marti. I’d say he was right to chase the military guys off for letting Marti drink and missing curfew. That’s certainly reasonable and it’s not like it was hard to get home at 12. I’d never want them to see Marti again either. Where he falters is in not taking any time to connect with Marti here especially since he went on the rebound so quickly. Then after being told about how people are acting differently he takes no steps with that. Maybe he could have at least connected the dots that Carol was a bit different.

Additionally, he absolutely falters at the end of the film. So by this point he knows about the aliens and all of that so he needs to get back to his family. What does he do? He sits down and begins to cry. This is not the time for that! We don’t see how the scene ends but presumably this is when they grabbed him and took the guy out. There’s a time to get emotional and all but this wasn’t it, not by a longshot. It just made him an easy target and in the end that was game over.

Meanwhile Carol was taken out rather quickly so there’s not as much to say about her. She and Marti didn’t get along but you can blame a lot of that on Marti as well though since she wasn’t trying to keep an open mind for any of this either. It’s really a mixed bag with both parties not doing so well here. Marti never grew on me during the film either. She lets bad influences corrupt her rather quickly. There’s no way she should be drinking yet and staying up past curfew is just asking for trouble. She’s also easily fooled by one of the aliens into looking back and giving away her position and takes a while to make a decision near the end.

Marti is not the kind of main character that you want in your corner. Her younger brother Andy also isn’t quite old enough to help much at this point either. So even though he can see the aliens…what’s he going to do about it? Nobody will believe him anyway and that can be annoying. I also have to question a few scenes with him like how he actually escaped the school of aliens. Surely they could catch one kid right? That whole bit seemed like a poorly written way of trying to alert the rest of the characters.

Jenn may not have been a good influence but at least she had some character. It would have been nice if she could have done more once she found out that her mom was acting strangely though. Her character just sort of vanishes after that. Tim is the standout character here. The guy is jumped by a bunch of the villains but keeps his cool and also does well in hiding his emotions. The guy is a soldier and that training really came in handy here. It was nice to see a character who wasn’t panicking or cracking under pressure like that. He should have been the main character to be honest.

The way the creatures take over the humans is definitely interesting with how the worms slowly get you. Why don’t the aliens just handcuff the guys once they are in the process of turning though? I assume they have a hive-like mind so they know when this is in process but if not it would be easy enough to coordinate. As soon as the character is asleep and the process has started, have a few aliens run in and just pin the character down. That way if they wake up there is still no way to escape. Given how this happens several times you’d think that would be an option.

You certainly feel bad for the humans who notice and are unable to escape though like one army guy who fights off several aliens before being taken down. He did good to last that long. The initial period during the alien attack is always the most hectic so if you can survive that then your odds of survival increase. It’s why this would really be an excellent plot for a whole TV show. It’s the kind of story that can really keep going and be really exciting for 10 seasons. Of course you want to be careful with pacing but there’s just so much you can do and it’s why the plot is golden.

Now because of the length of one movie you know that the movie can’t do everything with it but I still feel like it didn’t do much. I like the intrigue of not knowing who has turned and so more scenes of the characters just existing and living out the day before the grand climax would have been really good. I’d like a strategy session with the heroes where they think about next steps and things like that. The film’s just too short to get into all of that.

I also like to think there should be a more visually interesting way of making the clone than using the little worms everywhere. It’s sci-fi so how it works doesn’t really matter (I assume the worms transmit the energy or something) but make it cooler like a ray or something. The time it takes to make a clone also seems inconsistent with some taking forever like when they grabbed the main girl but other times it’s really quick like when the Dad was taken. There are time jumps in the film so you could say that a lot of time had passed I suppose. It’s probably one where you could do the math and see if it really adds up.

I really liked the scream that the aliens do when they have caught somebody. Now that’s eerie. The movie really nails down a lot of the horror elements of what would make an alien invasion scary. In some ways it’s scarier than a Xenoomorph invasion because at least there you know who to blast while here you have to be careful about friendly fire. Especially the longer the invasion goes on since people will be pretending to be like the aliens in order to survive.

Overall, Body Snatchers has a great plot but finishes before it can be fully executed. We don’t get a lot of scenes for the intrigue of exactly what this means for the Earth. The story is focusing on a small area which is fine enough but then I want to see them reacting. The way the body transfers go is also a little on the gross side so they should switch that method up in the future. The obligatory bath scene will also make you shake your head since it has no relevance to the movie. Nobody is seriously falling asleep in the bath at a time like this. Cmon now. The movie could have used a better main cast too since the family wasn’t likable and you’re just waiting for the army guy the whole time. If you really like the plot then it may be worth checking this one out in order to see it in action but otherwise you’re better off checking out one of the older versions.

Overall 3/10

District 9 Review

Posted on by
2

This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

District 9 is one of those films that really did not live up to expectations. It’s not a big alien invasion film or a cool thriller with a lot of action scenes and explosions. Instead it’s going for a more “realistic” kind of vibe as humanity lets the aliens live in one district while running inhumane experiments on them the whole time. This movie is all about the grit and extra details while never allowing any of the characters to look all that heroic. It’s not a great look for humanity.

The movie starts with an alien ship appearing but for a while nothing happens. So the humans eventually cut themselves in and we see that the aliens are all very sick and can’t really fight at this point. So they are moved to Earth in a rather poor district and the humans who lived around there are not happy at all. The aliens have their own language which is translated in the subs and the humans can try to learn it to an extent. Wikus is one of the main guys going around handing out the eviction notices to some of these aliens so that they can be transported somewhere else. One of these operations goes wrong though as he it contaminated by a tube that one of the aliens was using and now Wikus is slowly turning into an alien. Humanity can’t allow an alien to be alive without advanced study so now everyone is hunting Wikus down to experiment with him until he dies from it all. Can Wikus escape?

The idea is that Wikus is effectively a fugitive on his own planet now. There is no real escape to be had so he has to try and fend for himself. At least for a while, eventually he meets up with Christopher again, one of the aliens. Christopher can cure Wikus if they can get off of the planet somehow in the spaceship and to do that they’re going to need a lot of fuel. At this point the humans can’t be reasoned with so Wikus is really on his own.

From the jump the movie doesn’t really give you any real likable characters to root for. Wikus is not the nicest guy to say the least and until he’s turned into an alien, he’s only marginally better than the other humans with how he interacts with the aliens. He grins gleefully as he destroys their babies and is having a lot of fun while this is serious business for the aliens. It’s all too late to feel sorry for him once he’s an alien and the film could have used a bit more nuance with the human characters. Make some of them a little nicer at least right?

Likewise I can’t say that the alien designs are all that good. Part of the point of the movie is that they’re all banged up and not exactly in fighting shape but that doesn’t make for an effective design. If anything you just feel like this is another aspect where the film dropped the ball because some nice visuals would have gone a long way. There is just nothing very nice to look at, the slums are breaking down and everything is rather desolate.

You have characters puking, you see cannibals eating aliens, and there is always a moment of shock value right around the corner. The movie paints a rather grim picture on the current state of affairs for everything and did I mention that this is documentary style? So you don’t even have great camera work because it’s always using the shaky cam style. I use the word shaky loosely as it’s filmed like a real documentary so they’re holding onto the camera tightly but a more traditional style would have greatly benefited the film.

A cynical film about how the government will always be messing with aliens behind the scenes can work well enough if you have one of the aliens as the main character and he is determined to save his comrades or something like that or it’s a big action movie where there’s a lot of fighting but otherwise the movie will just come across as rather mean spirited. The whole film is filled with extra details that you don’t need to know while also making sure that there is never any hope for the characters at any point in time. Certainly a big miss.

There’s just nothing particularly good to say about the movie. It doesn’t have good visuals, an impressive soundtrack, good characters, a solid story, or any fun moments that would make you cheer or laugh. It’s just a film that is determined to be as somber and depressing as possible. Now I do have some ways to fix it even while keeping to the same approach. If you want a film with a dialogue about how humans would treat aliens then you have to ditch the documentary style. We need a character who works for the news, someone in the resistance, and then the army characters from this title.

Give us some debates, some back and forth and different perspectives. The only way a film like this works is if there can be some meaningful dialogue and also a scenery shift so we can at least have some scenes with a happier touch. That would absolutely be the best way to handle this and it would really do wonders for the movie. You can also remove a lot of the grim dark scenes like the tortures and just blowing up aliens for no reason. Lets not make this so over the top.

Overall, Alas, this is not a winning film either way. I’d recommend just about any other alien film over this one. It’s certainly trying to do something new and different which can be applauded but ultimately it didn’t work. Sometimes being experimental doesn’t pay off even if that doesn’t mean that you should abandon being unique all together. It’s all about trial and error and eventually it could pay off. That said, I’d rather we not do a sequel to this film and focus on a reboot that is quite different instead.

Overall 1/10

It! The Terror from Beyond Space Review

Posted on by
Reply


Whenever you see a film with a title like this, you know that it’s about to get very interesting. Aliens are always a lot of fun and with a film this old school you know that the writing will be on point as well. It’s got a very classic feel to every scene and the movie is short but still crams a lot in. Ultimately you should have a pretty good time with this one.

The film starts off with Carruthers and his crew on Mars. This was expected to be a big success but unfortunately all of the other crewmembers aboard are dead. A second spaceship is sent to retrieve him but the government believes that Carruthers murdered them all so this group is to bring him back to Earth to have him executed. Carruthers claims that some kind of monster took them out but the evidence doesn’t look good. After all, one of the crew’s skulls appears and has a bullet hole in it which certainly doesn’t sound like a creature is responsible. Carruthers quickly adds that it might have been accidental friendly fire from someone……then some members of the crew mysteriously start to vanish. Is Carruthers really insane and has started to bump everyone off or is it possible that there is an alien on the ship?

It’s not much of a mystery since the film shows you that an alien has come aboard right away but the dialogue can still be fun to see how Carruthers will get out of this. After all, even circumstantial evidence might be enough to take him down since most don’t believe there would be a whole lot of alternatives in space. If you don’t believe in aliens then odds are that you wouldn’t believe in the guy’s story. In particular, Heusen seems to have it all figured out. He gives a full speech about exactly why Carruthers bumped everyone off as he cites the lack of supplies and how this was the safest way to go. It would be tough talking him out of it although the rest of the crew tries to get him to ease up a bit.

You end up feeling bad for Carruthers the whole time because he’s just been through a very traumatic experience and having to be grilled and mistrusted after that really doesn’t make the experience any easier. It’s like he’s 100% truly alone now. I’ll give him a lot of credit for continuing to fight hard for the team and investigating the vanishings right away. He’s far more on the ball about this than any of the other characters. It takes a whole lot for them to finally get on board and see how serious this is.

There’s also a little romance started near the end but I can’t say that there was a whole lot of purpose to it. You would feel bad for Heusen if he was a nicer guy since this doesn’t bode well for him. Who’d have thought there was any chance of losing your girlfriend while on a space trip to Mars right? There isn’t a whole lot of time to dwell on this with an alien on board though even if not for a lack of trying on the guy’s part.

If the film has a weakness, it’s that the climax can be a little drawn out. At one point they figure out that they can use some fire to keep the alien at bay. So once guy stays downstairs with the fire gun while the others make some plans. This stalemate lasts for quite a while at one point. Both sides are feeling good about staying on their ends so there’s just a lot of talking about what to do. The monster is bullet proof and quite intelligent so that removes a lot of their possible options right away.

I like to think the heavier artillery might have done something but of course the first guy with the super gun has bad reaction times and allows the alien to get in close enough to bend it in half. So much for the gun right? That definitely did not go as planned but it made the guy look so bad. You have to be ready to shoot right away and not let the villain grab your gun. That’s a really easy way to get bumped off. One of the guys who goes down doesn’t even yell before being taken out. All of this is what allows the alien to stay in the game longer than he should have been.

The alien has a cool design though. It’s a little bit like the Gill Man but different so I would still call it unique. It does help further the classic “Green Martians” visual you get from those aliens which is cool. If anything this might have been one of the films to help strengthen that concept from the start. He is strong and surprisingly quick at times so this villain definitely gets to look good. It adds to the sense of danger in the film. While the climax can be a little long without a whole lot happening due to how durable the creature is, it does help to show why the crew would fear him so much.

By the end of the film it’s safe to say that nobody else will be going to Mars for a very long time. The place just isn’t safe anymore. Just one alien did a lot of damage, imagine a whole bunch of them? Space is also the last place where you want to face off against any enemies because there is just no escape. If you lose then that’s game over because you don’t have room to retreat. If anything the main characters were lucky to last as long as they did because the ship had a lot of different levels.

Overall, This was a fun film. It had good dialogue and an engaging plot. The government may have only gotten two scenes but they were both fun. The film is fairly short so you’ll knock it out quickly. This allows the alien himself to appear right away at least, I want to say he showed up within a few minutes although the first battle with the humans wasn’t for a little while after that. It’s not quite ready to top some of the other classic Alien stories but it’s a pretty good movie all the same. It also seems rare that we get an alien movie in actual outer space like this, at least back in the 50s. The effects were good though so this has aged well.

Overall 7/10

Fire in the Sky Review

Posted on by
Reply


All right, it’s time to look at a true story about someone who was abducted by aliens and lived to tell the tale…..? Hold up, wait a minute…something ain’t right! Aliens are already around and kidnapping people? Now, I will grant you that I don’t 100% believe that there is no chance of aliens appearing but if you ask me, we’ll all know when they show up. In this day and age I don’t think it’s a secret that could be contained and I highly doubt they will be going around and abducting people without causing a scene. It just doesn’t seem likely. Also if they’re advanced enough to reach us from some unexplored solar system while we still struggle to get more than a few people to the Moon at a time…we’d be pretty much doomed.

So, we start the movie off with a group of loggers heading to the mountains for work. It’s made clear from the start that none of them get along all that well except for Mike and Travis who are best friends…or so we’re supposed to believe. I have my doubts personally. Anyway, they are heading home when a spaceship appears. It zaps Travis with one of their mega lasers and he hits the ground hard. Mike and the gang immediately assume he’s dead and despite being “Best Friends” Mike decides to hightail it out of there. After driving for a while Mike’s conscience finally catches up to him and he turns back. Unfortunately, Travis is no longer there.

Now these guys are considered the primary suspects in a murder case. After all, with no body and a lot of bad blood in the group, many people think that Mike and the gang murdered Travis. Now since this is based on a book Travis wrote, you know he eventually returns and at least that helps stop the murder charges but their social reputations have all been hurt quite a bit. The film hurt itself in quite a few ways too. Granted, it is better than the Communion but I would still give this film a thumbs down.

Lets start on the iffy parts because that’s the most fun. Right off the bat the film tries to really hit you with a sledgehammer of how aliens are so real that someone randomly mistakes a street light for a UFO. Yes, the sheriff is driving in his car when he suddenly sees UFO lights approaching. He semi panics but then looks up and it’s just the lights that flash when a train is approaching. Presumably as he takes this route all the time he would have encountered this a lot so…why so scared now?

Now this next one was a doozy for me but you can technically rationalize it. So Travis calls Mike up after he escapes the alien ship and explains that he is by a gas station and needs someone to save him. The gang show up but now Travis can’t talk at all and is so traumatized that he can’t be touched either. After a lot of rehab and work in the hospital he is able to say a few words at least and blames Mike for all of this. How was he able to make the call though?

The defense you can give to this is that the trauma hadn’t sunk in yet and he was able to make the call before it all set in. The adrenaline stepped up and all that. It’s a defense and you can make it work but it still seems like a stretch. I feel like it would have been better for a grand light to be in the sky or something that let the characters know where he was. I think that would have worked a lot better.

As for his adventure in alien world, I think they probably shouldn’t have even included it. The film’s close to 2 hours and I want to say that this scene doesn’t happen until the final 20 minutes of the film. By that point you are so far to the end and the whole thing had been played out in a pretty realistic way that you might as well have kept it that way. If all we knew about the alien abduction was Travis’ word on it then this would really feel like a pretty accurate description of what went down. We would have what Travis claimed happened here and the interesting visuals at the beginning.

By showing us the inside of the alien ship it definitely steps more into full sci-fi town. The aliens seem rather weak individually so I have to say Travis missed his chance to win this one. At one point he knocks one of their helmets off and the alien looks ancient. I’m talking Yoda levels of old. The room was an anti-grav zone so Travis needed to use his momentum by kicking off of the wall and landing a direct punch. Presumably that would knock out the alien and then he could take his time trying to escape. Unfortunately he handled it in the worst ways possible as he just panicked the whole time before seemingly being knocked out.

The experiments that were ran on him were certainly pretty gross that’s for sure. Aliens seem to love torturing humans in pretty much every medium, no wonder why people are so scared of them. Between this movie, Alien, and Predator, it seems like they’re all out to get the humans once and for all. So yeah I’d cut out the alien scene and keep this as a very grounded tale of something weird happening to Travis and the rest of the characters having to wonder if they really saw what they saw or if they were mistaken. Perhaps it was an experimental plane from another country or something.

In the actual town is where you get the more interesting dynamics. I liked the cop that was brought in from another state who is supposed to be an expert on these things. He did a good job of taking control of the narrative right away and trying to get to the bottom of things. He doesn’t buy into the alien angle at all and is very confident the whole time. I liked this confidence, he didn’t suddenly start believing in aliens or panicking. He just treated it like another case to be solved.

I wasn’t a big fan of any of the main characters though. For Mike, ditching Travis was a huge mistake. That just shouldn’t have happened. In the heat of the moment you either fight or flee and now the rest of them will know what his gut reaction is. Dallas was the worst of the guys as he picks fights for no real reason the entire time. He really makes himself out to be an even bigger suspect than necessary. There’s also just nothing to like about the guy and I don’t see why they kept him on the crew.

The other members of the crew were less memorable and mainly here to fill in the numbers. Mainly the most important member of the crew is Mike as we see various characters begin to doubt him. Even his wife and daughter both keep asking him what really happened as if he was lying about the whole thing. It definitely doesn’t do wonders for his self esteem and as the film goes on he seems to have quite a lot of survivor’s guilt.

The writing is pretty solid for the most part here. It’s not a very eventful movie for most of its run but at least on a technical standpoint I thought the movie did a decent job. It didn’t take a lot of risks and the way it handled the town’s reactions seemed to be on point. It was nice to see the lie detector machine as well. I feel like we should hopefully have better machines by now but even recently I remember seeing a video of some billionaires trying one out and you’re still limited to responding with a Yes or No to each question or it doesn’t work well. That’s really limiting and it also seems like it’s hard to get an accurate response out of it. It’s nice but I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock into the results based on this.

Overall, Fire in the Sky hardly seems like an event that would have really happened but I suppose you never know. I’d like to see one of these films where the guy being abducted fights back a little more though or maybe at least one film where the aliens aren’t gross about everything. Maybe one where they actually have some noticeable cultures and seem civilized instead of pretty mindless the whole time. Give us some cooler alien designs too. Instead of the usual stuff, have them look like Vasto Lordes from Bleach or maybe Insects from Hunter X Hunter. That would be a nice change.

Overall 4/10

Starcrash Review

Posted on by
2


Whenever you see a film about aliens, action, and outer space you know that things are about to get real. This is definitely a film that is quite solid as a result. You can expect a lot of good battles and fun dialogue with lightning fast pacing. It’s a good all around movie that has withstood the test of time and it actually does end up beating the majority of Star War titles and even some Star Treks.

The movie starts off by introducing us to the greatest pilot in all the cosmos Stella and her ally Akton. Together they commit a lot of crimes and have fun doing it. They end up getting cornered by the police though so when they escape they end up being captured by the Police. The police end up breaking them out of jail though to stop Count Zarth. They will be accompanied by the police robot named Elle and an alien known as Thor. This all seems rather trust worthy so now they need to find Prince Simon so he can assist the Emperor in stopping the Count. Can they find him? Also, what if he didn’t survive the plane crash?

There is a whole lot going on in this film right from the start. One thing you’ll definitely enjoy if you’re a sci-fi fan is all of the action. The characters are using their blasters to wipe everyone out and they even get a light saber at one point. There are a lot of hand to hand fights where Stella even gets to beat back legions of adversaries. This is a movie that knows how to get a good rumble going.

As for the visuals, they’re on point as well. It’s definitely got that Star Wars/Trek vibe to it with the spaceships all around and a lot of space fights. The pacing is on point and I’d say the writing was pretty good. You’ll always be engaged as the characters exchange tough talk and try to size each other up. Thor openly mocking the heroes was certainly fun after he took over the ship.

Now, one very forced element in the film though is that Stella’s uniform doesn’t seem to be standard procedure. It’s extremely noticeable when the heroes are taken to the villain base that everyone has super weapons grade combat suits at the ready while she’s wearing more of a Red Sonja type costume which she keeps for pretty much the whole film. It’s definitely a “really?” kind of moment.

Still, beyond that she is a fun character. Technically she is the captain of her ship and a top notch hand to hand fighter after all. It would be surprising if she couldn’t deal with this level of opponent. The trouble is that she has no real defenses though. What that means is that if the villains catch her she will be yelling for help almost immediately. Despite being the tough heroine in the film she does get captured quite a bit.

Then you have her partner Akton. He is one of those guys who is so powerful that we never even learn his full abilities. He seems to be able to manipulate vectors, fire energy blasts, see the future, use energy weapons nobody’s ever heard of before, and that’s just for starters. He can do just about anything but still gets knocked around from time to time. Still, if you need someone to have your back he’s probably the best pick you could ask for.

Elle is another standout character here. He’s a very upbeat robot who is always yelling and having a good time. While he does get nervous a lot, he is always ready to jump into the fray to save lives. It’s why he makes for a good cop and why he never gave up when going after Stella. There’s clearly a lot of history there and it makes for some good banter. He added a lot to the dynamic.

Next up is Simon who doesn’t show up until near the end. He seems like a good character though and is definitely a heroic one. Without him the heroes would have been in a sticky situation by the end. He’s definitely not very necessary though as you could certainly have not had him appear and things wouldn’t change much. Thor was a more interesting character with how confident of his skills he was. The guy was even able to take down Akton in their first fight which is no small feat.

As for The Emperor, his time control tech is super impressive to be sure. You have to wonder why he was so helpless before Stella and Akton got rid of all of the obstacles. Surely he could have done more against the Count right? The Count was definitely a fun villain though. He has a cool costume and a very classic villain laugh. This guy had a tendency to get amused quite often after all.

The minion designs are also fun. As the film goes on we meet a giant robot like something out of Ultraman that shows up to step on the heroes. Then you have a pair of robots who wield swords that can even turn into energy blades. All of this helped to really show how dangerous the army of the count was. It’s also fortunate that Elle was around with his blasters. The robot was not taking any prisoners and must have disintegrated dozens of opponents throughout the film. Ultimately the sheer numbers were just too much for him to stop.

Overall, Starcrash is a very good film. It’s definitely a blast to watch and the kind of film you really don’t see anymore. It’s a relic of its time and a reminder of the good ole days of sci-fi films. The only element of the film anywhere near a negative would be that Stella should have had a proper battle suit like everyone else. Beyond that, the film delivered with showing us various planets and introducing a lot of concepts. The contrast of Stella being extremely confident but losing most of her fights while Elle was always scared but kept beating everyone he fought made for a nice dynamic as well. With a few sequels this could have easily become the next big Sci-Fi series. I guess it wasn’t to be this time but any fan of the genre owes it to themselves to watch this.

Overall 7/10

Communion Review

Posted on by
2

This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative.

Whenever you have a film with aliens in it you are hoping that a lot of fun things are in store for you. Aliens should be fun and make for imposing villains. Unfortunately that was not the case here. The film is based on a book of pure fanfiction from an author who was delusional but you hope that the film can surpass this. That’s not the case though and the film is very weird from the start. This weirdness ultimately starts to crossover into just being an awful film and by the end you’ll be cringing so hard that this will hit rock bottom. The film was just reeeeally bad.

The movie starts with a guy named Whitley who is an aspiring author. The issue is that he can’t focus on anything for more than 5 minutes so instead of working on the book he’ll play pranks on his wife and kid. Whitley is always rambling on about random stuff but one night when a few friends are over there is a bright light that shines across the world. An alien shows up as well. Whitley doesn’t want to tell anyone about this though so he keeps quiet and continues to go more and more insane. Eventually the aliens come back to kidnap him and things get dicey for the guy. Can he cope with the experiences that he went through?

Part of the problem here is even before the abduction, Whitley already seems certifiably insane. He just never makes any possible sense. He’s always wearing a different costume while working on his book and never ends up making any progress on it either since he ends up throwing out what he had started on each time. Then once the aliens do appear he starts to grow worse as he sees them everywhere. Hypnosis only makes the visions grow even more and he can’t trust anyone even at the end so he fights on his own. One of the annoying things about Whitley is that he’s also really bad at explaining things. Often times he may make an attempt to talk about the aliens but he does it in such a round about way that it doesn’t get through.

Additionally, the aliens seem to have told him not to tell anyone. Throughout the film we eventually learn more about what happened. See, initially we only get the quick jump scare before going to the present but a lot more happened that night. By the end of the film we learn that they definitely did a number on him. So, you would expect that after this he would probably want revenge or something right? Well, this leads to the most insane part of the film where he tracks the aliens down and ends up dancing with them for kicks.

Never mind the fact that the aliens also attacked his wife and used psychic powers to murder his son once already (and vowed to return) but he still wants to dance with them. He takes the old approach of forgive and forget. His wife doesn’t seem to mind either when he tells the story to her. The whole thing is just off the walls. It’s clear that after a point Communion is intentionally trying to be as weird as possible. The characters just don’t make a whole lot of sense with their actions. If they should do something then they will do the other. I dare say the dancing scene had to be part comedy or something. How do you seriously do a scene like that? The music was also as happy as possible for ultimate contrast.

A better film could have handled this well as perhaps a parody of some sort but not this one. This film seems to actually be trying to have a horror vibe at times but I can tell you now that it doesn’t succeed in the slightest. The characters are all too ludicrous for that to work. They never act scared in a natural way so why should we be scared? Whitley has a panic attack at one point when a kid scares him using a costume and it’s so over the top that you’ll just be shaking your head. The writing isn’t any good either. You’ll lose count of how many times the wind has to silence Whitley as he goes off on a tangent. The actual story makes no sense either.

The film doesn’t exactly have any subtlety either. For example a big thing here is that Whitley is traumatized because the aliens physically ran experiments on him including some rather invasive maneuvers. Anyone can put the pieces together particularly because there are tons of memes about this and it’s the first question someone asks whenever anyone mentions being abducted by aliens. Communion doesn’t realize that though so we get a long flashback detailing this just for extra grit and edge. The movie tries to make this as tragic as possible with Whitley attempting to fight them off at first, then trying to joke around so they’d let him go but none of this works.

It makes the rest of the scenes with him and the aliens even worse. It seems like the film was trying to say Whitley had stockholm’s syndrome with the aliens to an extent and that’s why he likes them now but that’s a very disturbed way to end the title. You just know that by the end he has completely lost and that’s the real shame here. There isn’t a happy ending to be found as the aliens have won and you know that more and more humans will keep on being attacked. Since nobody believes that the aliens exist it’s not like anyone has begun to fight back against them either. That just means that the aliens have completely won.

The premise has some potential of course because alien invasions are fun. Maybe have the government find out about this and have them send over some heavy artillery. I think that would go a very long way to making this interesting. At the end of the day one of the big things holding this film back aside from all the other negatives like the endless flashbacks, slow pacing, extra grit, and characters making nonsensical choices the entire time is that the character cast is just really bad. They all come off as insane and it’s really hard to follow a group of characters like that.

Overall, Communion is definitely a disgrace. There aren’t any core positives to be found here. The movie wastes a whole lot of time in each plot so the story developments that are in the film could have easily been handled in half the time. I like to think a sequel could start to fix this film a bit by making it a total action thriller but the first step is to completely shift the focus from this film. Maybe even ignore this film entirely so in a way the sequel of this film would be starting from scratch. Kind of like a reboot. Regardless, I would highly recommend staying far away from this one.

Overall 0/10