Alien Hunter

Rating:
Summary: Beam me up Scott! There are no intelligent reviewers here!
Review: Except one.

I bought this movie used solely because James Spader was in it. That man is a consummate actor and I love everything he's done. I had no problems following this film; the DO NOT OPEN sequence was a bit hokey but otherwise the film made a lot of sense. The idea of friendly aliens accidently landing on earth is a belief I have held for a long time. Why does everyone look for hostile like in Signs? Anyway, despite some of these reviews, I considered this to be an enjoyably viewable film with an interesting premise and the alien ship coming to rescue the escape pod finding instead of a comrade, these unintentially infected humans reminded a bit of coccoon. They offered a sanctuary rather than obliteration by their own government. Spader's Julian is the only level headed one in the bunch, much as he was in Stargate. Sure, it has elements from other movies, every sci fi flick does. This is one film I am proud to have in my collection. Hey, I cried at the end, I wanna go too!

Rating:
Summary: For once, an intelligent sci-fi film to watch
Review: Gosh, am I the only person to like this film? I am forced to come to the very cynical opinion that the more intelligent a film is the more people will pan it!

I get the distinct impression that if a film is full of blood, guts and gore, and heinous acting, along with fantastic special effects then people suddenly exclaim, "OH WOW! What a mind blowing film!" totally forgetting the only intelligent conversation between any of the characters in the film are "ARRRRRRRGH! I'm being eaten alive by acid green slime..."

The storyline for Alien Hunter wasn't complex but it was intelligent and this is where it fell down big time because it didn't appeal to the cranially challenged.

Alien Hunter has the excellent actor James Spader taking the central role of Julian Rome, an expert in the field of Cryptology who ends up in the South Pole when a friend of his Dr Gierach, a Botanist working on a government project in a remote part of the Pole asks for his help.

Deep in a huge block of ice that has been dug up some sort of Alien "black box" has been found and it's transmitting a signal of surprising complexity that has its origins in Roswell.

As Julian struggles to crack the signal code the Botanists decide to break open the "black box". Too late Julian finds out what the code is saying over and over again, "DO NOT OPEN" and it here when the true psychological and physical horror is unleashed upon those in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the "black box" is opened and its contents exposed the first people start to die, melting away swiftly and painfully.

Pretty good special effects, not too gory, and very realistic. However this film relies more on YOUR imagination rather than what it shows you.

The film jumps back and forth between the Pole and NASA, where government officials tell Julian's Boss Dr John Bachman the truth about horrific truth about Roswell and what actually as been found in the South Pole and persuade him to tell Julian and the other, as they know Julian will believe his boss over them.

The Aliens who landed all those years ago were not unfriendly but they were carriers of a highly infectious pathogen that wiped out life on Mars millions of years ago and now they have accidentally ended up on earth and the Botanists are all infected. Some died instantly the pathogen got into their system but the survivors appear to have some sort of immunity to it, but this does not mean they are not infected by it.

There is no cure for the killer pathogen and only one way to stop the contagion from spreading. A Russian nuclear submarine is sent forth with the unhappy mission of wiping out the remaining men and women left alive in the underground bunker in the South Pole.

Of course we have one selfish scientist who won't except his fate, the excellent John Lynch plays Dr Michael Straub a man with a built in self preservation gene and he legs it a the first opportunity, hoping to get out of the bunker before the missile from the Russian Submarine hits the complex.

Julian races after him, trying to convince him that the blood tests they have all taken and appears to be clear of any viruses doesn't mean that the pathogen isn't hiding in their DNA, waiting to explode at the first opportunity.

Of course Michael doesn't believe this but as they race through the underground sterile field that the Botanists had been working out, the corn that they have been growing instantly dies, withering away as they brush past it proving that Julian was right, they are all infected, carriers of the pathogen, it won't kill them but it will kill others they come in contact with.

Michael gets outside via the field's drains but he and Julian are trapped in an Alien force field that appears to be protecting the outside world from infection. It seems that by opening the "Black Box", they have sent out some sort of distress signal, and the Aliens have come to collect those who have been infected but have survived the initial release of the Pathogen. Michael panics and subsequently dies but Julian realises that help is at hand, not from their fellow man but the Aliens who know that the infected humans cannot stay on earth. Obviously there is no way that they pathogen can be cleared out of their system, or this is the implication you get, like I said you have to think and use your brain on another level that isn't always visual.

By then only Julian, Dr Gierach, Julian's old flame Dr. Kate Brecher and a young female Botanist Shelly Klein are left alive and they leave in the Alien ship before the Bunker is completely obliterated by a nuclear missile.

There is a hint in the beginning of the film, when we get a glimpse of the Roswell incident, that the Aliens "want to assimilate with humans" but this is never fully explained, which makes it all the more tantalising and I got the impression that the Aliens hoped that some of the humans might be immune to the pathogen that they were immune to and that the survivors of the Bunker would be those that would help them in an evolutionary way to move forward, to help THEIR (the Alien Race) survive.

All in all, for me, this was a very satisfying film, with good acting, good special effects, and a good story line too.

I know that Alien Hunter isn't everyone's cup of tea and I guess I can understand why some critics gnashed their teeth over it but films that make you think aren't necessarily those with the most blood, guts and gore.

Give this film a chance, it's pretty good and its short falls, are fewer than you might think.

Rating:
Summary: For once, an intelligent sci-fi film to watch
Review: Gosh, am I the only person to like this film? I am forced to come to the very cynical opinion that the more intelligent a film is the more people will pan it!

I get the distinct impression that if a film is full of blood, guts and gore, and heinous acting, along with fantastic special effects then people suddenly exclaim, "OH WOW! What a mind blowing film!" totally forgetting the only intelligent conversation between any of the characters in the film are "ARRRRRRRGH! I'm being eaten alive by acid green slime..."

The storyline for Alien Hunter wasn't complex but it was intelligent and this is where it fell down big time because it didn't appeal to the cranially challenged.

Alien Hunter has the excellent actor James Spader taking the central role of Julian Rome, an expert in the field of Cryptology who ends up in the South Pole when a friend of his Dr Gierach, a Botanist working on a government project in a remote part of the Pole asks for his help.

Deep in a huge block of ice that has been dug up some sort of Alien "black box" has been found and it's transmitting a signal of surprising complexity that has its origins in Roswell.

As Julian struggles to crack the signal code the Botanists decide to break open the "black box". Too late Julian finds out what the code is saying over and over again, "DO NOT OPEN" and it here when the true psychological and physical horror is unleashed upon those in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the "black box" is opened and its contents exposed the first people start to die, melting away swiftly and painfully.

Pretty good special effects, not too gory, and very realistic. However this film relies more on YOUR imagination rather than what it shows you.

The film jumps back and forth between the Pole and NASA, where government officials tell Julian's Boss Dr John Bachman the truth about horrific truth about Roswell and what actually as been found in the South Pole and persuade him to tell Julian and the other, as they know Julian will believe his boss over them.

The Aliens who landed all those years ago were not unfriendly but they were carriers of a highly infectious pathogen that wiped out life on Mars millions of years ago and now they have accidentally ended up on earth and the Botanists are all infected. Some died instantly the pathogen got into their system but the survivors appear to have some sort of immunity to it, but this does not mean they are not infected by it.

There is no cure for the killer pathogen and only one way to stop the contagion from spreading. A Russian nuclear submarine is sent forth with the unhappy mission of wiping out the remaining men and women left alive in the underground bunker in the South Pole.

Of course we have one selfish scientist who won't except his fate, the excellent John Lynch plays Dr Michael Straub a man with a built in self preservation gene and he legs it a the first opportunity, hoping to get out of the bunker before the missile from the Russian Submarine hits the complex.

Julian races after him, trying to convince him that the blood tests they have all taken and appears to be clear of any viruses doesn't mean that the pathogen isn't hiding in their DNA, waiting to explode at the first opportunity.

Of course Michael doesn't believe this but as they race through the underground sterile field that the Botanists had been working out, the corn that they have been growing instantly dies, withering away as they brush past it proving that Julian was right, they are all infected, carriers of the pathogen, it won't kill them but it will kill others they come in contact with.

Michael gets outside via the field's drains but he and Julian are trapped in an Alien force field that appears to be protecting the outside world from infection. It seems that by opening the "Black Box", they have sent out some sort of distress signal, and the Aliens have come to collect those who have been infected but have survived the initial release of the Pathogen. Michael panics and subsequently dies but Julian realises that help is at hand, not from their fellow man but the Aliens who know that the infected humans cannot stay on earth. Obviously there is no way that they pathogen can be cleared out of their system, or this is the implication you get, like I said you have to think and use your brain on another level that isn't always visual.

By then only Julian, Dr Gierach, Julian's old flame Dr. Kate Brecher and a young female Botanist Shelly Klein are left alive and they leave in the Alien ship before the Bunker is completely obliterated by a nuclear missile.

There is a hint in the beginning of the film, when we get a glimpse of the Roswell incident, that the Aliens "want to assimilate with humans" but this is never fully explained, which makes it all the more tantalising and I got the impression that the Aliens hoped that some of the humans might be immune to the pathogen that they were immune to and that the survivors of the Bunker would be those that would help them in an evolutionary way to move forward, to help THEIR (the Alien Race) survive.

All in all, for me, this was a very satisfying film, with good acting, good special effects, and a good story line too.

I know that Alien Hunter isn't everyone's cup of tea and I guess I can understand why some critics gnashed their teeth over it but films that make you think aren't necessarily those with the most blood, guts and gore.

Give this film a chance, it's pretty good and its short falls, are fewer than you might think.

Rating:
Summary: Alien Hunter
Review: In Alien Hunter, an alien pod; is found on earth; an alien version of our "black box", it emits a strong beacon signal, transmitting on a very powerful frequencey. One is found close to the desert "AREA 51" and one buried in the ice in Antartica. Each one was discovered many years apart. Here your imagination can just run wild with assumptions and all kinds of scenarios. The mention of "Area 51" conjures plenty of imagination.
This film was good, in the sense that it kind of deviated from other sci-fi stories but it could have been so much better. From the included director's commentary it took only 32 days to make this film and they used black and white footage from the movie "The Thing"...(if you've seen the film "The Thing" you will recognize the scene when you watch Alien Hunter..it was just the portion showing the antartic excavation team cutting the ice..) The producer and crew must have had a very tight budget to work with which would be reason enough to keep the film short and simple. The way I understand the plot, it's simple but unique. The order of events in the film could have been done better...what came in the middle maybe should have come first to better educate the viewer, a hint of what's to follow, a nice orderly continuance of events. I hate muddled, unordered events in a film...it's not fair to the viewer if the film can not keep a good track record....BUT I would buy this film if I had not gotten it for Christmas! Enjoy, Blanche

Rating:
Summary: Alien Hunter
Review: In Alien Hunter, an alien pod; is found on earth; an alien version of our "black box", it emits a strong beacon signal, transmitting on a very powerful frequencey. One is found close to the desert "AREA 51" and one buried in the ice in Antartica. Each one was discovered many years apart. Here your imagination can just run wild with assumptions and all kinds of scenarios. The mention of "Area 51" conjures plenty of imagination.
This film was good, in the sense that it kind of deviated from other sci-fi stories but it could have been so much better. From the included director's commentary it took only 32 days to make this film and they used black and white footage from the movie "The Thing"...(if you've seen the film "The Thing" you will recognize the scene when you watch Alien Hunter..it was just the portion showing the antartic excavation team cutting the ice..) The producer and crew must have had a very tight budget to work with which would be reason enough to keep the film short and simple. The way I understand the plot, it's simple but unique. The order of events in the film could have been done better...what came in the middle maybe should have come first to better educate the viewer, a hint of what's to follow, a nice orderly continuance of events. I hate muddled, unordered events in a film...it's not fair to the viewer if the film can not keep a good track record....BUT I would buy this film if I had not gotten it for Christmas! Enjoy, Blanche

Rating:
Summary: Plot Hunting
Review: James Spader stars as crypologist Julian Rome (I believe I have the name correct as the audio track leaves more than a bit to be desired) in ALIEN HUNTER, a film relegated to the Saturday nite Sci Fi Channel original pictures line-up after some editing of language and gory special effects.

While the premise of the film (an alien species buried deep within the Antarctic ice is slowly being brought back to life by the investigation of its' craft's warning signal -- activated but never explained) is interesting enough for standard science fiction fare, HUNTER delivers scenes that are far too familiar to be taken at great value:

- The base in Antarctica bears more than a passing resemblance to the one depicted in John Carpenter's THE THING remake.

- While the name of the 1960's film escapes me (and IMDB is coming up empty), the block of ice hanging in an apparently unused bay bears a striking resemblance to an alien spacecraft unearthed in subterranean London.

- The structuring of several action sequences play out as if copied (or heavily influenced) by scenes already played to greater effect in the ALIEN film series.

- The film's ending -- with an alien species showing up in the knick of time to take the humans out of harm's way but plunging them into deep space -- is starkly reminescent of THE ABYSS's closing moments.

... and I think a more informed reviewer could go on and on.

Little goes explained in the script. Spader and another scientist have a past, but the reason for their fallout -- other than hints of Spader being a ladies' man -- goes undocumented. Conveniently, almost everyone serving in the Antarctic base seems to have some kind of link to one another, yet none of this goes explained or explored. The alien may or may not have been linked to the event in Roswell; while a White House committee discusses the association, they never spell out a thorough enough time line to understand what the true association was. I could go on, but I believe you get the point.

Performances are on the mark, but, sadly, even the gifted Spader can't elevate this B movie into the category of "being a movie." ALIEN HUNTER scores the lowest of marks principally because it deserves it; the absolute 'cheat' of an ending could've easily been hacked off as the audience never even remotely cares for the fate of any of the story's participants.

Rating:
Summary: It's a parody
Review: This is a movie that only makes sense after you have seen movies like Alien. Lots of those movies actually. Because this is a parody on those kinds of movies, but nobody is telling you.

So you just sit through the movie and like those things go, when scientists find an alien artefact, they pry it open as the typical cave dwellers they still are. And because it looks organic, they prod it. Yeah right you think, if you haven't walked out the theatre by then or pressed the stop button.

But anyway, a plot twist follows that caused me to gave it three stars, instead of a one. Acting is good, special effects are good, alien space ship is excellent.

But we have a lot of plot holes unfortunately. The alien artefact emits a signal that after decoding says "DO NOT OPEN". In English. That's what we would expect, wouldn't we, aliens that speak English. Also, if you want to say DO NOT OPEN, why encrypt it? Especially if you unleash death to an entire planet if you ignore the warning.

As usual, lesser films contain lots of scenes that add nothing to the overall picture. That our cryptologist fells for his female students is irrelevant for the movie. But I think the director was stretched to produce a 90 minute movie that could be done in 45 minutes and would have been the better for it.

The movie would have been much better if the background on Julian, his work on SETI, his life, hope and aspirations would have taken up a significant part of this movie. The only thing we learn now is that he has affairs with female students. Hardly surprising, irrelevant for the movie, and I doubt if ET likes to hear that part of his life as well.

Audio commentary of the director is interesting, he actually tells you where scenes come from, where it was shot, and such. You want to go through this movie at least once with the audio commentary enabled.

So if you watch it, keep in mind that it's a parody. And there's a plot twist that makes this movie a bit more intelligent than it otherwise would have been.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, It's a Stinker
Review: This movie simply doesn't work on any level. No drama, no good one-liners, no worthwhile visuals. Nothing. Not even the "so bad it's good" consolation prize.

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, It's a Stinker
Review: This movie simply doesn't work on any level. No drama, no good one-liners, no worthwhile visuals. Nothing. Not even the "so bad it's good" consolation prize.

Rating:
Summary: What a waste of time and money and talent
Review: Watching this DVD with the english subtitles and french dialogue, and skipping chapters almost made this movie enjoyable but not understandable.

I think Ed Wood would have created a more enjoyable feature.
It is sad to watch James Spader's career slide into the oblivion. I wanted to give this waste of time a -1 star.

What I don't understand is why the location captions were in subtitles.
Upon thinking about it , Alien Hunter is a negative 5 star movie.