First Contact

I picked up this movie on account of it being a movie that I hadn't heard about before. But given my general low interest in the sci-fi genre, I can't claim that it was a movie that initially thrilled me a whole lot. But still, I opted to give the movie a fair chance, maybe writer and director Bruce Wemple would surprise me here.

Surprised I was not, but I was bored. The storyline in the movie was rather dull and generally boring, It was a slow and uneventful narrative, which made for a very poor viewing experience. But I am sure that diehard sci-fi fans would get a much bigger kick out of "First Contact" than I did as a casual viewer.

The acting performances in the movie were fair, despite the fact that the actors and actresses didn't really have much to work with. I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, aside from actor LeJon Woods.

It should be noted, though, that the special effects were actually surprisingly good for a movie of this endeavor and budget. At least that counted for something, but it was nowhere near enough to make up for the lack of a properly entertaining storyline.

"First Contact" failed utterly to entertain me, and it is definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time.

My rating of writer and director Bruce Wemple's 2023 movie "First Contact" lands on a three out of ten stars.

Following a series of alien sightings, a woman heads out to her remote farmhouse home to look into her father's research with her estranged brother about what he was studying, and when they realize that some friends of theirs are potentially corrupted by an alien race have to stop him from killing.

This here was a decidedly decent enough if slightly flawed effort. Amongst the better features here is the films' straightforward attempt at being a creature feature which is pretty much relegated to the second half of the film. Employing a heavy body-horror aspect that showcases a character slowly being turned from a regular person into a deformed alien creature slowly over the course of the film serves this one quite well as there's a lot of fun to be had with the slow-burn nature of his change into this type of creature. The practical effects-work used here is also quite effective, helped along by the use of the creatures' appearances in the second half as the concurrent discoveries about the existence of the alien race and their plan to stop the impending war about to happen that gives it all a rather fun series of connections that are rather nice to see play. That said, there are a few flaws within this one that bring it down. The main detriment of the film is a wholly overcomplicated and confusing storyline that has the central setup of a workable genre effort but crams way too much into it for its own good. The idea of the strange device harboring a means of stopping an impending alien invasion that's being recorded around the world and their quest to solve it is a fine enough idea but it's wasted on a series of draining sequences filled with overly-complicated measures trying to get it to work that there's a lot of issues brought up with how all over the place it is. Other setups here, including the alien's presence on Earth and the origins of the invasion around the planet, are just as awkward which leaves everything quite complicated and difficult to follow. The other factor with this one is a rather sluggish and dragged-out pacing that tends to drag the film to a halt during the middle with its lack of action. A large part of the film's middle section is the rather pedestrian investigation angle that looks into the strange encounters but that occurs so slowly as these scenes are done in conjunction with the sibling relationship being strained and mended the entire time. While there are scenes with the one character doing the changeover during this time, it's not enough to offset the lack of action this whole thing brings about a dragged-down tempo where not a lot happens to keep the viewer invested in what's going on. The other issue here is that there's not a whole lot of genuine genre feel throughout here, with the sci-fi heavy nature of a lot of the scenes here that carries more of a sci-fi bent which might not be that enjoyable for some but overall isn't as big a deal as the other factors.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Graphic Language.

So this movie has a shower scene near the beginning where they show no skin! That's a -1 Star for me! And then for some reason she can't hear half the conversation with dude in the other room but she can hear a noise when he drops something? That's another -1 Star for me!!!!

So we got a 3/10 going very near the start for this movie and it really doesn't get any better over halfway through the movie.

I thought the movie picked up a little bit closer to the end when people started getting mauled successfully. But even that wasn't really enough to pull the movie into a success.

Sorry but all it gets is a 3/10.

I just sat through what can only be described as an intergalactic waste of time, "First Contact" from 2023. Here's a satirical look at this sci-fi horror flick that made me question humanity's search for alien life - why bother if this is what we come up with?

The Plot: If you're into watching paint dry with the occasional alien growl, then you're in luck. "First Contact" promises a tale of estranged siblings uncovering their father's dangerous research, but delivers a plot that's as engaging as reading the terms and conditions of a software update. The complexity of the storyline is akin to trying to solve a Rubik's Cube made entirely of one color.

Acting: The acting in this film is the kind that makes you appreciate the silent movie era. The protagonists deliver their lines with the enthusiasm of someone reading a grocery list. It's like watching a school play where everyone forgot their lines but decided to wing it anyway. The standout performance is the alien entity, which, spoiler alert, might be the only one with any real character development, probably because it was CGI and didn't have to memorize lines.

Direction: The director must have been channeling the spirit of Ed Wood, because the direction in this film is a masterclass in what not to do. The pacing was so slow; it felt like the film was trying to kill time before the next commercial break on a Sunday afternoon. The horror elements were about as scary as a kitten wearing a paper bag on its head.

Production Quality: With a budget that probably couldn't buy you a decent cup of coffee in Hollywood, "First Contact" shows. The special effects are reminiscent of those puppet shows where the string pulling is all too clear. The set design would make you believe they filmed this in someone's basement, with props from a discount toy store.

If you're a fan of so-bad-it's-good cinema, "First Contact" might just be your new favorite. Otherwise, consider this your warning to avoid at all costs unless you're looking for a sleep aid that doesn't involve counting sheep.

The storyline just takes way too long to develop and too many fatal 'horror genre' flaws to make it watchable. Aside from the characters having zero common sense (ala horror films), there was almost no suspense, no romance, and it desperately needed a good science consultant for the scifi elements to make sense. The actors and cinematographers did a pretty good job with what they had to work with, which is why I gave it two stars instead of zero.

I will preface that maybe the second half of the film is better than the first, but by the 60 minute mark I was bored out of my mind and stopped watching. Scenes like the boyfriend partially changed into a monster; looking like he has bubonic plague, and instead of calling 911 for an ambulance, his girlfriend starts kissing him. (Nope!)