Ben 10: Alien Swarm

Much better than the first movie but? The director is Alex Winter. Yes, from Bill and Ted, he is a distinguished and very successful director, and he has succeeded in creating a wonderful work, as well as the scenario and visual effects, but the problem lies in the weakness of the actors, although they look identical to the cartoon, but they are unaware of how a cartoon character is represented in a movie. Another problem is that Kevin's visual effects are bad, but we can forgive that. One more thing, why does every action scene have people jumping like goons? I thought in a moment that I was watching Power Rangers. Anyway, I like Ben 10 and I love this movie, so I will give him a 9, so his rating increases a little because 4.6 is a trivial rating.

After the entertaining but horrendously executed "Ben 10: Race Against Time", Ben 10: Alien Swarm is a huge improvement. Not only does it boast higher production values and better directing, but it effectively captures both the look and the spirit of the original animated series in live action form. The movie also manages to up the ante on the action, making for a truly epic story but with a couple of flaws.

Set after the events of the "Ben 10: Alien Force" animated series, the movie starts with the main characters Ben, Gwen and Kevin about to bust some illegal dealers who are trying to sell alien nanotechnology. One of those dealers is revealed to be Elena Validus, a childhood friend of Ben and daughter of a disgraced ex-"PLUMBER" Victor Validus. (For those who have not watched the animated series, "PLUMBERS" are an anti-alien defense agency). Now her father has mysteriously gone missing and Elena needs Ben's help. Suddenly the alien technology springs to life and takes the form of a vast mechanical swarm. Following a brief scuffle with the swarm and a short malfunction of Ben's omnitrix, our heroes must uncover a secret alien plot to turn human beings into mindless drones. One lead lies in an old secret involving Victor Validus and Ben's own Grandpa Max.

The underlying mystery subplot blends nicely into the ongoing narrative as Ben, Gwen and Kevin race to stop this evil biomechanical swarm from turning the entire human population into mindless zombies. No doubt a little on the cheesy side, the story fits in well with the feel of the animated TV series while giving the illusion of a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

Although the film sacrifices emotional depth in favor of explosive action, Director Alex Winters spares no expense in those action scenes. The car and motorcycle chase scenes deserve special mention as they look really good, even better than some big budget popcorn flicks. Ben's trademark alien transformations are kept to only 3 scenes thanks to a malfunctioning omnitrix but the fact that those scenes take place at night or under low lighting make the otherwise cheap looking CGI seem a lot better than it actually is.

The character of Ben does undergo a good deal of development throughout the course of the movie while keeping the themes of responsibility and growing up established in the animated series. The cast play their parts very well with only the actress for Gwen looking a little uncomfortable with her role at times.

"Ben 10 Alien Swarm" is not free of a few nitpicks however. The entire first half of the film plays out like a "Goosebumps" movie. Essentially it is "Ben 10 and gang VS mindless mind-controlled zombies". Thankfully the second half picks up the pace. Also, new viewers looking to jump into the Ben 10 storyline and fandom would be left confused by the lack of character introductions and explanation of technical terms as the film zooms from one setting to the next that only a keen follower of the animated series canon would be able to recognize and appreciate fully. An inclusion of a booklet or featurette that introduces the characters and explains "the story so far" would have been a much appreciated addition to this DVD release.

Though a little inaccessible to newcomers, Ben 10 Alien Swarm is an enjoyable action adventure and a faithful adaptation that is sure to satisfy existing fans who were disappointed by the previous live action movie. It is not the best among live action adaptations of animated series, but definitely far from being among the worst.

I didn't think a live action feature length adaptation of an animated show could get any worse than M. Night Shymalan's dismal 2010 "Last Airbender". That is until I saw the first twenty minutes of "Ben-10: Race against Time." I couldn't make myself watch the rest. So I didn't really have high hopes for "Alien Swarm" the first time I took a look at it; (which was only a few weeks ago). After the same twenty minutes had passed, I was hooked. Unlike "Race against Time," or "The Last Airbender", This movie is well written, well directed,and wonder of wonders, actually stars good actors. (O.K. Lee Majors was good as Grandpa Max in the first film, but he was the only one.)

I used to be a humongous Ben 10 fan as a kid, constantly obsessing over the now classic cartoon from my childhood. However, it has no bearing whatsoever on my opinions about the live-action TV films because I'm not blinded by pure nostalgia, unlike some people. With that said, I guess it's now time to remove my "rose-tinted glasses" and get serious.

If I'm going to judge this movie on its own merits as a level-headed adult, and not as a mindless fanboy, then I'd have to say the plot is generic and bland, the position of camera-angles and lighting makes the whole thing feel flat, the music is forgettable, some of the cast members do a fairly decent job with their performances (for the most part, anyway), and the technobabble dialogue is standard for this type of schlocky sci-fi script. It's everything an average film needs to be even more mediocre than it already is, which is why most of the time it's such a tedious watch to get though.

Ryan Kelley's portrayal of the titular character himself can be best summed up as being like a less charismatic version of Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man incarnation. Alex Winter's direction is severely uninspired, so much so that it makes me think about how this film would've turned out if a far-more talented filmmaker like let's say James Gunn or David F. Sandberg were to have directed the project instead, and maybe then it would of had a bit of personality injected into it.

This film also has the same main problem that the previous one had, in which there were no recognisable villains from the show incorporated into either of the films; like Vilgax, Dr. Animo, the Forever Knights... you get the idea. Another glaring issue they both share is that for movies entitled "Ben 10" he never seems to turn into more than like 3 or 4 of his alien heroes. The movie is called "Ben 10", isn't it? ... so why don't they ever show more than a handful of them?!

The only reason for any non-fan to watch this is the special effects sequences which, taken the fact it was produced for television into consideration, manage to hold up even to this day. After all these years, the way the CGI visuals interact with the environment of the real-life filming locations still looks pretty impressive. Almost makes me wonder why a made-for-television movie from over 10 years ago looks more believable than something like the big-screen Aquaman film from 2018, which had a mega budget of $200 million when compared to Alien Swarm's humble $40 million (how embarrassing is that for DC).

In short, Alien Swarm may very well be a marginally better improvement over A Race Against Time (a cringe-fest with awful CGI), but neither one of them is really all that great. So if I had to at least suggest one of them, I think I'd recommend you skip the first one and just go straight for this sequel.

The live-action is fun filled to follow although there are many errors in the scenes, it still proves to be effective.

One thing I also liked is the aliens' animation into real 4D creatures. However I was disappointed by the fact that he only went hero few times with less aliens.

It is better than the original tho .