Code Red

1/2 out of ****

Stealing more than liberally from Predator and Aliens, Code Red has precious little of the qualities that made both those films action/horror classics. The plot's generally not much to speak of, just a group of highly-trained soldiers who are sent into the jungle on a covert operation, but find themselves amuck in gooey aliens. A couple of sub-plots involving sibling "rivalry" add absolutely nothing to the film or the characters, it's just there to pad the running time and add "depth" to our hero.

The movie spends most of its time inserting and virtually re-making scenes from those aforementioned films. The opening, with its blurry video images and flatline heart rates, is taken straight from the first shootout in Aliens. Later "odes" to the James Cameron thriller include nasty aliens (which look pretty cheesy), red lighting, and loud door poundings. The shootouts are also in the same tradition of Aliens, but are poorly directed, lacking a good sense of direction and clarity.

Most of everything else is taken from Predator: the soldiers trapped and hunted in the jungle, the alien with the mask and high-tech equipment, and there's even a "spiritual," quiet and tough soldier who bears more than a passing resemblance to Sonny Landham's Billy. These riffs actually make D.N.A. look completely subtle in comparison. If it wasn't completely horrible throughout, then the movie still falls apart in the climax, when the silly secrets are revealed and it turns out our so-called cyborg alien (who doesn't appear to be a cyborg at all) is actually a good guy. His revelation of how this whole mess began is mind-blowingly idiotic ("They're bugs.").

An abundance of problems are evident throughout. The gooey aliens are kept inside these glass chambers which apparently can hold them in, except on occasions when it requires a cast member to die. These containers have held these things for thirty years and they somehow get out without a hitch. Uh-huh. The guy playing General Pembroke sounds like he's dubbed over (that can't be his real voice), said general also begins to approach the site before confirmation that the nuclear fail-safe has been deactivated, and the final shootout has such a high body count, I swear more mercenaries were killed than were even involved.

I think the filmmakers don't seem to understand the qualities that made Predator a classic; that film gave us great action, likeable characters, a good macho sense of humor, and kept its plot simple but engrossing. Code Red vies for the same aspects, but decides to muck it up with an ever escalating series of hilariously bad plot twists and revelations. Avoid it, and just watch Predator again for the fifteenth time.

It is NOT where they got the idea for Aliens vs Predator. Dark Horse Comics had the Aliens vs. Predator comics starting in 1989.

Decent movie but could have been better. Special effects are not half bad. The acting wasn't horrible and the creature is just a copy of the Predator (not exact but very similar) A good way to reach out to predator fans by imitating something they love. The added bug aliens are interesting. Even the alien ship looks fairly similar to some of the designs for Predator style ships.

I do wish people wouldn't come down so hard on a movie just because it borrows from other more popular movies. This movie does a good job of making the subjects its own without being too blatant.

Yes, this film is obviously influenced in great part by Predator and is in no way an equal to that classic. But you know what? It's not supposed to be! It's not a big budget Hollywood flick. It's a B-movie. A made-for-TV one at that. By that standard, Code Red is actually a bit above average. The acting is decent and the directing is competent. It's not ultra stylish, but the director knows where to put the camera and there is vigor in some of the action scenes. Most surprisingly, the weapons and costumes aren't laughably inaccurate like many B-movies. Which is not to say it's perfectly authentic (eg, they fly around in a civilian helicopter), but at least you don't have American soldiers carrying around low-end foreign weapons because that's all the production could find at that filming location.

Finally, the concept is fun and goes beyond simply being a Predator clone. With its secret government bases, alien conspiracies, and other pulpy sci-fi novel elements, the whole thing takes on a fun, "X-Files by way of action movie" feel. If you can accept that you won't be seeing Hollywood production values, then you may find Code Red to be an enjoyable little film.

This film really did make me laugh. The acting was terrible, the sound and special effects were nothing special. The only reason i watched this film is because it was free, and i still feel cheated.

All the way through this film it tried to be like Predator that happens to be one of my best films of all time!

The story line was exactly the same as predator, but thats where the comparisons end i'm afraid. Also finally, the aliens in this film are really stupid.

1/10 - its that bad. This is a warning - not a review.

Plenty of deep jungle scenery, tense army guys shouting at each other. Even the "shooting the bushes" scene is there, only without the minigun this time.

In fact, this is not a particularly bad film. The acting is a bit middle of the road, some of the characterisations are comically over the top, but if you're willing to let some of the bigger plot holes by, it's actually quite watchable. Just don't expect your intelligence to be stretched...