Alien Hunter

I thought it was great. Yes, ripped off many films, but a good screenplay nonetheless (kept the film moving) and more importantly, a surprising ending. Not oscar material, but I'd give it thumbs up. The base was totally unrealistic however. "The Thing" base was more like what it would be. And the title "Alien Hunter"... totally for marketing. It should have been -- in fun sci-fi form -- "It came from Space" or something. Cause it wasn't about hunting an alien. The geneticist guy was too 1-dimensional. They should have slowly developped his attitude instead of making him an idiot from the start.

Ever reliable James Spader plays a professor named Julian Rome, dubbed an "alien hunter" because he used to work for S.E.T.I. He gets called in when a mysterious alien "black box" is discovered in the Antarctic. Some of his colleagues are eager to open this thing, and naturally when this thing - which could also be called a Pandora's box - is touched, it sets off unforeseen circumstances. Circumstances which could be dire for the whole planet. Meanwhile, a bunch of political bigwigs in Washington are meeting to discuss the implications of the matter, and the possible end result.

At the risk of sounding unoriginal, this reviewer will say that what hurts "Alien Hunter" the most is its derivative nature. It plays like an amalgam of ideas borrowed from "Alien", John Carpenters' "The Thing", "Warning Sign", and even "The Abyss". It also succumbs to an unfortunate common cliché in having a Complainer character in the form of a scientist played by Irish actor John Lynch. This guy does so much bellyaching that one prays for him to be dealt with expeditiously. You know if the character doesn't become a menace himself, he'll at least be a major nuisance. The screenplay by J.S. Cardone (based on a story he concocted with Boaz Davidson) is uninspired (and, for a while, threatens to choke on its "science fact" style exposition), but director Ron Krauss (who also appears on screen) and his crew are competent enough to make this a passable viewing. The production design and cinematography are well done and atmospheric, and the music by Tim Jones is quite nice.

Other than Spader, the rest of the acting is basically decent. Co-stars include Janine Eser, Leslie Stefanson ("The General's Daughter"), Aimee Graham ("Jackie Brown"), Stuart Charno ("Friday the 13th Part 2"), Anthony Crivello ("Spellbinder"), Roy Dotrice ('Beauty and the Beast', "Mozart"), Joel Polis ("The Thing" '82), Keir Dullea ("Black Christmas" '74, "2001: A Space Odyssey"), and Bert Emmett ("The Forsaken" '01). It is nice to see a bunch of these familiar faces here.

Worth it for fans of "The Thing" to see the Norwegian video footage from that film, used here in a somewhat different context. What also makes this a little above average is that ending; while somewhat predictable, it is an interesting touch. (One has to dig those trippy visuals.)

Six out of 10.

Since "Ridley Scott's Alien" the science fiction has been branded the Aliens for good, often they are portrait as those eyesores slimy with long claws life form, exactly as appears in this fine picture, it somehow displease the viewers, worst the IMDB's users put lower ratings due for some smallest mistakes only, in my opinion they ranked the movie for a lack of action, instead to assess the peaceful content overall.

Straight away in early scenes that is dealing with mid budge picture, featuring just one star as James Spader, the remainder casting is comprises by secondaries actors, letting the offer slight unattractive, the plot is quite engaging, everything began at the legendary Roswell in 1947 when a ram radio catch a strange signal in the vicinity area, finding the spot most possible he disappears, the story jumps to present day, another signal also is received at Falkland island, Spade plays a former cryptologist Julien Rome as "Alien hunter's signals" in an already shut down NASA's department of research for Alien life.

Working as professor in a University for a while to survive, he is sudden invited by his old friend to going in an Antarctic Survey Station of organic crops, there they find a strange ice block containing something like a shell, soon on melting process they figure out that probable it is an Alien's unknown piece, Dr. Rome touching the shell receiving through his mind many retroactive footages that astonish him utterly, Thus Rome goes at laboratory, there he tracks down in a computer these alien signs trying decrypt it in mathematical language, whilst the maintaining crew is trying open the iron shell, Rome got decrypt the message, "don't open", too late an alien lies inside the shell, henceforth all them are infected, meanwhile a Russian Sub is around ready to launch an atomic missile in compliance with White House.

The outcome is awesome, unfortunately the producers screwed up putting the an useless former Julien Rome's girlfriend working at Antarctic station, also one star's picture was another fail, either shooting at Sophia Bulgaria in scant and coarse manner in poor's scenario, all that gathered together spoils what they really expect previously, therefore fair away the got the scarce medium rating 5.1 out 10, utterly underrated!!

Thanks for reading.

Resume:

First watch: 2005 / Source: Cable TV-DVD / How many: 2 / Rating: 7.5.

Reading over the reviews for this film, I see that pretty much everyone agrees that while it's not an A+ Top Notch effort, it certainly isn't as bad as it could have been.

What's good about it:

1) James Spader (!), who's incredible in everything he's in. 2) Pretty good Visual Effects. 3) Nice Musical Score.

What's average:

1) The other performances. 2) The story (as many have pointed out, it's a mosaic of other movies).

What's monumental:

You will never see another movie in which the end credits has as many crew members with last names ending with the letter "v."

What's unforgivable:

The title! "Alien Hunter" is an absolutely terrible name. Surely they could have come up with something a little more enticing. It sounds like a reject Jean-Claude film title.

I'm still amazed that they were able to cast James Spader in this. I mean, JAMES SPADER!!! :)

Bored? Nothing else to watch or rent? Give this movie a try.

This is an exceptional Sci-Fi Network Production. Decent F/X and a story line that is not too far fetched to enjoy. A team of government scientists conducting botanical experiments at the South Pole stumble upon what is believed to be an extraterrestrial black box. After further examination and disregard for a decoded warning an alien tries to communicate. A terrific finale out of the ordinary. James Spader leads an apt cast that features:Leslie Stefanson, Janine Eser, Roy Dotrice, John Lynch and Keir Dullea. A don't miss for Sci-Fi fans.