Fire Serpent

......though it did have Robert Beltran - not, alas, as Chakotay. WWJD ? What Would Janeway Do ? Fire some of Voyager's inexhaustible supply of photon torpedoes, most likely. This gets 2 stars, for a decentish beginning, and a decentish end.

A couple of campers, remembering Smokey the Bear's admonition that "only you can prevent forest fires" dutifully attempt to put out their campfire with water, only to be possessed/roasted by some angry fire entity (which occasionally growls or roars) that doesn't like water much. From there it torches or possesses anybody it can find, but it's out in the wilderness, so there aren't too many victims available. It's a smart fire creature, though, so it plots and executes a plan to...uhh, do something nasty, apparently.

Guess what? A government conspiracy, led by a lunatic who spouts off out-of-context biblical scriptures about fires, is trying to use the thing to wipe out people he doesn't like. Can you say "two-cliches-for-the-price-of-one?" Can you further believe this nut job with his "burning desire" is named (ready?) Cooke? Egad. His able assistant, unaware of his intentions, helps a firefighter find a way to extinguish the menace, with the predictable results as to who's going to end up french-fried and who survives. Theories about the invader abound: not only is it accused of apocalyptic tendencies, but apparently it came from solar flares. Because of these disjointed and impossible to reconcile backgrounds, plot holes proliferate faster than the charred bodies of victims. For example, why didn't these pyrotechnic wraiths sizzle the whole planet long ago?

The acting actually rises above the script and breathes some life into the characters' back stories and motivations. Special effects get a split-decision: some are impressive and interesting, others are just fake looking and cheap. Overall: watchable. However, nobody involved need write an Oscar acceptance speech.

I would not say this movie was akin to the usual sci-fi movies on Saturday night, but it won't be winning any awards either.

The writing was poor, however I believe the actors did the best they could with what they had – with the exception of the TV news crew women at the start. I found Nicholas Brendon's character to be the most 'believable' but they rest did as good as they could. I'm sorry but Beltran's character started off being poorly fleshed out, but by the end of the film he was over the top.

The SFX were not ILM worthy, but they were a hair better than most movies on the channel.

All in all, I found it watchable, but not very ripping. I will give the appropriate accolades to Mr. Brendon. He seems to have taken the part as far as he could with what he had. Better scripting and better directing by Shatner (although not nearly as bad as 'Star Trek: Generations' IMHO) may have made this just a wee bit better.

Was the cast on quaaludes? The acting is so leaden you wonder if they were on something. No facial expressions, no reactions, no emotion. Just "actors" standing woodenly while reading slowly off cue cards. So slowly. Seriously detracts from the otherwise dreadful special effects and non existent plot.

Three stars for the Buffy alumni guy attempting to act and the surprisingly accurate depiction of just how expendable journalists are. Two die, no one even pretends to care. Three stars.

Have you ever wondered about those angels spoken of in the Bible of fire and sword? Well science fiction has uncovered an explanation for them. Turns out in Fire Serpent they are living creatures unlike our carbon based life form that live in solar flares. Every now and then they get themselves loose and wreak all kinds of havoc. Check in the Bible Leviticus Chapter Ten and you can read what one of these things did to the sons of Aaron.

Some wacko agent from Homeland Security played by Voyager's Robert Beltran's who's a little far gone on religion has this brilliant idea to use one of these things as a method of meting out some of us his own divine retribution. Nothing like pretending you're the Deity when the power gets thrust upon you. It's up to Buffy the Vampire Slayer veteran Nicholas Brendon and Emergency's Randolph Mantooth to stop the creature and he who seeks to use it.

It's kind of sad to see what some players come down to, but a paycheck is a paycheck. The science in the science fiction leaves a lot to be desired and if this thing could really be true and these creatures have visited us before, the earth would have been left a burning cinder several millenia ago.