The Hive

This is a ridiculous albeit somewhat compelling low-budget effort at an "eco-disaster" movie. From the title you might imagine that it revolves around bees, but it is in fact about ant colonies which have developed advanced intelligence and super-powers as a result of alien intervention. The plot is mostly predictable although it does include some bizarre twists, the acting is mediocre and the special effects are not so special. That said, the premise is quite interesting - we know that ants communicate in some way and work together, but what if they got really clever? It is a mixture of "The Naked Jungle" (an oldie but goodie with Charlton Heston having to deal with "the marabunta") and "Phase IV", both of which are far better films.

I don't know why I keep attempting to watch a film made by the Sci-Fi network. Somehow, I think that just maybe this one will be decent. But, as usual, it sucks! When will I learn? You can bet that when you hear the announcement, "An original Sci-Fi film" it will be the usual lame story line. Some painfully bad CGI creation of a killer creature (super sized snakes and reptiles seem to be the favorites) attacking a group isolated, stranded idiots. And when I say "painfully bad CGI", it truly is painful to watch. ("I confess, just turn the channel!") I've seen better effects from the original Nintendo games! What I find even sadder is that some of the stars who sign up for these catastrophes are ones that "I thought" were on the fast track to great careers. Actors like, Stephen Baldwin, Michael Pare, Casper Van Dien & Dean Cane to name a few seem to keep reappearing in these features. I like to think that maybe they new managers or that there is just no quality work going on.

But, you can always count on the Sci-Fi channel to be in production of another low budget cookie cutter flick. I guess you gotta take what work you can get. Unfortunately, I believe that starring in these films is just going to keep you starring in these films. So you can kiss the Oscar goodbye!!!! "The Night of the Lepus", now there's a good cheesy I could enjoy over and over again. And that starred Janet Leigh, Deforest Kelly and Stuart Whitman.....what bet did they lose?

I do not dare to call myself a film critic but I think I do know how to appreciate a good film and differentiate between a good movie and a bad one. And in my opinion, this is a rather bad one, given the technology in film-making of 2008.

Honestly, when I play the movie, I thought it was made in the 1980s. The whole texture of the film just looks cheap and unpolished. Even if it's done on a low-budget, I assumed given the abundance of hi-tech equipment and all today, there should be at least some quality to making this film (apparently I was wrong). None of the characters look good(except for the lead actor who look like Keanu Reeves at times)and frankly, I would not turn my head to have another look at them if they passed me by on the streets.

The plot is ridiculous and the twist at the end of the movie just made me deemed this film as stupid rather than pleasantly surprising. The CGI is really really bad and childish. And to be called a sci-fi movie, the special effects should be the most basic component that the film-makers should invest money in. I would probably had felt better if it was seriously just a plain good horror movie about man-eating ants destroying things and end up being destroyed by humans. This, to me is more convincing than telling me that the ants are controlled by aliens. I am utterly disappointed in this movie and though I do not deny the fact this movie has the potential to be good, it failed badly this time as I do not see the effort in the film-making process.

The acting seemed okay as in I could believe they believed what they where saying. Often though what they said demonstrated a complete lack of basic science or what they had just said a few lines ago. Some kind of science adviser, even a kindergarten one, would have done wonders for the movie. Energy weapon versus chemical weapon, Endoskeleton versus exoskeleton, what a biological computer might look like and what it definitely would not look like. Keep in mind most of these guys are supposed to be highly educated. The Professor's role seemed contrary at every turn. He taught these people but can't seemed to address a simply first aide problem...? Really? I don't really understand what they were trying to do with the end though I would love to meet the writer just to find out how things could have gone so wrong. I think they were just going for "let's see how much we can cram in this!" The suits and guns were kinda cool. This goes in the category of if I could watch it again for the first time I probably would but would never watch it after that.

The acting in this movie is mostly indifferent. Is this sci-fi? They have to be kidding (ants that crawl fast enough to catch running humans, and even give an SUV a run for its money)! Couple this pretty lame plot with some of the worst camera-work ever to be seen on TV or in the cinema, and you have the movie in a nutshell. Ultra close ups to the point where you can't work out what's going on (though you can see every blemish in the actors skin), wobbly cameras, to name but a few. The CGI ants are below average, and the final dénouement about the cause of everything just leaps from the improbable to the downright silly. Monty Python would have been proud of the ending! Give this a miss! Two stars (just because Elizabeth Healey is pretty).