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DVD Alien Opponent
 Rating: 4.2 Genres: Action | Comedy | Sci-Fi Director: Colin Theys Writers: John Doolan Stars: Jeremy London, Roddy Piper, Cuyle Carvin |
| Storyline The owner of a small-town junkyard offers a cash reward to whomever can kill her uninvited, space-suited alien guest when its spacecraft crash-lands into her barn. Every wacko within 100 miles turns out, and before long, the junkyard is transformed into a war zone of man vs. man vs. machine vs. alien vs. God only knows what. Written by Synthetic Cinema International |
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| Plot Keywords: junkyard, alien, small town, one word title, human versus alien | |
| Details: Country: USA Release Date: 5 August 2011 (USA) |
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4 comments
I happened into the middle of "Alien Opponent" by accident while channel surfing one Sunday, and something about it caught my interest. So I watched it all the way through the next time it was on the Chiller channel to see if my initial impressions were correct.
This is not a "good" movie in any sense of the word, but it has some nice setups, some decent moments here and there, some quirky (if broadly defined) performances, and it obviously isn't meant to be taken seriously. (For instance, it doesn't really answer the question of where a junkyard owner would get 100 grand in cash or why she doesn't just call the Feds if she wants the alien out of her garage.) There's a very cynical and nihilistic screenplay which is built around the theme of most cynical direct-to-cable releases, "Kill them all and let God sort them out." It populates the movie with the most generic character stereotypes you can imagine and gives them the most banal (but mean hearted) dialog to mouth.
But the director keeps things moving along briskly enough to keep things from getting too annoying, the actors are good enough to keep the energy going during most of the scenes, and (as I said) there's a gallows humor that ties the movie elements together.
So I'd call this an OK time-waster. Watching it will kill 90+ minutes effectively enough on a slow evening, and if you are watching it for free on cable, you'll feel as if you got your money's worth,if you know what I mean.
I have to say I'm honestly surprised the current average mark for this excellent movie is so low, and probably some reviews are so negative.
In a way it's understandable actually, because if many people expected it to be a mega-budget Hollywood blockbuster with a tight plot, dialogs with depth (real or clichéd) and an all-star cast (independence day, Armageddon etc), well then, this movie would definitely be a disappointment.
Well, some people might have been looking for those rare gems, movies with style and a great story but for whatever reason ignored by the establishment (Cube, Cypher, Donnie Darko when it went straight to video because of 9/11 and an airplane crash, despite being one of the best movies ever made)…. and again they were in for a disappointment.
So, you might think, why does this lunatic gave it an 8 then? That's actually quite simple, this is a B-movie, shamelessly so, and as such it succeeds in its intent and entertains to no end.
From the very opening, a quiet evening in rednecks-ville with booze, guns and alien ships crashing behind the barn, we're immediately reminded of classic B-movies such as Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Wild Zero, or maybe the pulp fiction that inspired many Tarantino movies. However, while Tarantino tries to invest his silly, gory movies with a serious background that rarely fits, Alien Opponent is a tongue-in-cheek gore fest that entertains us with action, blood, corny dialogs and bizarre deaths all extremely funny.
The movie, as long as a silly, gory B-movie suits your tastes, flashes by in an instant, never boring and always enjoyable. For a bit of mindless fun and gratuitous, silly violence, this movie is a real gem, and in my opinion much more fun than pretentious Hollywood efforts like the recent Sherlock Holmes movie, check it out.
This is a what most will call "B" movie. Trying to compare it to multimillion Hollywood productions is not what I am here to do. I will tell you how this fare within the context of a "B" movie and an indie product. If you are looking for a big-budget Hollywood movie please look elsewhere.
To me, I watched this expecting it to be silly. Silly it was, but entertaining! I thought it was going to be a really bad low-budget indie zombie/alien ripoff but I am happy to say that I was thrilled most of the time. Definitely better than the average efforts out there.
It was slow at times, but interjected with the darkest of humor in the appropriate places. I couldn't help but chuckled aloud many times during the course of the show. It also has the vilest of characters and stereotypes but the director definitely did a good job mocking them. The plot was ludicrous , but somehow worked. It will definitely not fail in entertaining folks of the genre.
Decent FX and loads of blood and guts as well. What more does one expect? 🙂
I know what you're thinking. "Look at this a#%hole. He gave it a ten. Probably a relative of somebody in the crew, or some local who was cast as an extra". And I perfectly understand. IMDb is bursting at the seems with ÜBER-overwhelming reviews from cast, crew, extras and even producers in "disguise". You know the drill – "honest" opinions in all "objectivity" to increase the ratings.
But the answer is no. I have nothing to do with the making of this film…AT ALL! I simply loved this little gem – and gave it a ten for being "the little film that could".
The story is paper thin, the budget ultra low and the actors are light years away from even being in the vicinity of "mediocre". But still – these guys seem to really know what they're doing. The sound – both mix and editing – PRISTINE. Cinematography and film editing – FLAWLESS! The special effects – CGI, robotics and latex – EXCELLENT! To sum it up – the technical side is, surprisingly enough, grade A. How they pulled it off is beyond me.
What IS certain – the team behind this film LOVES making movies. Call me crazy (as you think I am anyway), but it seems that somebody actually cared and took pride in finishing this little project at the highest level possible with the means that were available. There's a "let's use the few dollars we have to make something really cool"-attitude here. You'll see what I mean, if you ever decide to rent this flick (and throw away your hard earned money). It's all in the details.
As for the story (paper thin…remember?), the creators elaborately underline from frame one that this is not to be taken seriously. Under ANY circumstance. This is MEANT to be over the top. Just sit back, enjoy the ride and the "what the f#%k???"-moments, which are plentiful.
This is probably the best 80 minutes I'll never get back. For sure.