There are things to like about this movie, so I'll get them out of the way before I start tearing it apart. The effects are really quite good. The mismatch between human technology and that of aliens capable of interstellar travel is believable. We'd get our clocks cleaned in such a conflict, and our minor victories would be short-lived and heavily retaliated against, just as seen here. And the humans who didn't die instantly would panic and try stupid plans that don't work, just as seen here.
That's fine, and actually kind of refreshing. I'm pretty tired of the "human underdogs somehow defeat the invincible aliens" genre. Sure, I'm rooting for the home team, but it's just not a realistic outcome.
The problem here is that the aliens just don't make sense. I get that aliens are supposed to be, well, alien, and that their methods and goals might not make sense to us. But here we're eventually shown that they are pursuing one single goal to the exclusion of all else: the harvesting of human brains. They ignore literally everything else, and are shown to discard the corpses once they've removed the central nervous system. And what are they using the brains for? To reprogram and install them in cyborg drones so that they can more efficiently -- wait for it -- harvest human brains, not that they were having much difficulty with that to start with.
The dumb circularity of all this makes me wish my brain had been harvested before I wasted its power trying to watch this tripe. It's a 50's B-movie plot with great special effects grafted on top. It makes "Independence Day" look like Shakespeare. Hell, it makes "Lost in Space" or "Transformers" look like Shakespeare. It's just amazingly, infuriatingly stupid and pointless.
The only mildly interesting thing in this movie occurs just as it ends, when Balfour's brain (I can't be bothered to look up the character's name) is shown to somehow rebel so he turns into a rogue alien/cyborg/drone. It's as illogical and inexplicable as the rest of this mess, but if the movie had gotten to that point an hour earlier and moved forward, there might have been a chance at something resembling a plot.
As it is, though, this is just a complete waste. One star gets bumped up to three for the special effects, but they're not enough to make this worth sitting through.
That's fine, and actually kind of refreshing. I'm pretty tired of the "human underdogs somehow defeat the invincible aliens" genre. Sure, I'm rooting for the home team, but it's just not a realistic outcome.
The problem here is that the aliens just don't make sense. I get that aliens are supposed to be, well, alien, and that their methods and goals might not make sense to us. But here we're eventually shown that they are pursuing one single goal to the exclusion of all else: the harvesting of human brains. They ignore literally everything else, and are shown to discard the corpses once they've removed the central nervous system. And what are they using the brains for? To reprogram and install them in cyborg drones so that they can more efficiently -- wait for it -- harvest human brains, not that they were having much difficulty with that to start with.
The dumb circularity of all this makes me wish my brain had been harvested before I wasted its power trying to watch this tripe. It's a 50's B-movie plot with great special effects grafted on top. It makes "Independence Day" look like Shakespeare. Hell, it makes "Lost in Space" or "Transformers" look like Shakespeare. It's just amazingly, infuriatingly stupid and pointless.
The only mildly interesting thing in this movie occurs just as it ends, when Balfour's brain (I can't be bothered to look up the character's name) is shown to somehow rebel so he turns into a rogue alien/cyborg/drone. It's as illogical and inexplicable as the rest of this mess, but if the movie had gotten to that point an hour earlier and moved forward, there might have been a chance at something resembling a plot.
As it is, though, this is just a complete waste. One star gets bumped up to three for the special effects, but they're not enough to make this worth sitting through.