This film is particularly interesting--and it's frankly an example of what happens when "big-budget" ideas are combined with the "low-budget" limitations of non-Hollywood films. The Invader is a great special effect, as it goes. Still, it's painfully reminiscent of a Transformer.
The storyline is simple and straightforward, to the point of two-dimensional. One gets the feeling that the writers were all too aware of this, and sought to give it "heart" with the romance subplot.
The leads are as good as they can be in their limited roles--particularly the lovely and superbly talented Nicole deBoer, of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "The Dead Zone" fame. Miss deBoer does a pretty good job of taking her role--a typical "former love who's at first cold, but discovers she still has feelings for the lead"--and sprucing it up when she has the opportunity. Case in point: her great moment when a character notes to her that the only girl the hero's had a steady relationship with had been her. Nicole's reaction to the line is testament to her skills at developing the characters she plays. Still, once can't watch this film, and not be nostalgic for the beautiful performances we've seen her give elsewhere--it's painfully obvious she can still give them, were she given half a chance.
The secondary characters are at times pretty cringe-inducing--one wonders if, had the filmmakers more time and money, they'd have hired better. Still, they were able to get Miss deBoer--though even she can't carry films on her own. That being said, a moment that makes the film, for sheer "camp" value, is when she runs up to the Invader with a bleeding arm (she cut it on purpose--watch the film to understand why) and in what looks like a direct homage to Tommy Lee Jones in "Men In Black", starts taunting it like mad. Her first taunt in the sequence is also an apparent homage to Robert de Niro in "Taxi Driver"--"SUCK ON THIS!!!"
Finally...the montage sequence where the Invader is defeated is pretty cringe-inducing--not the concept, which was interesting, so much as the camera shots of quick extreme close ups of bottles pouring out. Sometimes, rapid montage works. When it doesn't, it makes the audience flinch at how gimmicky it is. This was the latter.
Overall, the film was okay--but it could have been better.
The storyline is simple and straightforward, to the point of two-dimensional. One gets the feeling that the writers were all too aware of this, and sought to give it "heart" with the romance subplot.
The leads are as good as they can be in their limited roles--particularly the lovely and superbly talented Nicole deBoer, of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "The Dead Zone" fame. Miss deBoer does a pretty good job of taking her role--a typical "former love who's at first cold, but discovers she still has feelings for the lead"--and sprucing it up when she has the opportunity. Case in point: her great moment when a character notes to her that the only girl the hero's had a steady relationship with had been her. Nicole's reaction to the line is testament to her skills at developing the characters she plays. Still, once can't watch this film, and not be nostalgic for the beautiful performances we've seen her give elsewhere--it's painfully obvious she can still give them, were she given half a chance.
The secondary characters are at times pretty cringe-inducing--one wonders if, had the filmmakers more time and money, they'd have hired better. Still, they were able to get Miss deBoer--though even she can't carry films on her own. That being said, a moment that makes the film, for sheer "camp" value, is when she runs up to the Invader with a bleeding arm (she cut it on purpose--watch the film to understand why) and in what looks like a direct homage to Tommy Lee Jones in "Men In Black", starts taunting it like mad. Her first taunt in the sequence is also an apparent homage to Robert de Niro in "Taxi Driver"--"SUCK ON THIS!!!"
Finally...the montage sequence where the Invader is defeated is pretty cringe-inducing--not the concept, which was interesting, so much as the camera shots of quick extreme close ups of bottles pouring out. Sometimes, rapid montage works. When it doesn't, it makes the audience flinch at how gimmicky it is. This was the latter.
Overall, the film was okay--but it could have been better.