Regardless whether you believe Bob Lazar or not, this movie will not in any way sway you one way or another. This movie, and note I call it a movie and not a documentary, is a vehicle to promote the vision of George Knapp(who also produced it) and uses Corbell(the director) as his spokesperson. It is in no way meant as a thorough investigation of the claims of Lazar. And to be fair to Knapp.. he sorts of states it at the beginning of the movie.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Bob Lazar story(and Knapp's role) I would advise to look it up on the internet: it isn't hard to find. The short of it: Knapp is a journalist who spends a lot of time pandering woo(see his Coast to Coast Am show), who way back discovered Lazar. Lazar claims to be a scientist with a degree at both MIT and Caltech and having worked in 1988-1989 at a super secret lab at Area 51 where he reversed engineer flying saucers . In 1989 he became a whistle blower on Knapp's KLAS-TV show. First anonymously and seven months later publicly. After that he became a doomed man.
The movie doesn't do much to further knowledge beyond that which we already know and, what is worse, it doesn't even bother to let any criticism being voiced by Lazar's critics . In fact for some odd reason we get to see Corbell a lot while he talks to Knapp over a mobile phone. More time is taken up by Knapp either talking to Corbell over the phone or talking in the movie. Lazar gets to be interviewed in between which results in reproducing that which he already told us. And then we have Mickey Rourke babbling pretentious lines. There is more.. but it is more of the same stuff.
Corbell doesn't bother proving anything. He claims to have talked to a Mike Thigpen, but alas that guy didn't want to talk on camera. He claims to have consulted nine scientists and three in depth about Lazar's claims, but he doesn't name any of them and none of them appear in the movie. He claims to have found the illustrious Cloud Chamber tape, but alas it was overwritten. When he asks Knapp about Lazar's degrees, he gets a reply from Lazar: would you think they hire someone out of high school?
Corbell parrots what Knapps wants to be known. Research is just messing with unnecessary details. The big picture is what he is interested in. And with that any searching for the truth had succumbed to Knapp's rendering of reality. Even if you totally belief Lazar.. you must agree that this makes for a very poor case. This isn't a documentary, it is a manifesto.
A close friend and ardent supporter of Lazar was one Gene Huff. Huff once wrote that was amazed that Lazar got underpaid for a senior staff member(yes: it reads senior staff, Lazar like to think big). Huff asked him about it. Lazar's reply was that scientists were underpaid. That is one answer. The other could be that Lazar wasn't one and that when Huff remarked that Lazar(whom he later made a movie with, called the Lazar Tape)sounded like a scientist, Lazar should have answered.. I wish I was one.. but I ain't.
For those who are unfamiliar with the Bob Lazar story(and Knapp's role) I would advise to look it up on the internet: it isn't hard to find. The short of it: Knapp is a journalist who spends a lot of time pandering woo(see his Coast to Coast Am show), who way back discovered Lazar. Lazar claims to be a scientist with a degree at both MIT and Caltech and having worked in 1988-1989 at a super secret lab at Area 51 where he reversed engineer flying saucers . In 1989 he became a whistle blower on Knapp's KLAS-TV show. First anonymously and seven months later publicly. After that he became a doomed man.
The movie doesn't do much to further knowledge beyond that which we already know and, what is worse, it doesn't even bother to let any criticism being voiced by Lazar's critics . In fact for some odd reason we get to see Corbell a lot while he talks to Knapp over a mobile phone. More time is taken up by Knapp either talking to Corbell over the phone or talking in the movie. Lazar gets to be interviewed in between which results in reproducing that which he already told us. And then we have Mickey Rourke babbling pretentious lines. There is more.. but it is more of the same stuff.
Corbell doesn't bother proving anything. He claims to have talked to a Mike Thigpen, but alas that guy didn't want to talk on camera. He claims to have consulted nine scientists and three in depth about Lazar's claims, but he doesn't name any of them and none of them appear in the movie. He claims to have found the illustrious Cloud Chamber tape, but alas it was overwritten. When he asks Knapp about Lazar's degrees, he gets a reply from Lazar: would you think they hire someone out of high school?
Corbell parrots what Knapps wants to be known. Research is just messing with unnecessary details. The big picture is what he is interested in. And with that any searching for the truth had succumbed to Knapp's rendering of reality. Even if you totally belief Lazar.. you must agree that this makes for a very poor case. This isn't a documentary, it is a manifesto.
A close friend and ardent supporter of Lazar was one Gene Huff. Huff once wrote that was amazed that Lazar got underpaid for a senior staff member(yes: it reads senior staff, Lazar like to think big). Huff asked him about it. Lazar's reply was that scientists were underpaid. That is one answer. The other could be that Lazar wasn't one and that when Huff remarked that Lazar(whom he later made a movie with, called the Lazar Tape)sounded like a scientist, Lazar should have answered.. I wish I was one.. but I ain't.