Having been warned off by the almost universally negative reviews and comments on this film I finally watched it after picking the DVD up cheap.
And well…I thought it wasn’t that bad. Its not a great movie by any means but it certainly has its moments and the aliens are pretty creepy.
Even the obligatory “We nuked them but they just shrugged it off!” moment was fairly well done and didn’t annoy me as much as it usually does. Though I think watching a nuke going off through a telescope would be a little worse for your health than depicted, though I did like that that character was depicted as being a good guy when I thought he was being set up as the lead heroes antagonist.
Although I don’t know why they had to get in so close to launch the nuke, I assume there was some reason why they couldn’t use ballistic missiles, though to be fair the characters wouldn’t be aware either.
So a mediocre movie but one that kept me entertained for an hour and a half, I don’t think it deserves the hate it has received.
I pretty much agree with the OP. It wasn’t horrible, but certainly not a classic. I actually liked the ending. Maybe the fact that it featured a lot of no-name actors and the director of the most recent Alien vs. Predator garbage led to some quick judgments.
I hated the characters. About 20 minutes into the movie I was getting impatient waiting on them to die already, and frankly, they took way too long to do so.
Personally I don’t think the ending was bad per se but it happened too suddenly and left things too unresolved, if there was a sequel showing what happens to them and the world next it wouldn’t be so bad.
I did like that the aliens weren’t depicted as utterly invincible and the combat scenes were quite fun but I did wonder why humanity wasn’t rolling out the full inventory of good-old human-made kick-ass.
And if nuking the mothership almost worked then why not nuke it again…and again…until it can’t regenerate? I mean its not as if we have a shortage of the things…
Agreed, I didn’t find the main characters likable or sympathetic either, although I did like the heavierset gentleman who decided to go out with a bang.
I liked it enough to watch it 3 times, although I also thought the ending was abrupt. It was as if they intended this to be a TV mini-series but realized after production started that they only had enough funds to make a 95 minute film.
Watched it with friends in total silence at the house of another friend who recommended it. The best part of the evening was when we were leaving and one friend turned to the host and said “Vaya con Dios, you son of a bitch!” We use that line all the time on him now, so it wasn’t a total waste.
