Dark Force - Lautlos kommt der Tod

I have no joke, I just like saying "Your methods are crude. Effective, but crude."

Cheesy, but decent. Car chases, train chases, gunfights, explosions, people who emit mysterious cool-looking force waves from their mouths, and of course the required anti-violence, pro-environment message. As a bonus, the aliens are total hotties. If nothing else, watch it to see Dennis Christopher communing with a potted palm.

Jack Scalia headlines in this somewhat low brow effort from the PM guys as a government agent who goes head to head against a Men In Black plot to bring forth unto our world, a conquering army via an inter-dimensional portal. Sounds bad eh? Well, luckily for our hero, he is aided by a friendly alien named Comdor who has been sent through the same portal in order to close it forever. Yes, it's a buddy movie at heart with Scalia as the hard as nails and down to earth 'cop' and Dennis Christopher playing the naive yet charming alien who eventually, naturally wins over his new found partners hard exterior and warms his heart etc.....(the sort of plot we've seen a zillion times before in fact).

What can I say? Sadly, this turns out to be a strictly by the numbers affair and is not helped any by some particularly groan inducing attempts at light hearted humour. It's doubly a shame as the notion of covert agencies such as the infamous MIB's provide such wonderful scope for storytelling; Alas, it was sadly mostly squandered here and cheap special effects scenes such as the actual portal itself hardly help matters any.

Having said the above, all is not entirely lost for this is after all a PM Production and if there's one thing that you can always count on from a PM flick it's plenty of crazy action scenes! Sure enough this delivers insane stunts and action aplenty from insane freeway chases to some well handled shoot outs.

For fellow PM fans it's certainly worth a peek but don't expect too much - you'll likely be somewhat underwhelmed.

THE SILENCERS is a low budget action Sci-Fi thriller produced by the PM entertainment group and if you know their films you already know that almost every scene is a set up for either a major gunfight, a high speed chase or a lot of very big explosions, with that said THE SILENCERS delivers on everything.

The film does have a plot of course although I'm not going sum it up because the main reason to recommend this film for is the action scenes, they are thoroughly entertaining, very well staged and they don't appear random or forced.

The acting is pretty good, the best performances are given by Jack Scalia and Dennis Christopher in the lead roles and the direction by Richard Pepin is well handled.

Other films from the PM entertainment group include FIREPOWER, RIOT, RECOIL, LAND OF THE FREE, T-FORCE and HOLOGRAM MAN and this is just naming a few.

A story with aliens who have nothing else better to do than to come banging each other here on our planet Earth. To be able to distinguish them, the good guys look like us, the others, the bad ones, have black eyes and are ugly. There's some tension in the tracking scenes, the stunts did a good job. The script is almost bulls..t.

I can attest that THE SILENCERS does not have either deep insight or much depth, but this motion picture is refreshingly entertaining and sometimes hilarious thanks to some extensive action scenes and an affable performance by Dennis Christopher.

The government has denied their existence...but they are here, waiting for mankind to show mercy. Intergalactic space fugitives who call themselves the "Men in Black" claim that they come in peace. However, wherever they go, death and destruction follow...

These Men in Black are here to make sure mankind disavows any knowledge about a superior extra-terrestrial race. Their job though is more than coercing people to deny the existence of aliens. Rather, the primary goal of these Men in Black is to bring mankind down to their knees. In order to accomplish this, the Men in Black must work in collusion with the U.S. military. Both sides are helping to construct an "inter-dimensional portal" (or something like that) which will serve as a gateway for both worlds. What the people do not know is that these aliens have already conquered four worlds...and Planet Earth is next.

Only Secret Super Agent Rafferty (Jack Scalia) has the will to stop these bizarre fiends. However, when the challenges become overwhelming, even the hero could use a little backup. That's when galactic officer Comdor (Dennis Christopher) enters the battle...

UFOs, inter-dimensional portals, government conspiracies, military cover-ups, and Clarence Williams III are the main features of this contrived but gratifying sci-fi action flick. THE SILENCERS is another fun production from none other than the PM Entertainment Group, Inc. There is really nothing new here, but this film does generously offer plenary ingenious action sequences and violence. There is a lot to recommend in this surprisingly amiable action movie. One of this movie's shining moments was when a car crashed right through a helicopter. That scene rocked! Probably the most amusing scene in this movie was when model toy trains were utilized to simulate a train collision(!) Man, there is no stopping the Richard Pepin and Joseph Merhi twosome. They just keep on grinding out sensational spectacles! These guys are the harbingers of slick B-movies.

What makes THE SILENCERS better than the typical sci-fi offering is this film's astute sense of humor and touches of assiduous artistry. The levitating cow in the movie's prelude is a jocular gesture of how often aliens love to study "intelligent" life forms. Also, those aliens, the Men in Black look so freakishly scary with their darkened eyes. The co-star of this movie, Dennis Christopher is smooth in this movie too. He plays an appropriately valiant hero who manages to maintain a soft side. It is humorous how Christopher, the alien warrior, speaks so eloquently about the beauties of nature and how human beings can sometimes take their lives for granted.

As an added bonus, the filmmakers were conscious enough to throw in a nice message promoting a clean environment. I am also glad that there is a statement in this film about how youths should expand their minds rather than relegate themselves to playing an "action hero."

Considering the low budget production values, this film still manages to retain a modicum of dignity. THE SILENCERS may be short on plot and logic, but long on action scenes so hey, this is my type of movie. It is aimed specifically for those germane, macho trigger-happy male crowds! There are no excuses to be made, just revel in the gunfire, chases, explosions, and stunts. THE SILENCERS may be generic, formulaic, and cliché, but it is still moderately sustainable. This is even enjoyable especially for genre fans. I found this film to be much better than what my original disposition has been. This movie is a good rental for a rainy day.

Forget MEN IN BLACK...see this movie instead! THE SILENCERS does not rely on big bucks for fabricated special effects. This film zooms at a fast clip with eye-catching action. If you have a penchant for glass-breaking excitement, then this movie is for you. Have fun...and leave reality behind for once!

RATING: **1/2 out ****.