Alien Interceptors

What a horrible movie. This film is an absolute disgrace to science fiction because it is just incomplete. The organization that is charged with hunting down this alien creature had the most laughable methods any government group could use. Using nuclear weapons in a trigger happy style does not really seem like a very wise decision for a government group. And the alien in this film? oh please! If it is bullet proof, then why did the locals keep having to shoot it even though they know for the hundredth time it is bullet proof?! The same can be said for the fight scenes. The hero fights the alien bare handed, gets clobbered, gets up and fights it again, gets clobbered, and keeps on going on and on and on. I swear the hero was trying to show off his fancy martial arts fighting rather than trying to figure out a way to kill the alien. After about an hour or so of repeatitive and monotonous fighting, the government decides to go nuclear again. This film is bad because of the plot. It is too simple: government sends a team of clumsy specialists to kill an alien, which in turn kills them. FINISHED! Unlike films such as Predator,(which the alien in this film is copied from)Interceptors is a half-done, goofy action flick. If you can imagine the typical movie hero defeating dozens of thugs, put the alien as the hero and the specialists as the thugs and you got an idea of what the action in this show is like.

There seems to be an interesting correlation between cheesy military/science-fiction movies and the F-117A fighter bomber - practically every movie that has this type of plane in it turns out cheesy. "Interceptors" is no exception. Basically this is the story of an incompetent, clumsy, immature Department of Defense contracted mercenary team sent into Baja California to recover (supposedly) a crashed F-117A. When the team is deployed into Mexico, they discover that this is no recovery operation - it's an extraterrestrial manhunt. The low budget nature of this film makes it incredibly cheesy, but particularly hilarious. The mercenaries run around in a black sport utility vehicle, wearing Walkman earphones which are actually supposed to be a radio communications system. Even better, at the end of the movie, we're to believe that it's possible to 'run' from the blast wave of a thermonuclear explosion. The list of oversights and flaws is incredible - but somehow "Interceptors" doesn't seem quite as intellectually insulting as most of its contemporaries, most likely a result of the humorous nature of the film (either by accident or design of the directors). It's hard to watch this film without breaking down into fits of wild laughter. The stupidity and haphazard flow of the movie is almost akin to the Hong Kong style of comedies. (The ending scene, in which the mercenary leader 'mistakes' a village woman for the alien entity is classic.) It's a shame "Interceptors" is one of those direct-to-video movies...it would have been an absolute riot in theatres. If viewed as a sci-fi or action flick, "Interceptors" fails horribly. But as a (accidental) comedy, it's priceless. The good point is the fact that most of the action is computer generated (albiet, the low budget CGI looks like something you'd see while playing on an Nintendo64). The directors don't use stock footage, and the aerial battle action is somewhat interesting. It's a good film to watch if you have time to waste, are home sick, or want to throw a popcorn party with your friends. The outtakes at the end of the movie are a plus.

This was obviously very low budget, but saying that it wasn't too bad, the plot was fairly obvious but isn't that what action movies are about. The ending may have been a bit cheesy but that can't be helped. The Lead actor Olivier Gruner has a future in action movies if he can keep that level of action up in his movies, he's Van Damn-esq right down to his accent. The alien was a bit like the predator but it was still quite a fun film.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Lt. Sean Lambert (Olivier Gruner) leads his team of mysterious government agents against a mysterious alien force that has taken over a small town.

This is directed by Philip J Roth,who helmed Digital Man and A.P.E.X.,two other low-budget,DTV sci-fi actioners that I enjoyed,and this is pretty much on their level.Sure,like those films,it's low budget and direct to video,and as such,it must have the production values that would indicate this,but very rarely do they seep through.

It opens with a neat,energetic soundtrack that plays throughout the film,adding excitement to the numourous action sequences,in the shape of some fine explosions and Gruner's very impressive kickboxing prowess.It's a good job that the guy can kickbox with the best of them though,because if it was his acting ability we had to concentrate on,the film would be a dead cert loss.Seriously,anyone who ever considered Jean Claude Van Damme the worst thing ever committed to celliloid,I say,just look at this guy.His unemphatic delivery,shoddy execution and lack of panache render his performance nothing less than nauseatingly wooden,as he cheerlessly bites off his bland lines of dialogue the script wisely allocates him.He's complimented,however,by some weak supporting characters that ultimately expose weaknesses in,well,the script itself.

Generally speaking,though,it is of superior quality for a film of it's ilk,with some nice lines of dialogue that flow thick and fast and plenty of what the audience came expecting to see:action.

I enjoyed it.Chances are,you might too.***

Let me start with saying this is possibly the worst film I've ever seen, and yes I've seen Titanic. The plot is extremely flat, there is no depth to the film's content and I feel I must stress the serious lack of character development. The packaging was painfully misleading and the ending would have been a serious let down if the rest of the film hadn't been so bad. The ending was one of the most random endings it has ever been my displeasure to witness. In short if you've seen this film already I sympathize, otherwise steer well clear.