Gemini Rising

The epitome of not caring about your movie ... ... Some movies fake up a real-looking police report when someone is reading a dossier. This movie just handed the actor a copy of the script to literally read from AND THEN SHOWED IT IN A CLOSEUP!

Some pictures actually train their female kick-fanny leads to at least look like they can throw actual punches and kicks ... this movie figured why bother, so they get the look of a high school play.

Some movies have real dialogue ... this movie almost seemed to wing it with bad cliches.

I am usually one to give credit where credit is due, but the crud in this movie are SO bad I can't bring myself to give it better than a 2.

Wow, ALIEN RISING is a bad movie, and then some. It's a cheap and cheerful B-movie in which the central characters remain locked in a laboratory for most of the running time. The story involves a gifted young woman who has some kind of psychic powers who finds herself abducted by the military for a special job. Her role? To communicate with a captured alien and discover the plans it has for mankind...

Despite there being the requisite twists and turns in the tale, ALIEN RISING is really too cheap to go anywhere. The only - and I mean the ONLY - thing this film has going for it is a central role for cult favourite Lance Henriksen, but - and no offence, Lance - he's looking tired and generally disinterested by the whole thing.

The story unwisely focuses on an annoying female character for the most part and her attempts at emoting are quite pitiful. Not as pitiful, though, as the aliens, which are among the worst-animated CGI you'll ever see. I always seem to be saying that in my reviews but it truly is woeful here, and I'm genuinely surprised that this was a recent film. Elsewhere, the director constantly makes idiotic decisions, like adding classical music to various fight scenes. The result is ridiculous in the extreme.

I very rarely put reviews of films but I felt I had to for this film to save anyone else form watching it. It's CGI heavy when it didn't have to be, like when a character is shot multiple times it's done with CGI when plain old special effects would have done a better job. The CGI reminded me of an early 90's game cut scene CGI. The acting is half baked, felt like it was just a pay check job. The choreography was completely terrible and made me feel embarrassed watching it. The main characters almost constant narration was unbearable. The score was poorly chosen and at one point one track finished and a different track started immediately started with a new scene. Felt very poorly edited as a whole. If I had a one use time machine or a mind wipe to revive this abomination from my life.

I didn't know they were still allowed to make such movies in 2015!! I mean, if you do get to take a look at it, around 20-30 minutes is all that is needed to realize that this is as cheap as they come.

And you know what? I'll stop blaming the budget. Cameron had a different idea for Terminator 1, he wanted to make it like T2, but budget and special effects would not allow him such a thing back then. Wes wanted to make Freddy like the one in the New Nightmare, again, restrained by budget and CGI he chose differently. Results? Work of arts!

Therefore, Alien Rising is just bad. I graded it a 3 stars and not 2, because the plot, the origin, had a nice idea that could have been developed into something better. But it was a roller coaster of clichés. Stay away from this one, it really is 3 on a scale of 10.

Always a pleasure seeing Henriksen on the screen, I think he could do a lot better tho. One of my favorite actors sinking more and more.

Cheers!

And then there's the Hollywood required pictures of Barry Obama in the background of any scene in a government office.

I quit watching.