29 commentaires
Films involving aliens admittedly do spark my interest and there are some fun ones out there, and some obvious masterpieces (won't name them at the risk of sounding unfair). Low-budget alien films on the most part do not have a good reputation and it is not hard to see why with most of them being intelligence insulting and making one seriously question how much effort went into it.
While far from the worst case, compared to the attempts especially made by SyFy and The Asylum (and a couple of others), 'Alien Reign of Man' does nothing to convert my general negative feelings on low-budget alien films. It's an incredibly bad mess and came incredibly close to having no redeeming qualities because of how much it does wrong and in a way that's jaw-droppingly awful. Oddly enough though there were a couple of small things that just about stopped it from falling into that category.
'Alien Reign of Man' is saved from total doom by the photography, even if far from exceptional, having some atmosphere and skill and actually not making me nauseous.
There is the odd fair costume and a few effects that look as if effort was made into them.
However, they are completely eclipsed by everything else being so dreadfully done. 'Alien Reign of Man' has a very drab look, and that a vast majority of the costumes are shoestring budget and that the rest of the effects are at best afterthought-looking pathetic further cheapen it, which makes the effort that went into the photography a waste. Editing was choppy too.
The music is too loud, very annoying and doesn't fit with the atmosphere at all, actually sounding like it was written for something else. The sound effects are bizarre and muffled, which does affect the dialogue and the balance between that and the sound. The dialogue is extremely stilted and without any bite, intrigue or urgency. That is when it is comprehensible, unfortunately most of the time it is not.
Something that affects the story coherence too. Further bad news for a story that's already paper thin, slow as molasses (and that is an insult to molasses) and well overdone on the ridiculousness. The characters are like robots in personality and have nothing interesting or distinguishable about them. The direction is pancake-flat.
While the actors are not entirely to blame, they throughout, and without exception, look as unfamiliar and indifferent to the material (characters and dialogue) as the viewer is.
Overall, a couple of small redeeming qualities but generally a big mess. 2/10 Bethany Cox
While far from the worst case, compared to the attempts especially made by SyFy and The Asylum (and a couple of others), 'Alien Reign of Man' does nothing to convert my general negative feelings on low-budget alien films. It's an incredibly bad mess and came incredibly close to having no redeeming qualities because of how much it does wrong and in a way that's jaw-droppingly awful. Oddly enough though there were a couple of small things that just about stopped it from falling into that category.
'Alien Reign of Man' is saved from total doom by the photography, even if far from exceptional, having some atmosphere and skill and actually not making me nauseous.
There is the odd fair costume and a few effects that look as if effort was made into them.
However, they are completely eclipsed by everything else being so dreadfully done. 'Alien Reign of Man' has a very drab look, and that a vast majority of the costumes are shoestring budget and that the rest of the effects are at best afterthought-looking pathetic further cheapen it, which makes the effort that went into the photography a waste. Editing was choppy too.
The music is too loud, very annoying and doesn't fit with the atmosphere at all, actually sounding like it was written for something else. The sound effects are bizarre and muffled, which does affect the dialogue and the balance between that and the sound. The dialogue is extremely stilted and without any bite, intrigue or urgency. That is when it is comprehensible, unfortunately most of the time it is not.
Something that affects the story coherence too. Further bad news for a story that's already paper thin, slow as molasses (and that is an insult to molasses) and well overdone on the ridiculousness. The characters are like robots in personality and have nothing interesting or distinguishable about them. The direction is pancake-flat.
While the actors are not entirely to blame, they throughout, and without exception, look as unfamiliar and indifferent to the material (characters and dialogue) as the viewer is.
Overall, a couple of small redeeming qualities but generally a big mess. 2/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- 20 mars 2018
- Lien permanent
Where to start...horrible writing, acting, directing and costuming. I would call it a fan made film, but that would be an insult to fan made films. I rent a lot of movies and quite often choose low budget films because they can be pleasantly surprising, good writing, interesting story line and decent acting don't necessarily require a multi-million dollar budget. However, aside from the location, there is nothing at all good about this film.
- markhayeselectric
- 30 nov. 2017
- Lien permanent
Four super-soldiers, the Eternals, land on a weird planet and are there to fight alien creatures and then somehow activate a machine that will restore the Earth to its old glory. Apparently, the planet is a mess and these four are our last hope.
I love how far we've come with computer generated graphics. Long ago, a great looking sci-fi film meant a huge budget for effects...and there was really no way around this. However, with the quality of computers and software increasing, it's amazing the sort of sci-fi that is being produced on shoestring budgets. Moon is probably the very best of the recent low-budget sci-fi, but Europa Report and Hunter Prey (with a budget under a half million dollars) are also really good looking and entertaining films you really ought to see. Because of this, I was excited to see Alien Reign of Man and I know that it potentially could be a great film even without a big-name cast and fancy effects. Sadly, this did not turn out to be the case....and the problem, surprisingly, wasn't so much the CGI but the script. A fundamental problem with Alien Reign of Man is the constant use of exposition to tell the story...which is just sloppy and took me out of the experience. Instead of telling the viewer that the Earth is on its last legs and the Four Eternals are our last hope in a prologue, the film literally has various characters start explaining this to each other...after much of the action has taken place. Plus, people do not talk this way to each other...ever. Or, perhaps the film could have slowly explained all this but instead significant portions of the dialog are spent having characters explaining to each other what is going on and why! As a result, the film is, dare I say it, rather boring.
By the way, I am constantly on the lookout for good low-budget sci-fi and I would love to hear from you with your suggestions.
I love how far we've come with computer generated graphics. Long ago, a great looking sci-fi film meant a huge budget for effects...and there was really no way around this. However, with the quality of computers and software increasing, it's amazing the sort of sci-fi that is being produced on shoestring budgets. Moon is probably the very best of the recent low-budget sci-fi, but Europa Report and Hunter Prey (with a budget under a half million dollars) are also really good looking and entertaining films you really ought to see. Because of this, I was excited to see Alien Reign of Man and I know that it potentially could be a great film even without a big-name cast and fancy effects. Sadly, this did not turn out to be the case....and the problem, surprisingly, wasn't so much the CGI but the script. A fundamental problem with Alien Reign of Man is the constant use of exposition to tell the story...which is just sloppy and took me out of the experience. Instead of telling the viewer that the Earth is on its last legs and the Four Eternals are our last hope in a prologue, the film literally has various characters start explaining this to each other...after much of the action has taken place. Plus, people do not talk this way to each other...ever. Or, perhaps the film could have slowly explained all this but instead significant portions of the dialog are spent having characters explaining to each other what is going on and why! As a result, the film is, dare I say it, rather boring.
By the way, I am constantly on the lookout for good low-budget sci-fi and I would love to hear from you with your suggestions.
- planktonrules
- 16 août 2018
- Lien permanent
I did not know about this movie's existence when I happened to find it while browsing through the sci-fi section of movies. And reading the synopsis for the movie, I can't really claim to be overly thrilled, but I still decided to give the movie a chance, in order to branch out and watch more sci-fi than I usually get around to do.
Well, I suppose that "Alien Reign of Man" was hardly the best of choices for doing so, as it was a very bland and uneventful movie, that trotted on in a very monotonous pace and offering very little in terms of entertainment and storyline.
The CGI used in the movie was a mixed result; some of it actually looked fair and good enough, while other effects were just downright abysmal to look at, and makes you wonder just how something that obviously fake makes it past the editing table.
As for the characters in the movie, well let's just say that they are one-dimensional and that they are effectively faceless and pointless drones delivering equally pointless dialogue. I assume that this was the fault of writer/director Justin Price, because the actors and actresses seemed to actually be doing fair enough jobs with the limitations imposed on them by the lack of a proper script and storyline. This was the first time that I have seen the actress Khu in a movie, and I must admit that she really carried this movie single-handedly with her performance, just a shame that the movie turned out as bad as it did.
I will say that they found some fairly good locations for shooting the movie, as there is a pseudo-otherworldly feel to the scenery. And spiced up with some CGI, it just works all the better in favor of the movie.
The costumes in the movie were actually quite alright, so thumbs up for the wardrobe and costume design. "Alien Reign of Man" was a very weak addition to the sci-fi genre, and it hardly made any impact at all as it came and went without stirring a ruckus. If you make it through the movie the first time around, it is highly doubtful that you will actually take the time or the effort to sit down and watch it a second time around.
Well, I suppose that "Alien Reign of Man" was hardly the best of choices for doing so, as it was a very bland and uneventful movie, that trotted on in a very monotonous pace and offering very little in terms of entertainment and storyline.
The CGI used in the movie was a mixed result; some of it actually looked fair and good enough, while other effects were just downright abysmal to look at, and makes you wonder just how something that obviously fake makes it past the editing table.
As for the characters in the movie, well let's just say that they are one-dimensional and that they are effectively faceless and pointless drones delivering equally pointless dialogue. I assume that this was the fault of writer/director Justin Price, because the actors and actresses seemed to actually be doing fair enough jobs with the limitations imposed on them by the lack of a proper script and storyline. This was the first time that I have seen the actress Khu in a movie, and I must admit that she really carried this movie single-handedly with her performance, just a shame that the movie turned out as bad as it did.
I will say that they found some fairly good locations for shooting the movie, as there is a pseudo-otherworldly feel to the scenery. And spiced up with some CGI, it just works all the better in favor of the movie.
The costumes in the movie were actually quite alright, so thumbs up for the wardrobe and costume design. "Alien Reign of Man" was a very weak addition to the sci-fi genre, and it hardly made any impact at all as it came and went without stirring a ruckus. If you make it through the movie the first time around, it is highly doubtful that you will actually take the time or the effort to sit down and watch it a second time around.
- paul_m_haakonsen
- 30 août 2017
- Lien permanent
Worst writing and direction I've seen in a film in quite a while. Some of the acting was dreadful too, but if the actors had been given a coherent script, with actual dialogue, and something to do besides stare off into space, apparently enraptured by the special effects, some of them might have risen to the occasion.
The FX were decent in places. That's the best thing I can say about the film.
Rather than engage in anything resembling actual conversation the actors were forced to spew plot points. And what little plot there was was disjoint and banal. There were exchanges like... A: "The Order has known of this for some time." B: "The order stole my childhood." A: "The atmospheric parameters are bad." B: "I'm not sure what to do." A: "We'll torture you unless you comply." Really. The "dialogue" just jumps around randomly, while the actors stand almost perfectly still. Astonishingly bad. Oh yeah, one of the actors actually said "You could have got us caught, captured, or killed!" Care to explain the difference between "caught" and "captured" for me? Sheesh. There was also one attempt at poetic speech that came out something like "Floating rock blood." (That's not an actual quote, but the actual line was at least as nonsensical.)
I almost always watch movies to the end, no matter how bad, but I only made it through about 1/3 of this and just had to turn it off. It made my brain hurt and was wasting too much of my life.
The FX were decent in places. That's the best thing I can say about the film.
Rather than engage in anything resembling actual conversation the actors were forced to spew plot points. And what little plot there was was disjoint and banal. There were exchanges like... A: "The Order has known of this for some time." B: "The order stole my childhood." A: "The atmospheric parameters are bad." B: "I'm not sure what to do." A: "We'll torture you unless you comply." Really. The "dialogue" just jumps around randomly, while the actors stand almost perfectly still. Astonishingly bad. Oh yeah, one of the actors actually said "You could have got us caught, captured, or killed!" Care to explain the difference between "caught" and "captured" for me? Sheesh. There was also one attempt at poetic speech that came out something like "Floating rock blood." (That's not an actual quote, but the actual line was at least as nonsensical.)
I almost always watch movies to the end, no matter how bad, but I only made it through about 1/3 of this and just had to turn it off. It made my brain hurt and was wasting too much of my life.
- larryy
- 10 nov. 2017
- Lien permanent
The worst thing about this movie is that the sound is so mismanaged and the actors speak so unclearly that you can't understand half the dialogue. Fortunately, after a while you won't care. The plot is pointless, the aliens aren't very threatening, things happen without explanation, and there are some continuity problems especially at the end that make you suspect that they ran out of money and cobbled something together from the scenes they had managed to get filmed. One of the characters reminds me of the actor who replaced Calculon on "All My Circuits". Most annoyingly, one of the characters wears a space suit with her bu** length hair flowing free. I've had bu** length hair, and you aren't going to do that. Some grade B movies that are projects cobbled together by filmmakers and actors who can't get work are gems, like Phil the Alien or the Sorcerers, but this ain't one.
- karen-821-938620
- 7 août 2017
- Lien permanent
- nogodnomasters
- 12 déc. 2017
- Lien permanent
- derek-woodlands
- 7 juill. 2018
- Lien permanent
- bobjunke
- 24 janv. 2018
- Lien permanent
What a horrific waste of time!,boring and pointless with ridiculous looking aliens and disgracefully poor acting and dialogue.I paid £3 for it and wish id bought a suicide pill with the money instead,taking that would have been far less painful than watching this crap.
- bobburns-25723
- 14 mars 2018
- Lien permanent
The start of the movie was a good mix of special effects and beautiful landscapes or "worlds." Zan is in an awesome fight sequence and does it beautifully with a lot of grit. The other soldiers are mediocre in creature, but their "outfits" looked decent. Wish the dialogue explaining the plot of the movie was done better. Overall, it was a decent indy film.
- michaelcole-53512
- 20 oct. 2017
- Lien permanent
On the plus side some elements were well done, like some of the uniforms, planets, while other costumes were really bad. Budget problems maybe? Scenes were well lit while most movies choose almost complete darkness so that was nice.
Yeah the CGI were not all the high end, big budget, type but I liked that. Creatures seemed more alien in movement and they actually looked alien. I'm pretty tired of the high end big budget effects which seem all the same and alien creatures move, act and sound like regular earth creatures. So points for monster creation.
On the negative side, slow...everything. I didn't notice any character development. I couldn't guess what the movie was about.
To be fair I could only make it through the first 25%. Watched on YouTube so I was able to increased play speed 2x and enjoyment was greatly improved. Couldn't understand the dialogue but don't think I was missing anything and I could make up my own.
Yeah the CGI were not all the high end, big budget, type but I liked that. Creatures seemed more alien in movement and they actually looked alien. I'm pretty tired of the high end big budget effects which seem all the same and alien creatures move, act and sound like regular earth creatures. So points for monster creation.
On the negative side, slow...everything. I didn't notice any character development. I couldn't guess what the movie was about.
To be fair I could only make it through the first 25%. Watched on YouTube so I was able to increased play speed 2x and enjoyment was greatly improved. Couldn't understand the dialogue but don't think I was missing anything and I could make up my own.
- pond-60909
- 7 août 2017
- Lien permanent
- MonsterVision99
- 13 sept. 2017
- Lien permanent
I don't think this is a movie. The only explanation I can come up with is that it is a failed pilot television show that was never picked up.
I think they could have probably accomplished a higher quality production, if they had used life-sized cardboard cut outs with moveable joints, posed them in a setting, taken pictures of the scenes, compiled them in a slideshow, and recorded the improvised dialogue of some volunteer junior high school drama students as they watched the slideshow.
Since nobody picked up the pilot, they didn't have to go to all the trouble of weaving the story lines together, nor did they need to devise an ending.
I don't think I would have liked it any better if it actually had an ending, but it would have at least given me some closure.
I think they could have probably accomplished a higher quality production, if they had used life-sized cardboard cut outs with moveable joints, posed them in a setting, taken pictures of the scenes, compiled them in a slideshow, and recorded the improvised dialogue of some volunteer junior high school drama students as they watched the slideshow.
Since nobody picked up the pilot, they didn't have to go to all the trouble of weaving the story lines together, nor did they need to devise an ending.
I don't think I would have liked it any better if it actually had an ending, but it would have at least given me some closure.
- gotaurosgo
- 4 janv. 2023
- Lien permanent
This movie could not be slower moving, have worse acting, dialog or directing. The only reason I don't rate it 1 star is because I reserve such rating for "worse than bad". This flick is merely bad. The plot is nonsensical / nonexistent, the very. pronounced. dialog. incredibly droll, and the special effects evident left-overs from a college CGI project.
Save yourself an hour and a half of your life and do something more fun-- anything really. You'll get more out of it than you'll take home from this amateurish fiasco. This one has "school project" stamped all over it. Not trying to be mean-- just realistic.
Fun note: when I wrote this review, 85 viewers had given this movie an average rating of 2.5. That's a lot of negative ratings. This is a turkey. Affiliates of the film downgrading accurate reviews isn't gonna make this flick any less of a turkey.
Save yourself an hour and a half of your life and do something more fun-- anything really. You'll get more out of it than you'll take home from this amateurish fiasco. This one has "school project" stamped all over it. Not trying to be mean-- just realistic.
Fun note: when I wrote this review, 85 viewers had given this movie an average rating of 2.5. That's a lot of negative ratings. This is a turkey. Affiliates of the film downgrading accurate reviews isn't gonna make this flick any less of a turkey.
- Snootz
- 5 août 2017
- Lien permanent
I am genuinely upset that I wasted time on this movie. One Ray Harryhausen skeleton could have destroyed the alien that seemed to be CGI, stop motion animation, and someone in a suit having a seizure all in one. Uncorked just seems to show no effort in making decent movies and gets lucky here and there. This was not one of them.
- kylenaas
- 11 mars 2019
- Lien permanent
- djg32514
- 29 janv. 2018
- Lien permanent
Incoherent exposition. Bad CGI.
Someone needed to proof read the script this pre-teen wrote.
Someone needed to proof read the script this pre-teen wrote.
- onethumb-1
- 18 nov. 2018
- Lien permanent
After watching this I can believe without a doubt that there is a major drug problem in Hollywood.
I like good scifi and I like some not so good scifi. I like the classic turkeys that get ridiculed like Mystery Science Theater 3000. This movie won't make the grade.
The story was bad, the audio engineer should be working in a sandwich shop and the writers need to go to a good drug rehab center.
The movie does not flow, it's disjointed, the dialog scenes would be worthless if it was not for closed captions. After 15 minutes it was as much fun as a forced march with a full backpack in the summer in the desert. But I paid my money so I stuck it out.
After 89 minutes the best critique I could give the producer would be similar to the ridicule Billy Madison got at the game show by the host in the movie "Billy Madison" as I feel dumber for having watched it.
I like good scifi and I like some not so good scifi. I like the classic turkeys that get ridiculed like Mystery Science Theater 3000. This movie won't make the grade.
The story was bad, the audio engineer should be working in a sandwich shop and the writers need to go to a good drug rehab center.
The movie does not flow, it's disjointed, the dialog scenes would be worthless if it was not for closed captions. After 15 minutes it was as much fun as a forced march with a full backpack in the summer in the desert. But I paid my money so I stuck it out.
After 89 minutes the best critique I could give the producer would be similar to the ridicule Billy Madison got at the game show by the host in the movie "Billy Madison" as I feel dumber for having watched it.
- uavrpv
- 3 mai 2018
- Lien permanent
The unpainted foam rubber space suits are so poorly made! It looks like a college project! The not so horrible CGI parts have been replaced halfway through the movie by plastic welding like masks. On the ship there's a scientist lady they paint her eyebrows white for some God awful reason! And they just Velcro navy like patches on a leather jacket. The monster isn't half bad, they gave him a scary roar, but they didnt give him a mouth so it's ineffective! I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT THE PLOT IS! The acting is not that bad!
- donttryme
- 10 mars 2018
- Lien permanent
Its almost like a fetish nowadays with movie producers. It must be movies with aliens and somehow at the end, mankind wins. Not only is it cliche but its just so repetitive.
Its well known that CGI is cheap nowadays but for the sake of everyone, make movies with which viewers actually feel a real emotional connection with!
Its well known that CGI is cheap nowadays but for the sake of everyone, make movies with which viewers actually feel a real emotional connection with!
- neoanderson12
- 26 août 2018
- Lien permanent
- tonyariz
- 12 mars 2019
- Lien permanent
My only question after "almost" seeing it all is if I'll be able to receive 10% of the $1.25 I paid for it.....surely there's at least one "turkey" who hasn't seen/heard of/devined/ this "mistake on every level" posing as "entertainment"..
Thankfully my local Dollar Tree
may still permit exhanges on "gag" movies ("puke"kind not "funny" kind)...Think I'm all subscribed up on these ...too bad it was my first movie purchase since their "price explosion" to $1.25..(gotta be extra careful in the future)
- claytonw-87886
- 6 déc. 2021
- Lien permanent
It's very rare that I give such a low rating, but this film deserves it.
I can usually see past things like bad acting or bad directing and look at a film for what it was supposed to look like in the eyes of the people making it, but in this case I couldn't even do that.
the whole thing is badly acted, badly directed, badly filmed, even the CGI is bad. I know it's a low budget film but WOW it's bad.
It really looks like a bunch of bored rich kids have clubbed together and said "Hey guys, lets make a movie"
Sorry guys, it didn't work, better luck next time.
the one and only reason I would recommend anyone to watch this is to see how it compares to other low budget films that are much better.
- mick120359
- 26 avr. 2018
- Lien permanent
I am really getting tired of watching all these stupid science fiction movies on Prime. They are a waste of time. This movie is a "prime" example of how bad they can be.
- jimmydbrown
- 14 oct. 2018
- Lien permanent