51

I first found out about Area 51 in the mid nineties as the height of the X-Files' fame. Area 51 is the codename given to a section of land in the Nevada desert in America. Allegedly, it contains the remains of crashed UFOs etc. I always thought it would make a good movie. I still think it would - the emphasis being that it would make a GOOD movie. Sadly, this is no good.

Er, where do I begin? The cheap special effects? The shoddy acting? The wafer-thin characters? The ludicrous plot holes? It's all there - unfortunately.

Basically, what you have here, is a made-for-TV movie, i.e. wobbly sets, unknown actors and not much more.

Bottom line - it's just short of okay. Some people may like it, but not many. There are so many better alien films out there - like 'Alien' for example.

Plus side - the leading lady is cute (that's probably more a plus point for the guys - I can see too many women swooning over sci-fi stalwart Bruce Boxleighter).

Oh, well, never mind. I may have wasted an hour and a half of my life, but it was still more entertaining than a Transformers movie.

(and, who gave this film 5/5 on Amazon? they serious must be taking the pi...)

In Area 51, the tough Colonel Ronald Martin (Bruce Boxleitner) decides to open the facility to the reporters Claire Felon (Vanessa Branch) and Sam Whitaker (John Shea) and their crew to satisfy the public opinion. Col. Martin denies the existence of aliens and invites the journalists to visit the two floors in the underground facility. Meanwhile, in the top secret four floors below, one shape shifter alien called Patient Zero (Jed Maheu) capable to replicate any humanoid form escape and releases the dangerous aliens Little Devil and Lady Death (Ivan Djurovic). While Col. Martin and his soldiers hunt them down, Sergeant Hanna (Rachel Miner) and her team protect the exit and are the last barrier to avoid the aliens from escaping.

"Area 51" is a lame B-movie and a terrible means of wasting time. The stupid story is awful and ridiculous. There are good names in the cast, highlighting Bruce Boxleitner and John Shea, but the acting in general is shameful. John Shea from "Missing" keeps the same expression along the whole film. Anyway, the screenplay and the dialogues are poor and the cast does not have a good chance to work. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Área 51" ("Area 51")

OK.

An opening scene which is green screen is a SERIOUSLY bad start. It inspired no confidence, and was seriously un-immersive.

The acting wasn't ALL bad, but was certainly patchy.

Direction OK, script a bit rubbish, the aliens not too bad. OK, to be fair, they died a bit easily, but then masks/CGI/whatever, I thought they were OK.

Just could have been far better.

I wish IMDb didn't have the 10 line limit. This one isn't worth any more than I just gave it.

Yet another film with an escaped alien chasing people around an underground complex. This one however throws in a couple of changes to the usual formula by having a few different aliens, your two usual killing machines plus one shape changing individual who can take the form of anyone it touches. Just so the film can copy scenes from the Thing as well as Aliens.

This is all based in Area 51, where some nosy journalists are invited to look around the non-alien part of the complex. You got your straight laced journalist and the web-based smart arse journalist, looking for the 'truth'. I wouldn't quite dwell on any characters here though, as halfway through their tour the aliens escape and that's when the fun begins.

The story might be generic, but at least there's plenty of gore to keep you awake. Folks are torn to bits, shot, have their faces torn off and even have their heads stamped on, so the film has that going for it. It's always quite fast paced, so it'll do as a not bad time waster. Not a lot of CGI which was a good thing. If you skip it, you won't have missed much.

If this were a test paper I'd give it 51 out of 100. I was really disappointed with this film as I'm generally a keen devotee of area 51 films. However, from the get go I knew I was in for a good serving of high definition amateur hour. The news anchorwoman scene which served as the film's opening just didn't look right & neither did a similar scene which served as the film's conclusion. The acting in most scenes is a little dodgy, although much of the blame must be attributed to the lackluster script & lack of finesse in the editing department. By poor editing I mean there should have been more closeups & camera angles.

Still though, it could have been worse. What I did like about this film were the creature effects. Also, for those interested in lashings of blood & gore there were sufficient quantities of both. And to be truthful it was actually quite amusing watching the actors labor like troopers through some of the weaker scenes.

In conclusion, don't watch this film if you're expecting something great. If, however, you're like me & just can't resist a horror flick even with a guaranteed cheese factor, knock yourself out.