Invader

If you like smart Sci-Fi you will like INVADER aka LIFEFORM. A Viking probe satellite mysteriously returns from Mars and like a Trojan Horse has a surprise in tow. A strange pod resembling an armadillo spawns a creature with a taste for blood and the curiosity to gather intelligence of Earth's inhabitants. The curious visitor takes on the form of an armored ape... albeit angry and clever with the ability to transform its shape. The story line is well thought out, but too similar to most "alien" movies. Is the Martian hitchhicker trying to prevent an invasion of the red planet? An abrupt twist at the finale leaves a few questions unanswered. The cast includes: Deirdre O'Connell, Cotter Smith, Leland Orser and Ryan Phillippe.

I caught this film on the Sci-Fi Channel. They were hyping it as a Ryan Philippe movie, though this is clearly not so. He plays a very minor part in the story. That's the Sci-Fi Channel for you.

The important thing is that this movie is not that bad. It suffers from lack of style, lack of cinematography, poor pacing and some annoying "rigidly following the groove of the genre" plot paths.

However, there are some good things.

The actors are high quality and deserve a shot at better films. Their characters suggest depth and background, making them almost well rounded, though such depth and background is only suggested (not demonstrated) in the film. The portrayal of the scientists and military types is non-cliched. They are intelligent and have intelligent dialog. They behave as real people would.

The science details are actually based on science and smarts, instead of gadgetry and nonsense. It is clear, as mentioned in another good review, that the scriptwriter researched the material, as there are correct descriptions of the Mars lander's capabilities and design and interesting concepts about the alien lifeform are explored.

The alien lifeform is extremely well thought out and designed. It looks great on screen, too. It is possibly the most interesting thing about this film, though treated a little more like the "creature we must hunt down and kill" than I'd like. It does demonstrate interesting behaviors and qualities not seen often before, as well as something most alien creature movies never consider: intelligent motivation.

The film does not end predictably and the process the film takes to get to that end is not that bad, either. It's just a bit anticlimactic and a little flat.

This review may sound unkind. I am simply being realistic and honest. The flaws are there and they keep this film from being high quality. Yet, there is much to like. The good aspects are plenty and are of higher caliber than you would expect to find in direct to video alien-invader flics. Normally these kinds of films rely of cliche, unintelligent characters, unrealistic scenarios, sex, gunplay and gore. This film uses mostly none of those items to make its attempt at entertaining you (some violence and gunplay, but not to rediculous extremes).

I found much to enjoy about the film, from a deconstruction point of view - the technical details, the story concept, the unique uses of the genre, the excellent alien design and portrayal, and as a general "learning tool" for film study.

As a feature film, it falls flat. As an extended length episode of The Outer Limits, it would have been a "top-ten" episode.

I think that anyone who can enjoy "flawed films with good intent" should give this film a shot; it isn't grade-A material, but it's worth a viewing or two and may inspire film makers to do better in different ways.

'Invader' is a decent aliens film, no more but no less either. It is done in the mid 90's, is is clearly a low budget film - so the effects are far from what big studios succeed in similar movies. Directing and acting are quite routine, nothing memorable above the usual TV series level. However, the script is quite decent, and despite some inconsistencies, it keeps somehow the interest high. The end is quite good, kind of justifying the viewer surviving the 90 minutes the movie lasts. Science fiction fans may like it, though we have seen much better. 6/10 on my personal scale.

A mysterious object enters the airspace of a military base in California going at a tremendous rate of speed. A team is sent out to investigate. It turns out to be one of the Viking landers from that we sent to Mars. How did it get back to Earth? Why is it here? Is there a big nasty alien that's going to end up popping out of our chests if we touch it? While the last question is a bit of a joke relating to the obvious Alien (1979) influences on Lifeform (aka Invader), it's no secret that the film involves, well, an alien lifeform. What seems to be more of a secret is the film's existence and the fact that it's pretty good.

An obviously low-budget affair, writer/director Mark H. Baker overcomes this limitation with a smart, well-constructed story, plenty of sci-fi horror tension, and fine performances (including from an amusingly young Ryan Phillippe). A lot of the budget appears to have been spent on building the Viking replica, the costumes/military accoutrements for the human cast, the creature costume and special effects. It was money well spent. The effects are amazing for such a low budget film. The creature costume is as good as most big studio efforts, the Alien-style cocoons and eggs are well done, and there is a great, visceral autopsy scene.

Except for exterior location, Baker wisely keeps all of the action in a nondescript government facility. "Nondescript" may not sound very attractive visually, but it's believable. That's how government facilities look. Besides, Baker is skilled enough to make it interesting visually. The bulk of the plot is divided into two modes: (1) figuring out what the Viking lander and then the alien are doing there, and (2) "monster" chase and attack scenes.

Baker gives us fantastic sci-fi writing for both. We have a team of bright, multi-dimensional scientists examining the lander from a "hard science" angle, with dialogue that's not gobbledy-gook yet that's easy enough to understand. They propose intelligent theories and make intelligent moves. As the military becomes more involved and we begin to enter more of an action/horror sci-fi mode, Baker doesn't have his characters leave their brains at the doors. They develop an Alien-like sulfur detector to find the monster, and they have insights into its behavior that help them.

Still, the material is very suspenseful at times, and it is consistently captivating. There are clever subtexts. One is keyed to an important piece of dialogue--"Why are we exploring space if we're just going to blow-up every lifeform we come across?" Even though there is little reason to believe that the alien has ill intentions, most of our protagonists assume that it does, and they all assume that it at least poses a great danger to them in the form of unwittingly transmitted viruses, for example. They go so far as to issue a quarantine and consider drastic worst-case-scenarios and options. Baker seems to have a pessimistic view of human tendencies in the face of the unknown, and probably deservedly so.

Although there are some flaws with the film (otherwise I wouldn't have subtracted two points), including strange moves by characters, such as one wearing a face mask to guard against biological contamination and another standing a foot behind and not wearing a face mask, Lifeforce is unusual (such as its strange but refreshing nihilistic ending—apparently, fortuitously precipitated by budget limitations) and well worth watching.

"Lifeform" starts off with an intriguing mystery. Viking 2, one of the two landers that were dropped on Mars by NASA during the 70's, has returned to Earth. From the start we get the idea that Lifeform's scriptwriter did his homework, as one of the scientists examining the lander starts rattling off real-life technical details about the lander, rather than some spurious techno-babble. From there things rapidly switch to a monster hunt straight out of the '50s, as the scientists bicker with the military when the Lifeform in question breaks loose from it's hiding place in the lander and starts running around the sealed lab complex. It's nothing we haven't seen before, but the script never insults the audience, neither the scientists or the military act like idiots, and the f/x aren't _too_ cheap. There's even a genuine red-herring or two to keep the audience interested, not to mention some clever ideas about the Lifeform's biology. If you can't find anything else on the tube, you could do worse than to watch this.