The Sender

I can't remember why I started watching this movie, but some where during it I lost the will to live! It may have been during the appalling car chase sequences, you have to watch it to see just how bad they are. Can someone tell Hollywood that a Porche 911 will be way faster than a GMC truck on a country road, on any road. It may have been the terrible special effects, even for a low budget movie they were poor, leftovers from the 1970's possibly. The dialogue was trite, the story line infantile, face it there's good sci-fi and not so good sci-fi but this is bargain basement sci-fi. The support cast, Steven Williams was totally unconvincing, R. Lee Ermey was hamming it up with abandon, Dyan Cannon was on auto pilot, of the support Robert Vaughn was the best but then he was pretty much playing Robert Vaughn. Of the leads Shelli Lether looked to be an eye candy distraction and little else and Michael Madsen most of the time looked embarrassed, as he delivered his dialogue with a look of a man who's agent had signed him up for this. All in all, I saw it for free on a satellite movie channel and felt cheated.

Granted, this isn't the greatest sci-fi film ever made, but it's not the worst, either. Yes, the plot is derivative, but how often do you see an original plot these days? Sure, it's not an excuse, but in a small picture like this it all works out. The weakest thing about this movie is that the whole "wow" in characters' reactions to the aliens is missing. However, I like the warm feeling this relatively low-budget flick gives you, and the action scenes are not bad at all.

8/10

This was an intriguing movie from PM Entertainment. I personally like Michael Madsen. He has that comical way of looking at someone sideways like the doggies in commercials when a human does something stupid. I also really like R.Lee Emory. This guy is your resident slickster/quasi-military hardass/part-time mercenary (just like the part he played in "On Deadly Ground). He's always hard-core and looks crazy.

Plot was derivative (as other viewers pointed out), but the chases and scenes inside the alien spacecraft were not bad at all. Especially for a flick of this type. The actress portraying the alien was very pretty. Seen her before but don't remember where. Stephen Williams was over the top, with his white hair and eyebrows.

Another viewer commented that no one seemed freaked out over the alien presence. A valid point that dilutes the story a bit. Especialy Madsen. And that's what makes him a Grade A "Straight To cable" guy! Just too cool!

Straight from the old A team script. You can work out which vehicles will get destroyed by the age and poor paint jobs, Fight scenes were people dont get their sun glasses knocked off, and total lack luster acting and the script....... Still it could be worse I'm just not sure how.

Wow! This is one of the most amazing films I've ever seen. And I don't mean that in a good way. (grin) Once you get past the endless car chases and senseless shoot-em-ups, you have to shake your head in amazement at just how badly this film was botched. I mean, it had the stench of rotting cheese you could smell all the way back to the alien's home planet.

If I had to guess, I'd say this was a first-time effort for the director, the screenwriter, AND the musical effects people. It just reeked of "We have NO clue what we're doing", which made it pretty darn funny, once you got over the expectation that you were going to see a "real movie".

It's difficult to capture the essence of how this film plays out, but I'd characterize it best by saying, ...what would happen if you got a bunch of actors together, didn't let them read a script, then handed them their lines one page at a time, just before shooting each scene?

They'd have no idea what was going on. They'd ask, "what's my motivation here?", to which the director would respond, "forget motivation, just say your lines". And that's exactly what the "actors" here do, 90% of the time. They just say lines. They don't act, they don't react, they don't respond to what's going on around them, there's no emotion. It's just bizarre. And the movie is full of these "WTF? moments". I kept asking myself, "Are these human beings, or zombies?". The one exception being R. Lee Ermy, who goes postal at the drop of a hat, with no provocation whatsoever.

I'm baffled how someone could get funding to make a film this poorly, but I'd guess they didn't get to make any more. So here's your opportunity to catch a real schlock-fest. If you go into it with no expectations; like lots of action, with no suspense; don't mind gaping plot holes and a senseless script, you could be in for an amusing hour and a half of shaking your head and saying "unfreaking-believable!". I can't believe I watched the WHOLE thing. (smile)