Ben 10: Invasão Alienígena

I didn't think a live action feature length adaptation of an animated show could get any worse than M. Night Shymalan's dismal 2010 "Last Airbender". That is until I saw the first twenty minutes of "Ben-10: Race against Time." I couldn't make myself watch the rest. So I didn't really have high hopes for "Alien Swarm" the first time I took a look at it; (which was only a few weeks ago). After the same twenty minutes had passed, I was hooked. Unlike "Race against Time," or "The Last Airbender", This movie is well written, well directed,and wonder of wonders, actually stars good actors. (O.K. Lee Majors was good as Grandpa Max in the first film, but he was the only one.)

I used to be a humongous Ben 10 fan as a kid, constantly obsessing over the now classic cartoon from my childhood. However, it has no bearing whatsoever on my opinions about the live-action TV films because I'm not blinded by pure nostalgia, unlike some people. With that said, I guess it's now time to remove my "rose-tinted glasses" and get serious.

If I'm going to judge this movie on its own merits as a level-headed adult, and not as a mindless fanboy, then I'd have to say the plot is generic and bland, the position of camera-angles and lighting makes the whole thing feel flat, the music is forgettable, some of the cast members do a fairly decent job with their performances (for the most part, anyway), and the technobabble dialogue is standard for this type of schlocky sci-fi script. It's everything an average film needs to be even more mediocre than it already is, which is why most of the time it's such a tedious watch to get though.

Ryan Kelley's portrayal of the titular character himself can be best summed up as being like a less charismatic version of Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man incarnation. Alex Winter's direction is severely uninspired, so much so that it makes me think about how this film would've turned out if a far-more talented filmmaker like let's say James Gunn or David F. Sandberg were to have directed the project instead, and maybe then it would of had a bit of personality injected into it.

This film also has the same main problem that the previous one had, in which there were no recognisable villains from the show incorporated into either of the films; like Vilgax, Dr. Animo, the Forever Knights... you get the idea. Another glaring issue they both share is that for movies entitled "Ben 10" he never seems to turn into more than like 3 or 4 of his alien heroes. The movie is called "Ben 10", isn't it? ... so why don't they ever show more than a handful of them?!

The only reason for any non-fan to watch this is the special effects sequences which, taken the fact it was produced for television into consideration, manage to hold up even to this day. After all these years, the way the CGI visuals interact with the environment of the real-life filming locations still looks pretty impressive. Almost makes me wonder why a made-for-television movie from over 10 years ago looks more believable than something like the big-screen Aquaman film from 2018, which had a mega budget of $200 million when compared to Alien Swarm's humble $40 million (how embarrassing is that for DC).

In short, Alien Swarm may very well be a marginally better improvement over A Race Against Time (a cringe-fest with awful CGI), but neither one of them is really all that great. So if I had to at least suggest one of them, I think I'd recommend you skip the first one and just go straight for this sequel.

Much better than the first movie but? The director is Alex Winter. Yes, from Bill and Ted, he is a distinguished and very successful director, and he has succeeded in creating a wonderful work, as well as the scenario and visual effects, but the problem lies in the weakness of the actors, although they look identical to the cartoon, but they are unaware of how a cartoon character is represented in a movie. Another problem is that Kevin's visual effects are bad, but we can forgive that. One more thing, why does every action scene have people jumping like goons? I thought in a moment that I was watching Power Rangers. Anyway, I like Ben 10 and I love this movie, so I will give him a 9, so his rating increases a little because 4.6 is a trivial rating.

In 2008, when I first saw the brief preview for Ben 10: Alien Swarm, I though, "oh no, they are not making a stupid and horrible movie of Ben 10: Alien Force, not the better series". In early 2009 is when I saw more previews for Ben 10: Alien Swarm, I thought that it didn't look that bad.

In summer 2009, I was waiting for a preview to show some aliens in it besides Nanomech (I already found out due to the movie set in the toy line), than on Youtube, I saw a trailer with Big Chill and Humungousaur in it.

I was really waiting for the movie, when it finally was on, I jumped into my seat with joy. When it was over, I was a little disappointed but I said to my father; "It wasn't good, but definitely better than Ben 10: Race against Time" I give Ben 10: Alien Swarm a 6 out of 10 because it's better than the original.

Never too late to make a Ben 10: Ultimate Alien movie.

Alien Swarm is not as good as the cartoons series Ben 10, Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, but in every way it outdoes the disappointing-but-better-than-its-reputation Race Against Time. While the pace could have steadied a bit and it is lacking a bit in emotional depth particularly in the first half(though Ben does develop very well), the direction is far more assured and the actors fit the parts much better and feel more comfortable.

The production values are also an improvement, the photography, lighting and locations are very reasonable for a TV movie, and the effects are pretty great, especially with Big Chill and in the finale. The soundtrack is rousing, the script has its humorous and thought-provoking moments, the story unfolds very nicely with a strong underlying mystery and the action is well-choreographed particularly in the chase sequences.

Overall, a surprisingly good film and outdoes Race Against Time in every way. 8/10 Bethany Cox