The Shadow Men

Okay, all things considered, this movie delivers on a number of issues. There were some good performances from Fenn, Roberts and Stockwell. The dialogue was realistic. Writing was good considering the low budget. The research of the subject matter was excellent! It's just too bad that larger budgets won't support such treatments of well established UFO mythology. This one pretty much got it right, though it relied a little heavily on "big movie" gratuities, such as big explosions, high speed action. Overall, the movie was good and is a great addition to the lackluster treatment of UFO lore by Hollywood to date.

It would be interesting to compare this one to Men in Black. (the will smith film.) This was more like what I've heard real life stories of encounters with MIB agents is like. Decent cast, too, with Eric Roberts, Dean Stockwell, and Andrew Prine. Slow and dark at times, but worth the rental if just to satisfy your curiosity. Give it a try.

** 1/2 out of ****

I thought Shadow Men was good, for a direct-to-video flick. Oh sure, the special effects weren't great and there were a few plot holes here and there, but otherwise, it was ok. There was a sort of creepiness about the whole thing. Afterall, would you really want to be chased by the MiB? (And I'm not talking about the light-hearted MiB of Jones and Smith).

Interesting idea, along the lines of the "real" men in black, turns into a conventional potboiler about halfway through. Ok action, some good acting, ultimately stock directing... but a good overall attempt by the filmmakers to personalize the characters and give them some depth... out of character for this type of low budget production. Roberts is pretty good, so is Sherilyn Fenn. The stand out for me? It's got to be cult actor Andrew Prine as the main MIB. Above Average, I give it 7 out of ten.

Saw the last three fourths of this film on TV a while back. While the film isn't all that special, at the least it's a good way to pass the time, especially if you love films about UFOs or alien abductions. It's obvious that the guy who wrote this did some research on the subject, but didn't dig all too deep. It did seem a little cheep that they had scenes of the MIB in black SUVs, a form of vehicle never reported in real life cases.

Not bad, but not excellent either. 2 out of 5 stars.