Etat de siège

'Alien Siege' is more Sci Fi channel dreck, churned out by the UFO film company in Eastern Europe. I have to wonder why I actually bother anymore with these no budget cable movies that Sci Fi channel seems to put out every month. They show zero creativity, poor acting and the hokey computer graphics and stock 3D models just add insult to injury. The plot of Alien Siege is entirely derivative of alien invasion films like 'V' and 'Earth - Final Conflict' and brings nothing new to the genre. The only part worth watching is the trailer, which packs more thrills than the actual movie.

Maybe next time Sci Fi could give the quarter million dollar budget to some independent director to make a low budget science fiction movie with some original ideas, rather than waste it on yet another Saturday night disappointment like this one. The existence of a great low budget SF movie like 'Primer' is a perfect demonstration of why 'Alien Blood' is truly a cultural invasion, with or without aliens.

A silly little outing that tells of an alien attack on our planet. Sure, the story is epic in scope, but on a budget that allows for only a couple of shoot-outs in the woods, it doesn't really work.

The moment I saw the aliens in white makeup with little radio receivers glued to their faces I knew I was in for a cheesy, sub-STAR TREK style outing. Execrable CGI effects, consisting of laser beams, UFOs and people disintegrating within 'blood bags', are not to be taken seriously.

The cast, headed by the wooden Brad Johnson, fare no better. Indeed, one of the only reasons I tuned in was to see Carl Weathers; he's bagged a minor role playing a tough army general. Weathers kicks ass - the rest of this film does not.

We're left with a concoction of silly effects, low-rent action scenes and lots of dull pondering over right and wrong while a dozen or so plot holes are generally glazed over. Not the Science Fiction channel's greatest hour, then...

The writing is so awful that it's sometimes hard to believe the actors went through with reading their lines. Judging from the barely contained expressions of disgust and embarrassment on the faces of some players, you can tell they can barely believe they're reading these lines. Porn would have been a more dignified career choice.

The CGI budget seems to have been spent on two very nicely done shots of the alien ship hovering above the planet. Everything else looks like the rudimentary placeholders that CGI artists block in while making the final design.

Speaking of special effects, while I can buy the humanoid features of the alien race the silly accents were a bit much. I did, however, appreciate the unintentional humor of the alien personal communication system, which appeared to be activated by the alien tapping something resembling a giant zit on their cheeks.

Also providing much unintentional humor: The enthusiastic paid shills who posted here well in advance of this sewage airing on SciFi.

Just saw this on SciFi channel. Big disappointment after reading some of the promising reviews here. I always give scifi movies a bit of extra leeway as I like the genre, but Alien Siege is just plain poor.

I agree on two points others have made. Good story line which deserves to be made into a decent movie some day, and good visual effects.

That's about it though for the good bits. The direction was pedestrian, no build-up of tension or drama. Terrible screenplay, you'll find better dialog in comic books, and the characters never engaged me in caring about their fate. The acting was generally well below B standard, although in fairness the cast had very little to work with.

I rate this 2/10 for the story and visuals. I kept waiting for it to improve, but it didn't happen. Oh well, sometimes the bear gets you...

I watched this partly because of the huge gap between the positive and negative reviews here on IMDb.

It's hard for me to believe that there's anyone PAYING IMDb reviewers to pump up the reviews for anything at all, much less a relatively low budget made-for-sciffy-channel waste of time. But hey, since you're obviously out there somewhere, drop me a line, I could use the spare change... Okay, just kidding.

But it's terrible. Of course you'll probably need to make your own decision, but when you do, count my vote on the "for goodness' sake DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME" side. I hope for your sake reading these reviews is ALL the time you waste on this movie.

The ONLY positive I can think of is that SOME of the acting wasn't horrible. All the special effects are, most of the writing is (some of it's merely mediocre), and although I don't consider myself much of a judge of directing or cinematography, it certainly isn't good enough to redeem this turkey.