Les Derniers Jours de la planète Terre

Its getting harder and harder to get any original ideas for films. I guess the old standards make money and that's the key. Final Days of Planet Earth is about alien insects that make their way to earth to colonize earth using humans as fodder – literally. Good acting from a very solid and well established cast and some good writing takes the slight twist on Invasion of The Body Snatchers and makes it good. While the plot languishes, the CGI is good, and the cinematography is also good. The action and story move along just fast enough to keep your interest. A good solid B movie with no pretense toward block buster status.

Regular TV shows were taken off two nights for this mini-series, mainly because a rival station was showing the Commonwealth Games and I suppose the channel head honchos thought everyone would be watching the athletes and they had to put on SOMETHING so why not this drivel. This was worse than the recent Category 7 (that awful one with Shannon Doherty in it about the hurricane) and Earthquake 10.5 (about a giant earthquake destroying California). At least those two made some sort of sense. Last Days of planet blah reminds me a lot of V (80s miniseries about snake aliens who have human exteriors and are trying to take over the world when they're not eating live rodents), and a bit like the Day of the Body Snatchers (the pod people taking over humans body when their asleep), but without the suspense or character development. It should've been a TV movie instead of a miniseries - it flowed like molasses. Rule number one of scripts is to cut out anything that doesn't add to the plot. Why then stuff this with pointless scenes, like the hero walking furtively through a large room for about 30 seconds when we've seen the room 3 times before, including him and his friends discussing its purpose at length earlier, as well as the villains coming in later and discussing their dastardly plans just in case we can't connect the dots and get the point? 30 seconds is a looonnngggg time in TV land. Ditto the bad and pointless dialogue between characters sitting in vans waiting for something to happen. Show me that something happening - not the non-value-adding talk in vans! And how they overcome the dastardly villains was lamo.

Even Darryl Hannah couldn't save this one. What was the weird thing with her eyes and forehead? Bad lighting? Bad botox? And why does Australian TV keep buying this crude and why do I feel compelled to watch this trainwreck TV? I blame aliens. 1/10

After what appears to be a minor mishap, digging for samples on the Moon, "Pericles" space mission leader Campbell Scott (as William "Billy" Phillips) arranges to return safely to home planet Earth. While Mr. Scott sleeps, a "security breach" begins dismembering his crew. Only Scott and female passenger Daryl Hannah (as Elizabeth "Liz" Quinlan) escape to Earth. There, Scott mysteriously disappears and Ms. Hannah goes to work at San Francisco's City Hall.

Also on the ground, archaeologist Gil Bellows (as Lloyd Walker) explains his work to some grade kids on a field trip, "When you dig a hole, you travel back in time," he states. Shapely exterminator Suleka "Sue" Mathew (as Marianne) is upset with the graphic nature of Mr. Bellows' tour speech, which scares her nephew. That night, one of Bellows' young workers, Ryan McDonell (as Jonathan Gillis), is swallowed into the earth after a prank. And, he's not the only one…

Underground city workers are mysteriously vanishing; but, the "accidents" and disappearances are all being swept under the rug. This irks Bellows (he turns out to be the lead actor in this science-fiction drama, which weaves its various characters interestingly into the storyline). He is contacted by stealthy John Cassini (as Jake Roth), and the men begin piecing together a terrifying conspiracy, including a possible alien invasion, which could lead to the "Final Days of Planet Earth"!

"There's only one puzzle here, okay Walker?" Mr. Cassini advises Bellows, "Until you put your pieces on the table, it's not gonna get finished." Not sure who to trust, Bellows begins to investigate some slimy, green-bleeding blobs hidden in San Francisco's underground. He enlists the help of former astronaut Hannah (remember her from the opening Moon mission). Hannah, who is working with city commissioner Serge Houde (as Korshaft), warns "Careful where you dig."

Meanwhile, used car salesman Patrick Gilmore (as Spence) is having trouble collecting unemployment, after getting laid off; immigrants Tygh Runyan (as Nick) and Tina Milo (as Bella) worry about her husband, who is among the missing; and, homeless shelter worker Beau Starr (as Oliver), still mourning the passing of his wife Amanda, notices something unusual in the woods. They, and most of the other characters in the drama, are directed to "Room 86" for assistance...

Enter "Room 86" at your own risk! - but don't avoid "Final Days of Planet Earth" like the plague of long, lackluster TV movie extravaganzas it gets lumped with. It is too long, and unravels much during the first half of the second part; but, this is surprisingly above average "Hallmark" television production. The story, by Christian Ford and Roger Soffer nicely updates paranoid 1950s thrillers, like "Them!" (1954). Director Rob Lieberman and star Bellows keep it moving.

But, San Francisco? Have the filmmakers ever been there?

****** Final Days of Planet Earth (3/15-16/06) Robert Lieberman ~ Gil Bellows, Daryl Hannah, Suleka Mathew, Campbell Scott

Nothing new here, but there is worse out there. As a TV mini series / 2 parter; it's not so bad. You're not going to find anything original, but it'll kill a few hours. Oh, and as for the reviews criticizing Darryl Hannah's appearance; I have to disagree. Botox or surgery is not blatantly obvious. Her youthful appearance might be the result of good genes and healthy living, and even if she has had some work done, who cares??? She's a Hollywood actress. Surgery isn't exactly unheard of!! People can do whatever they want to xx.

The good is that Darryl Hannah still looks very good. Gil Bellows is competent as the archaeologist who winds up the hero. The rest of the cast is typical for the venue. The screen time is 170 minutes long, but there is only about half that much material here. A decent editing job that cuts the time down to about 100 minutes would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be a mini-series. Usually it takes some interesting characters that get me personally involved to make me want to root for the heroes, but these guys just don't cut it. Some of the scenes are drawn out too long. The dialog is routinely flat. If it wasn't for being on last thing two nights in a row I probably wouldn't have watched it. It does have a few interesting scenes here and there, and the technical visual effects are interesting in places. If you like sci-fi and don't have anything better to do, watch it. Otherwise, look for more interesting fare.