20131221: Action Review--Alien Uprising

Alien Uprising

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British live action feature length film, 2012, NR, 101 minutes, action, SciFi.
2. IMDB: 3.0/10.0 from 1,485 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 2.5 million pounds. Aspect, 2.35
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet...', 11% liked it from 64 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.3/5.0 from 5,915 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Dominic Burns.
6. Starring: Bianca Bree as Carrie, Sean Brosnan as Michael, Simon Phillips as Robin, Maya Grant as Dana, JC van Damme as George, Sean Pertwee as Tramp, Jazz Lintott as Vincent.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The main characters are Carrie and Michael (just met, but getting along well), Robin and Dana, who have just become engaged, and Vincent, who has just broken up with his girlfriend.


2. After a bender at a local club, the five of them get together the next morning.  The electric is out, their telephones are off, both cell and land line, the AM and FM radio stations are down.  The military has claimed and drained all local petrol, almost all shops are closed.  There are alien somethings all around.


3. Two military men with a bazooka take down an alien.  An old crazy with a gun challenges the same military, who proceed to kill him.  He fires as well, as he goes down, and kills Robin.  Michael talks the military into giving them a lift (they are corporals, he had been a lieutenant).  They contact George, who has some good intel from his old days at area 51.  They find that there are alien imposters among them.  They identify Carrie as one of them.  Things get testy after that.  Even worse, the real people turn on each other.


4. Will anyone from the beginning survive?  How about the human race?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: This was one of the poorest indie films I've seen from the UK.
2. One star of five.  Black holes for acting, screenplay, SFX


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 4/10  There was way too much shaky camera work.


2. Sound: 8/10 OK, though sound levels get out of bounds now and then.


3. Acting: 1/10 Jeez, terrible.  JC van Damme was by far the best, but he did not have all that many lines. 


4. Screenplay: 2/10 Showed early promise, then went down hill.  Badly.


5. SFX: 0/10 Bad, terrible, looks poor as in 1970s poor.