Alien Invasion Movies - Thoughts, Commentaries and Reviews on 6

[Smoo]

So recently I've been on a bit of an alien invasion movie kick.  In the past two weeks or so I've watched Skyline, Battle Los Angeles, Pacific Rim, ID4, War of the Worlds and even, yes, Cowboys and Aliens.  This is going to turn into a bit of a review, so if you don't care, might as well stop reading!  :)

I'm not a usual reviewer but thought it would be fun given the common theme of the movies and how close together I watched them all.  I don't usually do this kinda thing, but I'd be curious to hear your own thoughts.

SKYLINE

Skyline was awesome for maybe the first hour.  Suspenseful, great visuals, and some rather cool looking aliens.  You have no idea whats going on and I can honestly say I felt just as tense and curious as the characters as to what the hell was going on.  There's some great surprises, great tesne moments and some really cool alien designs.  They genuinly look and feel alien as they are very non-humanoid but an interesting mix of organic and tech.  The, suddenly it gets kinda actioney and throws away everything that was good!  It gets real mindless and looses all the suspense.  The end even ends with one of the main characters punching out an alien.  It didn't come across as cool, but way lame.  So sad too, as I was defending the movie to a friend, just as the tone switched and had to then agree it was crap.

One Claw Up - Awesome first hour, sub-par after that

BATTLE LOS ANGELES

Similar to Skyline, and apparently there was some legal issues as the former was released just before and by part of the same production team.  This was focused on the military trying to defend and evacuate Los Angels.  Has a much grittier and real feel like some war/battle films but with aliens instead of other people.  It was good and even the ending was enjoyable.  It also has Vasquez, of ALIENS fame kicking some more alien butt!  Nothing in the film really stood out though as being amazing, or terrible.  It wasnt as tense or suspenseful as Skyline started but it also didn't change tone half way though and cop out.

One Claw Up - Never bad, but never really amazes either

PACIFIC RIM

Giant Mecha vs. Giant Aliens.  This time the aliens don't come from space, but through a rift at the bottom of the ocean.  I was expecting to have to turn my brain off for this movie, but was surprised that the characters were actually half-way decent.  And Ron Pearlman.  The effects and action scenes were great.  There's a wonderful action sequence about 2/3 the way through the film that is so much fun, it manages to over shadow even the ending action scene.  It's a good 5-10 minutes of awesome.  The ending gave me one of my few complaints - all the monsters in the movie are rated category 1-5.  At the very end, the first category 5 appears and it's supposed to be the biggest baddest mo-fo to be seen.  Yet, it gets beat up and doesnt do anything particularly bad-assed.  I was really hoping for this one to have an amazing scene just tearing shit up left and right.  Sadness.
I had a blast watching the movie and was happy it didn't require me to totally turn off my brain.  Yes, you have to be into robot vs alien/monster movies, but for what it was, it was surprisingly good!

Two Claws Up - Great fun, great effects, not totally mindless

INDEPENDENCE DAY

Yup, most likely you know this one.  Aliens invade, white house blows up, Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum.  I think it was cooler when I was younger and it first came out because watching it now really does require you to turn off your brain.  In the theater upon release, I remember seeing it with a friend and being psyched.  We even commented "the explosions are going to kill us" they were so grand.  Now, its just so mindless it hurts.  Some fun scenes, yes, but overall it just falls way flat.

Half Claw Up- Too mindless.  Even granting that, it's still not as fun as I remembered, although Will Smith does get some classic lines.

WAR OF THE WORLDS (Tom Cruise version)

Big Stephen Speilberg vechicle.  I keep flip-flopping as to how much I liked this one.  I think over all it was a fun movie.  Not too dumb (it had its moments though - some a bit blatant) and it kept a nice tense tone through out.  My favorite scene from the movie is when they are crossing the Hudson River trying to escape some tripods, only to have the music swell ominously and a pan over the water to show a whirlpool and the lights of another rising tripod next to the boat.  Perfect!  It soon moves to a basement and has some more good moments with one of the films more memorable, and of course a touch crazy, characters.  The ending feels a little to be desired, but it was right from the book.  It seems to come out of left field, but there actually are several hits and clues to it through the movie.  I coudn't stand the last scene through - the happy reunion with a character who by all rights shouldn't be there.  Grrrr!

One and a Half Claw Up - Impressive over all, only a few flaws

COWBOYS AND ALIENS

If you expect this not to be mindless with a title like that, you deserve to be disappointed.  That said, it still wasn't as fun as I had hoped.  I like Daniel Craig and I like Harrison ford and they did well together.  However, that's not enough to carry the movie and otherwise it falls totally flat.  The aliens are underwleming in design and all the build-up to the end leads to a "run around in a totally random battle" scene.  Not really much to say.  Just leave your brain at the door.

Half Claw Up - A bit too mindless and not enough awesome to make up for that.

So there we go.  If you're still with me, I'd be curious to your thoughts on any of the above movies too!

[Edward D]

Since Smoo invited me to join in, I'll throw in my review of a classic alien invasion movie: 

Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988):  There are movies that are terrible, and then there are movies that are so bad that they are wonderful.   Killer Klowns From Outer Space is definitely the latter.   If you're wonder why Klowns is spelt with a K, please remember this is from the 80s and misspelling things was kewl.

This cheesefest is pretty much alien invasion done by the books.   Aliens land, try to take over a town, a few teenagers find out but no one believes them until it's too late, very paint by numbers.  At least, it would be paint by numbers if these alien invaders were just typical bug eyed aliens, but no oh, these baddies are a host of evilly entertaining Killer Klowns, who happen to be from Outer Space, as the title suggests.

It's how they go about the invasion that is the real treat of the movie.  Killer Shadow Puppets, ray guns that wrap people up in cotton candy, blood being sucked through giant swirly straws, mallets, acid filled cream pies are just some of the wacky weapons used by the Klowns.   These Klowns are dangerous enemies as they are pretty much invunerable except for one weak spot, and sorry folks at KITG it's not their balls.  No, if you want to destroy a Killer Klown you have to pop their big red nose; then explode into a shower of confetti. 

I could write an entire essay on how awesomely campy this movie is but its something you really should go watch for yourself.  It's not particularly scary or suspenseful but its just a fun time from beginning to end.  If I was a legitimate professional reviewer I'd have to give it  1 1/2 ghosts out of 4, but screw that, it's my review, and for the sheer fun of this movie alone I give it 3 1/2 out of 4.   It also hosts probably one of the best theme song of any movie, the Dickie's "Killer Klowns".  Feel free to listen here: