If you’re in the right mood, this is brilliant fun. Even what seem to be debits work to the film’s delightful oddness: the crappy performances by Casper Van Diem and Denise Richards work actually hit just the right crappy tone (Van Diem is reminiscent of a young John Agar, Richards makes a great saucy teen minx); although our heroes defend a basically fascist society, the film is no endorsement of fascism – while everything is clean and technology advanced, it’s clear that the humans provoked the war and that they have incompetent military strategy and contempt for life.
The siege set piece at the base is a stunning sequence – indeed, the film has trouble recovering from it. The final third feels like an after-thought – but even the wonkiness of the structure adds to the enjoyment (as does the fact that the big capture of the alien happens when none of our heroes are involved).
Clancy Brown is perfect as the training sergeant and Dina Meyer is extremely winning.
Full of terrific moments: Neil Patrick Harris in Nazi regalia, Clancy Brown whipping the troops into line, the brilliant insect creatures (what terrifying antagonists), the walk down washout lane, Michael Ironside leading his troops, “they sucked his brains out”, Van Diem’s talk with his parents just as they’re killed, the indiscriminate way the cast are wiped out.
No comments:
Post a Comment