Roswell: The Aliens Attack |
  • Canada • 1999 • 96m •    • Directed by: Brad Turner. • Starring: Steven Flynn, Kate Greenhouse, Heather Hanson, Brent Stait, Sean McCann, Donnelly Rhodes, Ben Baxter, Robert Huculak, John Bekavac, Chad Bruce, Tom Anniko, Bethoe Shirkoff, Blake Taylor. • Music by: Fred Mollin.     Two aliens escape from 1947 Roswell, New Mexico and set out to sabotage the Earth. The lady alien finds she enjoys sex and likes to seduce soldiers. However, the male eventually falls in love with an Earthling and decides to stop the female from setting off a nuclear weapon the two had developed.
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Review:
The early dialogue blew it for me when the alien craft was referred to as a "Flying Saucer" instead of "Flying Disk", which was the term in those days. Then the alien hand-held whiz-bang device - it reminded me of a miniature of a light sold in the department stores. The kind that you put in dark closets and press the lens to turn on. Not very high-tech for people who cross space destroying planetary life forms.
Buried in the lackluster script are some neat ideas that should have been expanded upon and perhaps might have saved this film. Consider these lost opportunities, which caused my disappointment:
The dead "greys" are part human and part machine, designed to run the spaceship while the "human" aliens hibernate over the long trip. The autopsy scene on the base cried out for a takeoff on that bogus "Alien Autopsy" tape but the director gave it just a glancing blow.
Eve, the other alien (Heather Hanson): "Some people hired us. They want the planet, but not the people." Interesting concept that is a departure from the "we want to colonize earth" gambit. WHO are the "some people"? A twist would have been to have "Them" send a alien version of Mr. Lefty and Mr. Fingers to track down the two live aliens to ask "What's takin' youse so long?" A chase within a chase to liven things up.
"You look just like us." Katie says upon learning her beau is an alien. "No, YOU look just like US." he replies. A great place to insert a "we are your ancestors" scene, but that concept is only mentioned as a throwaway at the end.
A couple of shots make you notice the hangar where the Bomb is located - number "84". Another blown opportunity. The number should have "18" (where alien bodies were supposed to have been kept) to tie in with current conspiracy theories.
Over all, the acting is surprisingly good, with the exception of John Deerman (Steven Flynn, who takes his alias from a farm tractor). His acting was mechanical and wooden and at first I thought that was the alien character he was playing - along the lines of "the emotionless alien discovers earthlike emotions and changes sides". Well, he changes sides al l right (Kate Greenhouse does that to you) but he was wooden to the end. Maybe he just had a bad day - he has a pretty good string of creditable parts.
The female alien (Heather Hansen) plays a stereotyped hard-hearted partner. That being said, I would STILL chance a night with her despite what happened to the salesman (David Brown, who plays a nice lecherous part). After his departure his samples provide her with the revealing dress she sports for the rest of the movie. There's a neat scene where she decides which one to wear while he evaporates in the bathroom.
The rest of the cast is very good. I don't know if it's the water or the gene pool, but Canada turns out some very fine character actors. The colonel (Sean McCann) plays a surprisinly level-headed officer - usually the military is portrayed as blithering idiots in these movies who are only saved by the clear-headed heroheroine.
Captain Phillips (Brent Stait) is suitably nasty as the security officer. You don't want to cross this guy. Donnelly Rhodes does a first rate job as the father who fears he's going to lose everything because of his daughter's infatuation with Mr. Deerman (Dearman in the credits). I keep thinking I've seen him somewhere else, and I have. Mr. Rhodes has a filmography as long as you arm in film and TV.
I saved the best for last, and she is the reason I will watch this film again - Kate Greenhouse as Tyler's daughter, Katie. What a sweetheart! Typical girl-next-door, a part she's plays a lot, but hey, go with your strength. It will be a pleasure to see this actress play other less sugary roles but she is such a natural here. I think I am in love.
Once you suspend belief though, it's not too bad - just go with the flow. Ignore the ridiculously easy way the aliens get on base and then wander around without too much of a challenge. The Bomb is a good copy of the "Fat Man" bomb they dropped on WWII Japan, but it is placed in hangar 84 with just one locked door between it and any bad guy. It's also placed in the center of the room and sticks out like a sore thumb. It is held by a puny chain and supported on a flimsy-looking stand, which I expected to collapse and send the Bomb rolling all over the place. It DOES eventually drop and squash the delectable but hard-as-nails Eve. In some ways I hated to see her go - her role was a nice corny counterpoint which she seemed to play with relish.
If you're into ca. 1940 cars, the movie is eye candy in that respect. Whoever supplied the props did a good job - there's even an old P-51 Mustang fighter in some scenes. A nice period touch.
There are enough saving graces (and shots of Kate Greenhouse) to warrant a first and perhaps a second viewing
Review by borg1005 from the Internet Movie Database.
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