This film peaked my interest from the trailer, a job well done by the marketing team, which tends to play towards the strengths of this movie. Seeing how $500,000 was spent to actually make the film, and $10 Million was used for the special effects, its no wonder that the strengths of the film where in its visuals and ideas, while the heart and soul (the script and acting) were lacking attention.
The Premise of the film is not new, an alien invasion, but where the director duo go different is in the fact that they don't explain why. They leave it up to the imagination of the viewer, or to future films. I felt that this is good because all to often we know what the aliens want, and "wham bam" the hero steps in and fixes it. General audiences will like this, but sometimes it gets a bit boring. I really enjoyed how the characters seemed hopeless up until the very last scene, in which Jarrod's brain makes an epic takeover of one of the aliens. SO AWESOME!!! This leaves the ending to the imagination, and is the true beauty sometimes. Leaving the audience wondering....what if?
Now, to address the actual script. Halfway through the film I began to realize that these characters were simply your average Joe, and were not going to be a huge impact on the man vs alien outcome. This led to a feeling of "why is this worth watching?" because when we go to see movies, we want to hear fantastic tales! We want highlights! We want great stories! Yes, the directors took a different approach by having their characters be very "average people" which is liked by some, and despised by others. It took going out on a limb to do it. Did it work? A little. Much of the movie the audience doesn't have much to root for, as few of the characters really have redeeming value. I feel Elaine was the only character who had pure intent, yet she played a very passive role, and didn't take much forefront. Next time, make Jarrod less of a jerk and make him excited to be having a baby!
As far as the script? C-. The dialogue was all too cliché, as the characters were not very developed. They didn't give them much time, as they wanted to quickly jump into the visuals and play to the films strengths. However, this oversight led to a lack of "realism" with the characters. A little bit more time with the script and character development would have given the film at LEAST 2 more stars. Yes the characters want to stay alive, but that is only so inspiring after a while. When they have a reason beyond themselves, that is when films go from good to great!
Across the board, a well put together piece by the Strause Brothers, as they showed they can make a movie that sells. Now they will have more chances to prove that they can make movies that capture the hearts of the viewers!
The Premise of the film is not new, an alien invasion, but where the director duo go different is in the fact that they don't explain why. They leave it up to the imagination of the viewer, or to future films. I felt that this is good because all to often we know what the aliens want, and "wham bam" the hero steps in and fixes it. General audiences will like this, but sometimes it gets a bit boring. I really enjoyed how the characters seemed hopeless up until the very last scene, in which Jarrod's brain makes an epic takeover of one of the aliens. SO AWESOME!!! This leaves the ending to the imagination, and is the true beauty sometimes. Leaving the audience wondering....what if?
Now, to address the actual script. Halfway through the film I began to realize that these characters were simply your average Joe, and were not going to be a huge impact on the man vs alien outcome. This led to a feeling of "why is this worth watching?" because when we go to see movies, we want to hear fantastic tales! We want highlights! We want great stories! Yes, the directors took a different approach by having their characters be very "average people" which is liked by some, and despised by others. It took going out on a limb to do it. Did it work? A little. Much of the movie the audience doesn't have much to root for, as few of the characters really have redeeming value. I feel Elaine was the only character who had pure intent, yet she played a very passive role, and didn't take much forefront. Next time, make Jarrod less of a jerk and make him excited to be having a baby!
As far as the script? C-. The dialogue was all too cliché, as the characters were not very developed. They didn't give them much time, as they wanted to quickly jump into the visuals and play to the films strengths. However, this oversight led to a lack of "realism" with the characters. A little bit more time with the script and character development would have given the film at LEAST 2 more stars. Yes the characters want to stay alive, but that is only so inspiring after a while. When they have a reason beyond themselves, that is when films go from good to great!
Across the board, a well put together piece by the Strause Brothers, as they showed they can make a movie that sells. Now they will have more chances to prove that they can make movies that capture the hearts of the viewers!