“Black Robocop” Has The Android Cop As A Sidekick!

The Good: Fairly interesting plot, Good protagonist
The Bad: Predictable character development, Direction/Acting
The Basics: A minor twist on Robocop geared toward the urban audience, Android Cop is a low-budget action cop movie with a familiar science fiction (and cultural bias) twist.


It has been years since I saw Robocop; it’s on my list. Like many people, I’m looking to rewatch Robocop in advance of this year’s remake of the film (reviewed here!) which is going to hit theaters soon. Even so, I remember the gist of Robocop well enough to recognize that Android Cop is essentially Robocop meets Rush Hour with a decidedly urban (yes, read that as “black”) bent. The Tyler Perry audience is the target demographic for Android Cop, but making the buddy action film the way director Mark Atkins does makes for an unfortunate film.

Poor Michael Jai White! Michael Jai White was, once upon a time, a rising star tapped to take on some big projects that had a lot of potential. While movies like Spawn (reviewed here!) might have underperformed, they were not the fault of Michael Jai White. White is the lead in Android Cop and while he performs admirably in the film, he is put in a role that plays on an awful number of stereotypes about the black community.

In 2037, Los Angeles is a post-earthquake wasteland broken down into different Zones patrolled by the police. There, Officer Hammond and his partner are preparing to meet an informant when they run into drug runners for the notorious criminal Dex Muldoon. An automated gun station at the edge of the quarantine zone kills Hammond’s partner and leaves him as part of a team hunting Muldoon. In the course of apprehending Muldoon, Hammond is rescued by an ultra-armored, part machine police officer.

Paired with the android, Officer One (Andi), Hammond goes to talk a potentially suicidal man down from a building. Andi distracts the man, undermining Hammond. After that, Hammond and Andi are called to the Mayor, whose assistant informs them of their next case. The Mayor has an illegitimate daughter who was wounded. She has connected herself to the most lifelike android ever created, one so real that she does not know that she is an android with her organic component transmitting from a remote location. Tasked to prevent the android version of the Mayor’s daughter from being discovered and used as a sex android, Hammond and Andi begin following the clues needed to find her. Going through gang territory on the Mayor’s orders, Hammond and Andi are used as tools to prevent the android Helen Jacobs from undermining the Mayor’s agenda while cleaning up the crime-filled Zone. As the two officers struggle to work together, they uncover the Mayor’s corrupt scheme.

In Android Cop, the police are clumsy and somewhat stupid (Officer Hammond is an obvious exception), but they are characterized as better than the machines. In other words, the police may be corrupt, not smart enough to use their full body armor in clearly dangerous areas, and unskilled in the most basic forms of police work (Andi is supposed to be a police officer’s head grafted to the android body, but he has no ability to bluff or strategize using a human element), but – the viewer infers – it’s still better to have human cops on the beat than having machines take over policing the streets. In the fashion of so many films geared toward the black demographic/community, the dichotomies are set up in very literal black and white terms. Hammond, the Mayor, Jones and most of the police working in what used to be Beverly Hills are black; Dex, the corrupt informant, and the antagonist/sidekick Andi are all white. As if to keep that fresh in the mind of the viewers, Andi is kept with his helmet off for most of the film, despite the fact that he and Hammond are in an incredibly dangerous area where a bulletproof helmet would be advised.

The idea of using the android cop as a sidekick is a vaguely interesting twist on the Robocop idea. The conspiracy surrounding the radiation-filled Zone is actually an interesting one. Sure, Android Cop might just be the most convoluted real estate-centered thriller of all time (really? We need a movie where the Los Angeles real estate market is inflated even more than in reality?!), but on a plot level, it is actually surprisingly engaging. That is not to say the movie’s plot is flawless at all; there are pointless gun fights and fist fights thrown in with little regard to reason or necessity and the effects in the film are largely laughable (was there a deficit of squibs when the film was shot?! One scene has a machinegun-wielding thug shooting off enough rounds to take out a decent-sized aircraft, but the reverse shot has only about five bullet holes appearing in the building next to which Andi stands). But, conceptually, the plot developments upon which Android Cop is built are not bad.

It’s also hard to call the acting in Android Cop bad, especially when one is talking about a film led by Michael Jai White that features Charles S. Dutton (as the Mayor). Michael Jai White and Larissa Vereza (Helen) have cringeworthy moments where they absolutely step on their lines; why Mark Atkins did not get them to do another take (or even use ADR to fix the clunky places) is inconceivable. For the most part, though, Michael Jai White does great as Hammond, delivering a lot of articulate monologues and emoting well opposite the dispassionate Andi. And, it’s always nice to see Kadeem Hardison getting work and Smith – where he is cast as a minor villain – is a good role for him.

What is missing from Android Cop is chemistry. For a buddy action flick to work, the leads have to have some form of chemistry. Android Cop is set up to have either an Odd Couple chemistry based on antagonism or a variation of the cultural mismatch humor chemistry like Rush Hour. Android Cop lacks either. Michael Jai White plays the role of Hammond completely straight and Randy Wayne seems like he is playing the role of Andi straight-laced as well. Wayne is filling the exact performance niche that Jeremy Renner would have if the movie had a bigger budget. Unfortunately, Wayne and Michael Jai White fail to play off one another in any meaningful way to sell the concept of Android Cop as anything audacious.

The result is a film that is set up to be surprising, but when the revelation surrounding manual override of the android finally comes up, the result is more “eh” than “woah!” Despite a plot that moves along, the characters are virtually impossible to care about in Android Cop. What we are left with is a film with potential that remains unreached. Hopefully, the remake of Robocop will satisfy . . . for all demographics.

For other ridiculous science fiction films, please check out my reviews of:
The Snow Queen
Aaah! Zombies!!
Alien Trespass

4/10

For other film reviews, please check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Mimicking Successful Science Fiction: The Razor Decision On Mimic

The Good: Competent acting, Excellent effects, Occasionally unpredictable
The Bad: Mostly predictable plot, Unmemorable characters
The Basics: Overall only occasionally entertaining, Mimic requires suspension of disbelief and/or scientific ignorance.


"If a gun is introduced in the first act, by the final curtain it must go off," is a pretty standard rule of plot. There are variations on this, of course: in Bound it's a pair of sheers. In Mimic it's a subway. And by no means is it a solid rule; many films get away with defying the convention by not having the gun go off or - like American Beauty - introducing a whole lot of guns. Then the movie becomes about why and how the convention is defied. When the intelligent viewer sees the subway in Mimic, we know it's going to run someone or something over. Horror, even more than science fiction, suffers from a lack of originality and surprise.

Such as it is, the plot of Mimic is a remarkably standard science fiction / horror plot. In the recent future, a plague carried by cockroaches is stopped by the work of inventive geneticists who develop a better beetle to go around killing the roaches and thus stopping the plague. Yeah! I'll admit, despite the scientific implausibilities that follow, the initial idea is an intriguing one.

Then, in an improbably leap of science, the genetic code of the new creature goes awry and evolution makes a few massive leaps underground resulting in terrifically huge bugs that have no problem with making a meal out of men. So, after an intriguing setup, the movie quickly degenerates into something most of us have already seen before. And the problem is, we've seen it done better.

Mira Sorvino plays the scientist, Dr. Susan Tyler, sent as part of a team to investigate the phenomenon and discovers the very cool, very creepy bugs. She's accompanied by a subway worker, Leonard, played by Charles S. Dutton in a very well acted role. In fact, the acting is one of the few extraordinary things - Mira Sorvino plays her part well. And Charles S. Dutton does his best with Leonard.

The problematic aspect is that the characters either aren't interesting or aren't acting like normal human beings. The male lead, Jeremy Northam, opposite Sorvino was completely unmemorable. Indeed; I had to check the IMDB to remember his character's name (Dr. Mann). And poor Charles S. Dutton - this film was made shortly after Alien 3 and if you watch Mimic you might wonder, as I'm sure he did, if he was picked for his role based on his role in the Alien film. Leonard and his far more developed character, Dillon from Alien 3, have ridiculously similar character resolution.

One of the few successful aspects of the plot is the way it comes together. A young boy is abducted near the very beginning of the film and he is weaved throughout film expertly. The problem is, while the threads come together, the viewer tends to lose interest. I'm a patient person, especially when it comes to film, but this movie tried my patience and bored me. If it wasn't for the acting and the occasional moments where the director managed to surprise me in the way the bugs appeared, this movie would have been a complete wash.

Recommended only for fans of science fiction or horror solely because there's not much to the film for those who are not.

For other science fiction films, please check out my reviews of:
Avatar
The Star Wars Saga
Skyline


4.5/10

For other movie reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2012, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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(Near) Perfection In Concluding The Saga: Alien 3 Is Better Than Most Recall.

The Good: Excellent character development, Good acting, Impressive sets, Good pacing, Decent plot.
The Bad: A bit violent, I suppose. . .
The Basics: The perfect finale to the perfect science fiction trilogy. Far more is packed into Alien 3 thematically than many realize!


It's easy to pick on Alien 3 on an emotive level. The Alien Trilogy, however, is one of the few sets of films that is a perfect arc. All three films, Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3 are near perfect, but they bind together perfectly. Alien 3 takes a lot of heat, especially by fans of the first two films. It does that because in the first minutes of the film, two people are killed and, by this point in the series, we care about them. People who make that complaint are wusses. They're being ridiculous; none of them panned Alien for leaving only Ripley standing. Honestly, Alien 3 projects a dismissive air about the freakishly capricious nature of the universe and it works to create a film that is terribly depressing, but quite effective.

Alien 3 follows Ripley what must be assumed to be a relatively short period after Aliens (given that the life expectancy of the face hugging embryo layers is fairly short) when the Sulaco ejects Ripley, causing her to crash land on a penal colony planet. Ignoring the implausible events that start this installment (1. That an egg case was left aboard, and 2. Ripley manages to crash in the sole inhabited area of the planet), the plot is pretty solid from there out; the alien facehugger attaches to a dog and a new alien is created. Ripley awakens in an all male prison colony and soon after, the alien makes itself known.

So, Ripley does what she does. Why doesn't anyone like this film? It's not terribly repetitive. In fact, there's a greater difference between Alien 3 and its two predecessors than Alien was from Aliens. Does the film go too far? I think not. First, Alien 3 was created after a series of films that seriously upped the public's tolerance for action-adventure and gore. As a result, the dog-alien is in some ways much more destructive than prior aliens when it comes to eviscerating its prey. But this works well on the level of the alien creatures as well; less sophisticated than a man, a dog would conceivably breed a more instinctual and fierce alien.

Alien 3 ought to be looked at in the context of the series. It continues the arc of Ripley's character in its natural progression. If Alien is truly a film about society, Aliens is a film about family, and Alien 3 naturally strips it down to being a film about the individual. There's a natural progression thematically.

Moreover, Ripley has never been included - in Alien she was a middle working class stiff, a liaison between the command crew and the workers, in Aliens she was isolated from the Marines and officers, and in Alien 3, despite being the only female there, she finally becomes included and, indeed, a leader. The character arc of Ripley is only truly realized by her realizing the potential smothered in the first film and built in the second one.

Sigourney Weaver gives a great performance as Ripley in Alien 3, easily continuing the character despite years of separation from her prior outing as Ripley. Weaver is able to portray strong, but vulnerable in a way that she was not able to do in Alien, where she more frequently played a weird strong/weak combination. Weaver makes the film work perfectly and she plays off the new cast quite well.

Those who watch Alien 3 tend to be sore because it's a very dark film, it's an end. However, this film caps the trilogy and makes it a whole superb experience. Take a night and after dark sit down and watch all three films in a row; you'll see. The Alien trilogy has a higher consistent quality than any other Trilogy, even the original Star Wars Trilogy. The difference, this trilogy is an adult trilogy and it's dark. It also explores all of the aspects of life; Alien takes Ripley from her virginal childhood, Aliens sees her through her metaphorical troubled teens, and Alien 3 catches her in her adulthood.

Alien 3 is a surprisingly competent conclusion to every major theme in the Alien Trilogy and it does it with no small amount of panache. Ripley is tougher, Weaver's acting more honed, Charles S. Dutton is wonderful as the preaching leader of the convicts. Lance Henriksen returns to give two very different performances and he makes it work, despite some pretty heavy prosthetics for one!

A strong recommendation to see only in the widescreen form. The pan-and-scan version butchers certain essential scenes. On DVD, the film branches to present the original film and the 2003 recut. The significant difference between the two is the source of the alien. The second disc is loaded with information, much of which deals with the troubled production and problematic concept of the film. There is a decent commentary on the disc, though none of the actors (nor the director!) participate and that is disappointing.

And if you're not already a fan of the Alien trilogy? Don't start with Alien 3 - it's gory, the language in scenes is atrocious and it's dark. But more than that, this film contains surprises that hinge on the earlier two films. See Alien and Aliens first! And if you're looking to buy, why not just go for the whole Alien Quadrilogy (reviewed here!)?

For other films featuring Pete Postlethwaite, please check out:
Inception
Clash Of The Titans
Alien 3 (on its own) - 9/10
When viewed with Alien and Aliens as a supermovie - 10/10

For other movies, please check out my index page!

© 2010, 2007, 2001 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Life And Death Of Ellen Ripley In A (Mostly) Amazing DVD Set! The Alien Quadrilogy

The Good: Three great films, Amazing DVD bonuses, Character, Acting, Mood
The Bad: Plots get repetitive, Final film is absolutely terrible
The Basics: Even exceptional DVD extras cannot save this boxed set from the stink of one of the films, though it is arguably an incredible example of what DVD can be!


For the past few years, I've been arguing that the best older television shows ought to create boxed sets featuring the entire series of a show for true fans and collectors, then break the series up into season boxed sets. This rewards the big fans who shell out the big money first by giving them everything and a little bit more and making those who are more inclined to pick and choose wait. Seriously, who cares what happened in the final season of Family Ties? Who was still watching? The producers of those DVDs where the series ran forever can successfully beat the low-sales virtually guaranteed to come with the later seasons by selling the entire series first. For shows with six season (for example) where the last season may not have lived up to the expectations of the fans, this is more likely to get the material out there and sold as opposed to breaking it down. Given the choice between buying a weak season for completion and getting something else (which given the variety and choices out there is virtually guaranteed each week!), I think most people will opt for getting something new that thrills them rather than completing a collection.

Nothing proves this idea better than the Alien Quadrilogy. This lush, beautiful, big boxed set features three tremendous films and one truly abysmal one. Sales of the Alien Quadrilogy, which preceded the DVD release of the individual films Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection, were phenomenal and the nine disc set features a disc not available to those who picked and choosed. And because it came out before the individual releases, this was not a clear attempt to milk fans for more money by providing something extra in the unified boxed set after one had already purchased the component parts. That is classy. It ought to be the model for DVD producers everywhere.

The Alien Quadrilogy (a term coined for this boxed set, meaning "series of four" the way "trilogy" means "series of three") is a beautiful set of nine DVDs that is obsessed with providing the viewers with everything possible that there is to know about the series that began with Alien. Discs 1,3,5, and 7 feature the films of the Alien Quadrilogy, each with a branching option to allow the viewer to watch the original theatrical cut or a new Special Edition or Director's cut remastered for the set (or before). This means that viewers may choose at the opening menu between watching the 1979 theatrical version of Alien and the 2003 director's cut (with essentially one added scene and bits cut out, resulting in a film that is a minute shorter), the 1986 theatrical version of Aliens or the 1991 Special Edition which restores almost twenty minutes to the film, the 1992 theatrical cut of Alien 3 or the thirty minute longer special edition remade for the DVD release based on notes and an assembly print (the director had nothing to do with this special edition), and the theatrical version of the 1997 release Alien Resurrection and its 2003 special edition made for the DVD which offers an alternate beginning more familiar to fans of The City Of Lost Children with about seven more minutes of footage. The beauty here is that the originals are preserved while the alternate cuts are made available, both with full commentary from production and cast members.

For those unfamiliar with the Alien story, over the course of four films, Ellen Ripley is plagued by a nightmarish alien life form that terrorizes her and those she is with. In Alien, her mining ship is diverted to a remote planet where one of the crew becomes infected with a parasite. The parasite lays an egg which soon erupts from the crewmember and the resulting life form grows fast into a creature that systematically kills the crew. Ripley manages to escape, but awakens years later to find that a colony has been established on that same remote planet and now there are scores of the creatures, which a crew of Marines are brought in to thwart. Barely surviving that encounter, Ripley is thrown into dire straits again with one on a prison planet. Finally, Ripley awakens to find that she is a part of an experiment orchestrated by a corrupt government to use the alien life forms as a weapon.

The common element throughout the films, of course, is the character of Ellen Ripley. Ripley is an iconic heroic character whose journey takes her from worker to mother to leader to . . . well, that's why Alien Resurrection sucks; the character arc is pretty much complete when the fourth film begins and viewers are asked to buy the premises. The truth is, were it not for the overwhelming quality of the bonus features in this boxed set - had it been only the four films included - the rating would have been much closer to average as the final film sucks the series down that far.

Ripley is played by Sigourney Weaver and this is a role that defines Weaver as a badass actress capable of playing the action heroine. Throughout the films, she plays Ripley as terrified and terrorized, strong and in control, and self-reliant and animalistic. She is tough when she has to be, emotive and realistic when it is appropriate. She is a truly great actress and this is one of the highlights of her career.

Weaver is joined in various installments of the series by other notables such as Tom Skerrit, John Hurt, Bill Paxton, Michael Beihn, Lance Henriksen, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Winona Ryder, and Ron Perlman. This is a series that has attracted some true greats and here they live up to their reputations and deliver performances that involve maintaining a mood, progressing movement and/or delivering some of the most memorable one-liners in cinematic history.

What the Alien Quadrilogy excels at is establishing a mood. Alien pioneered the science fiction-horror, Aliens arguably created the summer blockbuster action-adventure, Alien 3 is a taut character-driven chase film, and Alien Resurrection, for all its problems, is a pretty tight action film with characters fleeing from the new wave of creatures. Even in Alien Resurrection, there's a pretty wonderful sense of movement, even if that's all it has going for it.

The Alien Quadrilogy comes with a ninth disc which looks at the franchise as a whole and has material not otherwise available. Following on the heels of extensive documentary and featurette supplements on discs 2,4,6, and 8, the ninth disc adds to the treasure trove by providing an even larger sense of the Alien universe. This includes a gallery of Dark Horse comic book covers, a look at the props from the films, trailers and more. It's impressive.

All in all, the Alien Quadrilogy is a great value, but its packaging does not inform the buyer of all they ought to know. In short, the universe of the Alien films is a dark, stark, adult universe. These are films intended for adults (all four are rated "R") and the bonus content is honest and frank about the production elements and complications that arose on the sets (especially with Alien 3). This is a wonderful set for the adult science fiction fan.

And yes, the sheer amount of bonus features on these discs blew fans away when it was originally released and it does truly set a standard for DVD quality. Indeed, the only boxed set to give this set a run for its money would have to be Freaks And Geeks, a short-lived television show whose DVD presentation is packed with deleted scenes, outtakes, and featurettes and two commentary tracks per episode! It might be a completely different niche, but when we're comparing DVDs, these two sets stack up as two of the best for the simple volume of materials (the bonus discs in the Alien Quadrilogy are PACKED!).

This set is a must for anyone who loves science fiction, horror or wants to see the true potential of the DVD medium!

For more information on the individual films in the Alien Quadrilogy, please check out my reviews of the films at:
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection

8/10

For other film reviews, please visit my indexs page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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‘Tis The Season For Apocalyptic Violence: Legion Is More Mundane Than Thrilling!

The Good: Appropriately adrenaline-filled, Moments of story originality
The Bad: Exceptionally predictable, Loses all sense of creativity to violence and gore, Long boring periods
The Basics: A disappointingly obvious special effects-driven horror-action film, Legion gives viewers nothing truly original or inspired.


For those who do not follow my reviews, I go to see a lot of movies, especially since I discovered that the area I live in is a test market for films and other products. There is no movie I have known about the existence of, but not known anything about, for longer than Legion. Last summer, a massive eight-foot tall by ten foot wide cardboard standee display with an angel with an automatic firearm arrived at the local theater and it has stood there ever since. All it said was Legion Coming Soon. Over six months later, Legion arrived in the theaters and while I want to say it was worth the wait, the truth is, it was not. Congrats to the hype machine at Screen Gems for building the enthusiasm so effectively.

Unfortunately, the hype machine for Legion helps to undo itself in two fundamental ways. First, preview trailers for Legion accurately characterize it as a horror film and like many horror films these days, it is gory, violent and action-packed in ways that those looking for something genuinely entertaining are more likely to come away from simply disturbed. Second, Legion was preceded by a graphic novel (click here for that review!) and that was more about setting the stage than actually telling a story. The characters teased in that book are not even featured in the movie and as a result, those who prepare for the movie by reading the “cannon” tie-in are likely to feel like they did their homework for a test that was not given. Viewers will not miss anything by not having read the comic book predecessors (I’m bet, at the time, the comics would appear on the DVD as a “motion comic” bonus feature, but I was wrong). Unfortunately for those looking for something exciting and new, Legion offers little that is surprising or truly audacious and instead becomes a very typical horror-action flick.

As Christmas approaches at the Paradise Falls Diner in New Mexico, the diner sees a surprising influx of people. A car breaks down, customers come in and everything seems normal for the one-armed cook and pregnant waitress, save that there are actually customers for the day. Then, in hobbles an old lady, who comments on Charlie’s impending baby. When Howard tries to stand up for Charlie, he is assaulted and the old lady climbs up the wall until Bob shoots her with a shotgun he has handy. Attempting to get the wounded Howard to the nearest hospital, the Andersons and chefs encounter a cloud of flies and are forced to turn back for the diner. Freaked out and cut off from the world, those stranded at the diner are perplexed.

Things get worse when Michael shows up, armed to the teeth. Michael is happy to tell the group exactly what is going on. The diner is besieged by possessed humans who want to kill everyone and bring about the apocalypse. Michael, believing Charlie’s child is the next incarnation of Christ, swears to defend her and the child and save humanity, despite this going against the will of god. When it looks like Michael might succeed, god sends the angel Gabriel to finish the task of bringing about the end of humanity.

Like Constantine several years ago, Legion fits into a very tight niche of theologically-based action-adventure films. Unlike that film, which was almost a super hero film that was vaguely biblically derived, Legion is a straight-out horror film created by Peter Schink and Scott Stewart (who directed the film). And while the basic concept of a battle between angels and humanity may sound fresh and original, unfortunately Schink and Stewart keep it stiflingly within the conventions of the horror film conceits. In many ways, Legion is a haunted house film, just with a marginally more original concept and a protector character who might actually save the lives of those trapped there. The attempt to get to the hospital is essentially the slamming door which causes those at the diner to realize they are trapped at the “haunted house.”

The appearance of Michael and his arsenal is pretty cool, but soon the diner is surrounded and the resulting actions are more predictable than shocking. Ironically, part of this comes from the quality of the performance by Kate Walsh. Walsh plays Sandra, Howard’s wife, and she plays her as lost and twitchy after Howard is assaulted, which makes her character’s “surprise” actions less than surprising. The other generally decent performance comes from Dennis Quaid as the atheist, Bob (though Charles S. Dutton is quite convincing as a one-armed cook). Quaid seems beautifully disillusioned and sarcastic and he delivers his character’s quips well with a gruffness that is perfectly appropriate.

But beyond that, Legion is devoid of character development and anything close to decent acting. Paul Bettany is supposed to be aloof as the fallen angel Michael, but he comes across as stiff, just as Kevin Durand’s Gabriel is just bland. Both deliver so many of their lines as if they are just that, lines they are reading off a script. Bettany takes the brunt of the criticism for playing a lousy character as he is forced to deliver long monologues of exposition simply to explain what the swarms of mutants on the doorstep actually are.

And, for whatever momentary sense of philosophy or highbrow concept that might exist, Legion continues to degenerate into a series of predictable, violent encounters that have sufficiently realistic special effects. There are pretty cool mutants, though they are certainly enough to make one ask why angels make humans turn into demonically demented creatures when they possess them, and the effects department earns their pay both on those and the realism of Gabriel during the fight sequences. But the fights are so obviously choreographed and feel choreographed that viewers get the feeling they are watching something they have seen before . . . and a second –rate version of that prior work as well.

With movie tickets being expensive, one of the obvious questions is “should I go to the theater to see this?” For Legion, I would have thought the answer was a resounding “yes,” but it was surprisingly small in scope. The apocalypse is centered around a single location for the vast majority of the film (hence the comparison to haunted house films) and the effects are not so good that one is likely to feel cheated waiting to see it on DVD. If you feel like you need to see mindless horror action, you can now see Legion on DVD; there is nothing earth-shattering about this film.

For other science fiction or horror films, please check out my reviews of:
Zombieland
Shutter Island
Robert A. Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters

3/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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