The Legends Of Tomorrow In Transition When The Team Is "Compromised!"

The Good: Moments of performance, Some good humor, Hints of character
The Bad: Very typical plot, Shakycam during fight sequence, Time travel elements are moving toward preposterous
The Basics: "Compromised" is an unfortunately average episode of Legends Of Tomorrow that has the Waverider crew squaring off against Damien Darhk in their search for the time traveling murderer!


I am always intrigued by how television shows follow up on truly amazing episodes that are more or less bottle episodes in a serialized context. With Legends Of Tomorrow, the show had one of its series-best episodes with "Abominations" and it had to follow that high-point with something. "Compromised" is that something and it is a Legends Of Tomorrow episode that returns to the season's primary adversaries of Eobard Thawne and Damien Darhk. Unfortunately, "Compromised" is a painfully average episode of Legends Of Tomorrow.

"Compromised" follows "Abominations" (reviewed here!) and with Ray Palmer being a change in alter-ego in the prior episode, it is hard not to discuss some elements of the prior episode in the review of the current one. Elements of "Abominations" resonate through "Compromised," including Jefferson Jackson having a strong reaction to experiencing the American Civil War first hand.

Opening in Miami, 1987, Damien Darhk acquires a hatchet from Emperor Nero through a drug deal when he is rescued by Eobard Thawne. Aboard the Waverider, Jackson and Stein have a debate on the nature of their team while Ray Palmer acclimates himself with the cold gun Snart left behind. Nate Heywood designs a temporal seismograph and they discover a time aberration in 1987, the day before Reagan and Gorbachev signed their nuclear disarmament treaty. Arriving in 1987, Amaya and Heywood discover the J.S.A. training facility she remembered is gone, but Obsidian (Todd Rice) remains and Heywood accidentally knocks him out. At the White House, Dr. Stein sees his younger version of himself and Palmer and Rory see Damien Darhk working for the U.S. Government.

When Sara Lance makes an attempt on Darhk, the mission to find the time traveling killer goes sideways. Rice wakes up and fills Amaya in about what happened after she left and Lance redefines the mission to surveil and identify the temporal manipulator. While on surveillance, Rory and Palmer witness the younger version of Dr. Stein being stabbed by Darhk. After Stein is healed, the Waverider crew heads to the State Dinner where Darhk has a plan to make a mysterious side deal that will alter history!

Throughout "Compromised," Ray Palmer and Mick Rory try to figure out how Palmer will take over as the new Cold. Palmer is listless and attempts to create a more badass persona . . . which is not an organic transition for him. Similarly, Rory is close to experiencing actual emotions and he is deeply uncomfortable with that. That allows Rory to deliver some of his best lines of the series that have some real humor to them. Rory basically reaches out to Palmer to be his friend and Palmer has to turn to Stein to figure out just how to do that, which helps the character transition work better.

The interplay between Dr. Stein and his younger self is pretty wonderful. Graeme McComb returns to the role from the second part of the "Pilot" (reviewed here!) and he is masterful in "Compromised." McComb has Victor Garber's speech patterns down perfectly, which is impressive and he makes the character seem absolutely like a younger version of Stein.

Lance Henriksen arrives on Legends Of Tomorrow as the aged version of Todd Rice and he is good in the role. Rice is a more cerebral role than some of Henriksen's other parts and he carries himself with enough gravitas to be taken seriously as a former superhero who has lost all of his compatriots.

"Compromised" loses serious points on the details. During the fight against the KGB, Amaya calls Obsidian by his mundane name, which is a ridiculous slip. When the Legends encounter a bomb at the state dinner, Firestorm could easily transmute it to disarm it. And when Lance and Heywood see the speedster, Lance declares that he is faster than The Flash . . . which she would have no reasonable frame of reference to recognize.

The budding romance between Amaya and Heywood feels forced in "Compromised." Some of the jokes between Palmer and Rory also feel forced . . . like to make the jokes land, Ray Palmer suddenly seems far stupider and less mature than ever before. Finally, director David Geddes creates a truly nauseating sequence with the hand held shaking camera during the fight sequence between Lance and her team and the KGB thugs.

Ultimately, Dr. Stein's part in "Compromised" is fun and saves the otherwise underwhelming episode from being a true and complete disappointment.

For other works featuring Lance Henriksen, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Cyrus
Alien Vs. Predator
Millennium
Dead Man
Alien 3
Aliens
The Terminator

[Knowing that single episodes are an inefficient way to get episodes, it's worth looking into Legends Of Tomorrow - The Complete Second Season on DVD or Blu-Ray, which is also a better economical choice than buying individual episodes. Read my review of the sophomore season of the time traveling hero team here!
Thanks!]

5/10

For other television season and episode reviews, please visit my Television Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Dead Man: Where Have You Gone William Blake?

The Good: Well-shot, Acting, Moments, Soundtrack
The Bad: Characters, Purpose, Back of the DVD says more than the film
The Basics: Slow, ponderous and pointless, Dead Man is a well-shot film that lacks a real story and direction.


As frequent readers of my reviews will note, I have to be in a mood for black and white films or else I will be instantly prejudiced against it. Not so much with older films, but certainly with films released these days. Black and white is a medium that can be artful, but often is pretentious. This morning, I was in the mood for black and white, so I sat down to Dead Man. The short verdict: I'm not adding it to my permanent collection, though I did not hate the movie.

Dead Man tells the story of William Blake, a man on the run in the Old West. As far as that goes, this is probably the slowest chase film ever produced. Blake goes through an excruciatingly long journey from Cleveland to the West (much of which we see - the first five minutes of the film are comprised of Blake on the train sitting and going in and out of consciousness and boredom on his trip to the West) where he finds the job he was relocating for has been given to another person. So, he goes to bed with a local woman, wakes up to find her ex-lover entering the room, a gunfight ensues and Blake, wounded, leaves town on another man's horse. This leads him to Nobody, a native who heals him. It also sets bounty hunters on his tracks and they are led by Cole, a murderous, ruthless man with no morals. Nobody leads Blake with the goal of returning him to the dead (mistaking this Blake for the classic poet William Blake) while Cole hunts relentlessly with the goal to kill Blake.

The back of the DVD says that the film is about Nobody teaching Blake to face the dangers of being a pursued man, but the film never does that. In fact, the purpose of Dead Man is more than a little lacking. The characters are ill-defined or uninteresting. Blake's acceptance of Nobody in his life is unquestioned, Nobody's reasons for aiding Blake are likewise unexplored. In fact, the only character that makes real sense in the flick is Cole. He's a bloodthirsty (literally) psychopath and he remains true to that throughout.

Unfortunately, that also ruins the surprises that accompany traveling with Cole. That his counterparts meet fates undesirable is unsurprising given his characterization.

What is not lacking is the acting. Despite exceptional flaws in plot and character, Johnny Depp gives an excellent performance as Blake. It's a shame the best dialog he's given comes so close to the end. Lance Henriksen plays Cole with brutal, wonderful efficiency. Robert Mitchum's appearances in the film are too brief. The real kudos, however, goes to Gary Farmer, who plays Nobody. Nobody is easy to watch as a result and that makes a huge difference in the film. Had it not been for his performance, the film would have been sunk entirely.

As it is, the film remains barely afloat. The soundtrack is entirely guitar music and that works well. The film certainly has atmosphere. Alas, the atmosphere is "slow" and "dead." This does not inspire one to watch it more than once as the mood is somewhat oppressive in points.

On DVD, the presentation is improved some with deletes scenes (though some of them deserved to be cut), a music video and the film's trailer. This adds only a little added value to the film and I found myself wishing there had been a commentary track.

I suppose Dead Man could simply be a tale of one man's morally ambiguous quest into death, but if that's it, the story is only confused by the whole Cole plot. Whatever the film was, it wasn't thoroughly unpleasant to watch, but I'll never sit through it again. I would recommend this one only when you've exhausted everything else in your library.

For other films featuring Johnny Depp, please visit my reviews of:
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
The Tourist
Alice In Wonderland
The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Corpse Bride
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory
Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
Edward Scissorhands

4.5/10

For other film reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007, 2002 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Enter Frank Black, Investigator Of The Darkness Within In Millennium's "Pilot".

The Good: Character, Acting, Plot.
The Bad: "Gehenna" is a little weaker
The Basics: Chris Carter's serial killer horror show Millennium begins on a high note with "Pilot" and "Gehenna!"


At the beginning of Millennium, writer and creator Chris Carter envisioned a series focusing on serial killers and the man who stood at the brink to oppose them. The hero is Frank Black, an investigator who is so attuned to the mind of evil people he has the ability to put himself in their place, see through their perspective, in order to try to solve crimes. And it is intended to be a dark, adult series and Carter's vision is well-executed from the very first episode. This is a scary show and it pioneered the way for every profiler series that clogged up the airwaves after it debuted. Today, it remains an original . . . and a terrifying one at that.

In the "Pilot," a serial killer kills a stripper and decapitates her. As Seattle police detectives scramble to solve the crime, Frank Black, retired from the FBI, arrives in Seattle to settle down with his wife Catherine and daughter, Jordan. Black, now working as a consultant for the Millennium Group, is brought out to assist the police and he becomes convinced that there are more people who have been abducted and are awaiting slaughter.

When a poem mouthed by the suspect leads Frank to a biblical prophecy about the apocalypse, he is given unlimited resources by the Millennium Group to find the killer. Concerned that glimpsing into evil will fracture his psyche, Frank is hesitant, but when the police - especially Frank's old friend, Lt. Bob Bletcher - come up empty, he engages his skill to track the killer down.

In "Gehena," Frank Black is called to the site of strange ash which is revealed to be human remains desiccated in an industrial microwave. When it seems that a cult might be responsible for the death, the parents of one of the young men who has been missing from a local school hire Black and the Millennium Group to find out what happened. Frank's old FBI mentor assists Frank on the case, while helping Frank to deal with the implications of the photographs being sent to him in the mail.

Millennium is a combination of episodic - killer of the week - stories and serialized character arcs, as Frank Black is harassed by a photographer who takes pictures of his wife and daughter. This, predating the series, made him have a breakdown and in "Pilot" and "Gehena" it becomes clear that the stalker has followed Frank and his family to Seattle. These two episodes make the implied threat of the unseen stalker very real and it puts Frank on edge.

These two episodes establish well the series as a visually and psychologically disturbing drama. For example, in the "Pilot," there a person is found with their eyes and mouth sewn shut. The image is gruesome and it is shown, so for the sensitive members of the potential audience, it is important to be aware that this is the closest network television ever got to a Silence Of The Lambs series. It is creepy and truly frightening, even after multiple viewings.

Unfortunately, there are some elements of predictability even in these first two episodes. Both were written by Chris Carter and directed by David Nutter, giving the series an instant start that screams continuity! But in "Gehena," Carter seems bound by the conventions of "If a gun is introduced in the first act, it must be discharged by the final curtain." Sure, he's stylish and cool by replacing "gun" with "industrial microwave" but from the moment the mammoth device is introduced, the viewer knows someone is going to end up inside it.

What continues to sell Millennium, even ten years after it originally aired, are the characters. Frank Black is an incredible character to watch and his tortured backstory lives within him in every scene he is in in the "Pilot." Frank's ability to get inside the heads of the killers is a gift that borders on the paranormal (it is never explained in the series, outside a reference in the first episode to Frank seeing what the killer sees). It is an intriguing ability and the way it is played out - even in these first two episodes - makes for entertaining drama.

Moreover, Frank is surrounded by people who are equally interesting. Catherine is more than just a symbol of all that is good, she is dynamic, loving and concerned about Frank and the effect his work has on him. Bletch is a competent police lieutenant and his pride is wounded by having to call in Frank, even as his friendship with Frank makes him worried about the effects of having him on the cases.

On the flip side is Frank's Millennium Group contact, Peter Watts. Watts appears as a mysterious character in these two episodes almost exclusively to deliver exposition and insinuate about what the group is for future episodes. He is well played by Chris Carter favorite Terry O'Quinn, of late of Lost. He and Lance Henriksen play off one another amazingly well.

It is Henriksen who must sell Millennium, though and he does an impressive job at that. Perfectly cast, Henriksen represents a mature, disturbed adult figure who is not Hollywood beautiful, which makes him instantly more believable in the role than any number of actors. He plays the part with a detached logic and coldness that is distinctly different from his role of Bishop in Aliens (reviewed here!). Indeed, the power of his acting is that he spends much of the episodes with a look of grim determination on his face, but in moments with his female costar, he softens and smiles. They play a couple in love with an adult sensibility to it and that is beautiful and realistic. One has the sense from the moment Henriksen appears on screen that Frank Black is a strong man with a real gift, but a core of humanity that only comes out with his family. He makes the show.

And this is a wonderful beginning to the series and one that is well worth the attention of anyone who loves great drama, especially the creepy serial killer stuff and CSI type shows that are on the air now. This is what paved the way for them. It should be noted that Millennium does fall into the same universe as The X-Files (reviewed here!).

Knowing that VHS is an outdated medium, a better investment might be Millennium: The Complete First Season, reviewed here!

7/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Not As Bad As I Remember It Being After The Apocalypse: Millennium Season 3!

The Good: Good acting, Interesting stories, Interesting character development
The Bad: Real stretch after the prior season's finale, Some fairly standard stories, No real surprises
The Basics: After the Apocalypse arrived at the end of the second season, Millennium returned for a third and - try as they might - is unable to get the magic back.


Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files and Millennium returned to his latter series after a year of working on The X-Files feature film and other projects to find his show had been almost completely co-opted. It was unrecognizable from where he had started it. The Millennium Group - which he had based on a group of noble, real-world profilers - had become an enemy cult that was bent upon bringing about the apocalypse. One may only imagine he was not terribly happy.

If you are a fan of Millennium and have not watched the second season finale, stop here, go watch the second season first. If you're not a fan of Millennium and don't mind reading something that is seminal to understanding the third season, but was surprising at the end of the second season, read on. Otherwise, please leave now. It's impossible to talk about the third season of Millennium without mentioning certain aspects of the second season finale.

That's all the warning I can give.

Following the viral outbreak that marked the beginning of the apocalypse at the end of season two, Frank Black returns to work for the FBI as a single father without his unique ability in play. He works quietly to raise Jordan, despite having to deal with the hostile in-laws and he searches for a way to make the Millennium Group pay for what was ultimately - apparently - a localized phenomenon with the viral outbreak.

Frank is paired with Emma Hollis, a competent and bright young woman who is pretty much fresh in the field. Frank and Hollis explore psychopaths and cases that are like generally violent The X-Files at the behest of a different Director in the FBI. And as the season goes on, Hollis and Frank learn to trust one another more while Frank's obsession with the Millennium Group fades, then returns even more forcefully.

And then the series pretty much ends. Fortunately - from a matter of perspective - this DVD boxed set includes the coda to Millennium from The X-Files, an episode called Millennium that tries to resolve the issues left open at the end of the series and instead is marginal and somewhat silly.

The fundamental problem, hands down, with the third season of Millennium is that it follows on the heels of season two. Season two's two-part finale is one of the greatest endings for a show. Ever. I mean that. Like in the history of television. Millennium's second season finale is one that I can watch over and over and over and over again and always be entertained, find something new, and end with a feeling of "WOW!" It's an ending that is almost impossible to come back from.

This is why the first episodes of season three of Millennium are forced, awkward. The producers, even Chris Carter, had no clear idea of how to come back from that finale and the best they can do is to work around it and try to figure out what the Millennium Group is now. As much as this might be heresy to fans of Millennium, I can only recommend the third season of Millennium in good faith to people who absolutely loved the first season of the show and want more of the same. Here's what you do. Watch the first season and if you love what you see and don't want the format of the show to shift radically, just buy the third season. It's a surprisingly easy transition given where Kathrine ends up at the end of season one.

But, it doesn't. Season three follows season two (reviewed here!) and it's a real tough sell on that count. The first episodes are clunky and then the show falls into stories that are more episodic than serialized. And when Peter Watts shows up - and he does - it's very hard to tell how his character relates to the character from the prior seasons. Watts has lost all revelation and doubt from the second season finale and it takes the whole season before Frank can get him even to question again.

That's not to say this is not wonderful television. It has moments that truly are. One of my favorite episodes of the series, "Omerta" is in this season. It was robbed; it should have won awards for musical direction, but did not. Similarly, I enjoyed "The Sound Of Snow" in this season and fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer are bound to enjoy James Marsters' appearance in "Collateral Damage." And I tend to enjoy the Lucy Butler stories and this season has two (or three, wink wink) of them.

It also has some duds, like "Seven And One" which just seemed too obvious to be real. And I know a lot of KISS fans enjoyed ". . . Thirteen Years Later," but I found it to be lacking. It tried to be a second season episode and failed. It wasn't quite as clever as some of those pieces (like "Somehow Satan Got Behind Me") and it just didn't work the way it could have with better writing.

What is interesting is the character arc of Emma Hollis. Because Hollis is not tied to the previous works, her whole arc is interesting and natural. She is believable and compelling. She makes a good foil for Frank and perhaps the only real good part of the series finale is where she is left and it works.

Hollis is played quite ably by Klea Scott who is wonderful in the role. She easily projects an intelligence and innocence with her eyes and as the series goes on, she is able to flex some spine in ways that she is not able to early in the season. Scott brings a wonderful humanity to the cases that Megan Gallagher was never able to do because she was not inside Frank's professional world. Scott is articulate and charming and she carries every scene she's on her own in the series without her costar.

Lance Henriksen is stuck in a tough place, though he rides out the series quite well. With his hair back (most of the season) to a darker shade, he is put in the awkward position of redefining his character. He lives up to the challenge as best he can, making Frank more of a straight-out profiler as opposed to using an almost supernatural ability. Henriksen is appropriately intense throughout the season and the few moments he's able to soften (like when his character is with his daughter) he does so successfully.

Ultimately, though, this is one of those cases of average television falling on the heals of truly great television. I own it, as a fan of Millennium and I henpeck the episodes from time to time, but it's a rare thing for me to sit down and watch Millennium - The Complete Third Season all the way through the way I do with seasons one and two. It just had too high a hurdle to jump after such an amazing run.

For other works where the third season was the show's last, please check out my reviews of:
Star Trek - The Third Season
Veronica Mars - Season 3
Arrested Development - Season 3

4.5/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Exploring The Nature of the Group Designed To Save The World: Millennium Season Two Shakes It Up!

The Good: Very dark, Wonderfully well-written, Clever, Well-directed, Season finale!
The Bad: Seeming lack of direction at the season beginning
The Basics: As the world nears the turn of the Millennium, Frank Black finds himself exploring the group that is designed to save the world and wondering if they truly will in the second season of Millennium.


One of the problems Chris Carter, who conceived The X-Files and Millennium had with The X-Files was that he had no clear blueprint of where he wanted the show to go. If one goes back and watches the second season "mythology" episodes of The X-Files where the Alien Bounty Hunter comes into the series and compares them to the later episodes with the eye-gouged shapeshifters, it becomes clear he didn't know where they would end up when he originally characterized them. It's unfortunate, because the show would have been much stronger in its later seasons if he had the foresight to work it all out ahead of time.

Watching the second season of Millennium on DVD it becomes clear that Carter's disciples, Glen Morgan and James Wong, executive producers of the show, have no such lack of vision. Out of the twenty-three episodes in this set, the pair wrote twelve. Chris Carter's name is featured prominently on the box, but - while he created the series - it is clear he had little to do with the creation of these episodes. Morgan and Wong created a creepy masterpiece that reaches its fullest potential here in its second season.

Opening with the cliffhanger from the first season, Millennium finds Frank Black's wife Catherine at the mercy of a kidnapper. Over the course of the season premiere, Frank finds himself struggling to find Catherine and going into the darker ranges of his psyche. When the situation resolves itself, Frank finds himself pushed away from his family, distraught. He moves out of the yellow house and away from his loved ones into a small, spooky yellow house where he begins to question who exactly the Millennium Group is and what role they intend to play in the oncoming apocalypse. As the season progresses, Frank finds himself more and more troubled by the discoveries until events climax in an incident that will change everything for him.

First off, is the sole point against this season and the boxed set DVD. The second season of Millennium is a definite shift in the television show. Unlike the first season "serial killer of the week" storylines, the second season of Millennium is an exploration of the growing apocalypse predicted for the end of the Millennium and an investigation into the Millennium Group. As a result, this show is a little different from the first season and it feels like the train has switched tracks. The DVD boxed set suffers because the two people who took the show in this new and wonderful direction, declined to participate in the creation of the extras. That is truly disappointing. (As a result, one of the extras is simply Chris Carter sitting and saying that he had nothing to do with the second season of Millennium and that it was very different from the show he envisioned.)

The result, however, is a show that is incredibly creepy that starts at a murky character point and builds incredibly to a climax of catastrophic proportions. The first episodes of the season build an estrangement between Frank and Catherine and introduce Lara Means, another Millennium Group Candidate. Frank and Lara investigate potential child molesters, a young man abducting innocent children to keep them safe from the apocalypse, holy relics that are causing international conspiracies, and a division within the Millennium Group itself.

This is a terrifically engaging show and this season is filled with some of the most intense and intriguing plots of any television show conceived. Here are some of the highlights that make this boxed set an easy and truly worthwhile investment:

"Monster" - A creepy story of a day-care with perfect casting of a little girl who is just plain evil,

"The Curse of Frank Black" - A very different episode for Millennium as there is almost no real case, but rather an exploration of Frank and the pathetic form his life has taken on. Unredeemably depressing,

"19:19" - One of the few "serial killer of the week" type stories in the second season, this follows Frank and Lara tracking down a young kidnapper that believes he is saving children from the apocalypse,

"Jose Chung's 'Doomsday Defense'" - An episode that would have been inconceivable in the first season, Darrin Morgin's quirky author Jose Chung, from The X-Files appears on Millennium to expose a cult and the end of the world in a hilarious, weird, episode that makes its mark,

"Goodbye Charlie" - One of the most powerful episodes of television anyone could watch, this follows an amazingly ambiguous villain who is able to sense when people are dying of terminal illnesses and he helps them kill themselves. This is an hour of television that is fearless in its exploration of assisted suicide and the ethics behind it and it is amazing, given the power and tact of the episode, that it was ever made,

"Owls" and "Roosters" - An episode that the show has been building to all season wherein a division in the Millennium Group forms over how the end of the world will come about. When a piece of wood from the cross of Jesus is unearthed, it sparks debates between those who believe in a theological apocalypse and those who believe in an imminent secular apocalypse. And this is a wonderful conspiracy tale as the divisions are exacerbated by a third faction that his attacking the Group from without,

"In Arcadia Ego" - Following a prison break, two female inmates who are very much in love flee to have a baby they believe is immaculately conceived,

"A Room With No View" - Another incredibly powerful episode wherein young high schoolers are abducted and tortured to break them of their extraordinary abilities. This is an episode that is both frightening in its implications and extraordinary in its resistance. It is fine to watch the resistance of evil in the form of young people simply trying to make life better for others,

"Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" - Another weird episode that would have been inconceivable in the first season (also written by Darin Morgan) wherein four devils sit around a coffee shop discussing the nature of evil today. It's hilarious and just plain weird,

"The Fourth Horseman" and "The Time Is Now" - The two-part season finale that is one of the most gripping and intense season finales of all time. "The Time Is Now" is impossible to stop watching (even with the full-act breakdown sequence). When a virus begins to plague Washington State with complete lethality and communicability, Frank discovers the Millennium Group may be the cause and the true villains of the apocalypse. Best season finale ever. Seriously. Of all time!

In fact, the build-up to the season finale is a ratcheting up constantly that does not disappoint the viewer and leaves the viewer aching for season three. It also does beg the question (which is, alas, not answered in ANY of the DVD extras!), "Was the second season finale of Millennium originally intended to be a series finale?" Millennium was picked up for a third season, but the way the second season ends, it puts fans over the edge of a cliff in the most entertaining, agonizing way.

As with all great television, Millennium is truly about characters and how they develop. Here is how the second season finds the principles:

Lara Means - Introduced in this second season, Lara is a Millennium Group Candidate who has the supernatural power of seeing an angel that forebodes bad things. She is articulate, wry and efficient and she and Frank bond quickly into a great team,

Jordan Black - Her abilities begin to develop more and more as the young girl begins to see things beyond her and that freaks out Catherine,

Peter Watts - Far more knowledgeable and in control, Peter becomes a gate keeper to Frank and Lara and it becomes clear that he is the keeper of the Millennium Group's secrets. He becomes more of a religiously-oriented figure in the second season and his relationship with Frank becomes more and more strained as Frank questions what the Group is,

Catherine Black - Surviving the horrible abduction by a maniac, Catherine finds herself raising Jordan and trying to reconcile her love of Frank with despising the Millennium Group he has joined. Catherine's part is much smaller this season as she is estranged from Frank and she works hard to find her way back to love, with mixed results,

Frank Black - Estranged form Catherine and distanced from Jordan, Frank spends his time focusing on the apocalypse and how to prevent it, if that is at all possible. Frank aids individuals in doing good and tries to combat larger evils in a world he is discovering is more and more out of his control or understanding. When his abilities fade, he becomes hardened and as they resurface, he learns the end may be much nearer than anyone had anticipated.

While Terry O'Quinn (Watts), Kristen Cloke (Lara Means) and Megan Gallagher (Catherine) are all amazing in their roles and performances, the show hinges on the acting talents of Lance Henriksen. Indeed, there is only one episode Lance is not in (and it is in this season). Henriksen is moody, intense and realistic as Frank Black adding his dour demeanor and gravelly voice to create a character that is adult and incredible. This season allows Lance to illustrate more of his talents with moments of comedic edge to them.

Millennium is a great horror show that creates horror far more often by using realistic situations than the supernatural. In its second season, investigator Frank Black discovers that the horrors of our world may be caused by those claiming to work to prevent the end of the world.

For other works featuring Terry O'Quinn, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Lost
The West Wing - Season 7
The West Wing - Season 6
The X-Files: Fight The Future

10/10

For other television show reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2005 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Millennium Season 1: Chris Carter's Scary Growth Into Adulthood

The Good: Genuinely horrific moments, Excellent acting, Great characters, Amazing opening credits
The Bad: One or two conceptually far-fetched plots
The Basics: In the adult horror show Millennium's first season, Frank Black uses his gift to see in the minds of the evil to try to keep his family (and the world) safe.


When Millennium first aired, it was easily the edgiest show on network television. Seeing it now on DVD, it's easy to be amazed with how much horror, gore and even near-nudity the show got away with. This is an adult show from the get go and it's very successful at being an adult exploration of the horrors people inflict upon others.

Frank Black, having recovered from a mental breakdown as a result of his work, moves to Seattle with his wife and daughter. There, working as a consultant for the mysterious Millennium Group, he finds himself getting more and more back into the life he thought he left behind as he chases down serial killers and other villains against society.

Frank Black is no ordinary investigator, though. He possesses a freakish talent to understand the mind of evildoers so well that he can see what they see. He catches glimpses into the minds of those who do evil and is thus able to track them down with a high degree of success. Over the course of the first season, Frank is put in situations where he must confront serial killers, mind-controlling cults, bombers, molesters, and zealots.

Frank's professional life is balanced by his family life. After a day of encountering evil, he returns to his bright yellow house to the woman he loves and the daughter who is growing up in the world Frank is desperate to make for her.

Like all great dramas, the stories revolve around characters and Millennium is no exception. The principles for the first year (though only Lance Henriksen and Megan Gallagher are credited every episode) are:

Frank Black - This is mostly his story. Frank tries desperately to keep evil at bay by catching the worst elements of society. But his gift comes with a soul crushing price as he comes to realize that the world is too big to be saved by one man,

Katherine Black - Is a social worker who loves and supports Frank and keeps him grounded. She is a pragmatist, but as Frank's association with the Millennium Group progresses, she begins to feel more and more distance from him and more fear for what he is doing,

Bob Bletcher - the Chief of Detectives in Seattle and an old friend of Frank's, he helps Frank whenever possible and acts as a friend to both Frank and Katherine. Unsure the depth of Frank's ability or ability to stay grounded, Bletcher lives in the real world, but accepts Frank's help when the case is unspeakably bad,

Peter Watts - Frank's coworker at the Millennium Group. A forensic expert, Peter represents the Group which is otherwise nebulous. He is efficient and calculating,

and Jordan Black - the daughter of Frank and Katherine, she is almost completely innocent. Her innocence is challenged when Katherine begins to suspect that she may share in Frank's abilities, making her a target of evil.

Millennium is a show where pretty much anything can happen. Unlike some shows that will take the viewer to the edge of terror and then everything turns out all right, Millennium is a show grounded in some measure of the worst aspects of reality. Good people suffer, evil occasionally gets away, relationships get strained. It has a gritty feel to it that makes it quite compelling.

A great deal of credit must be given to the cast and the writers. Series creator, Chris Carter, has a talent for casting and for picking writers and directors who know how to scare the bejesus out of their viewers. And it is not all gore. In "The Well-Worn Lock," one of the series' only Katherine Black stories, the horror of the episode is done all in the writing, the acting, and the insinuations. This is easily the most creepy hour of television done without envoking the supernatural.

The actors must get some serious credit. Megan Gallagher is wonderful as Katherine Black. She lends a realism to the supernatural show by embodying a strong, intelligent woman who expresses so much through her body language. She was perfectly cast as a foil to Lance Henriksen.

Terry O'Quinn is not given as much to do in the first season as he is in subsequent seasons, but he establishes Peter Watts as an intriguing character. O'Quinn has a gravitas to him that lends well to a character like Watts who clearly has more knowledge than we ever see in this season. O'Quinn is balanced well by Bill Smitrovich, who plays Bletcher. Smitrovich's everyman quality works perfectly to portray a less guarded associate of Franks. Smitrovich is likable and his ability to balance an air of integrity with good natured smiles makes him a pleasure to watch.

Lance Henriksen is amazing as Frank Black. First of all, it is refreshing to see someone who looks more like a real person than most anyone else on television. Henriksen does not possess a Hollywood face or bearing. Instead, he and his gravely voice make Frank into a believable entity. Henriksen plays confused, confident, and stricken without ever leaving the conflicted character of Frank Black. He is a pleasure to watch and a force of his own on screen.

Who would enjoy Millennium? Anyone who likes a good, intelligent horror. This is not about people jumping out of the dark, it's about people who go to open houses and wait in the closets until the home's owner comes back. It's not about cheap gore, it's about the sliding of the lock on a child's bedroom door and the understanding of the terrible thing going on on the other side. This is a great show for those who understand that the world is mostly good, but there is evil in it.

And it's refreshing to see someone else fighting for us.

For a little more information on what is in this boxed set, please check out my more detailed review of the first two episodes, "Pilot" and "Gehenna" by clicking here!

For other works featuring Lance Henriksen, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Alien Vs. Predator
Alien 3
Aliens
The Terminator

7.5/10

For other television works, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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An Unfortunately Erratic Series, Millennium The Complete Series Is Shaky.

The Good: Genuinely horrific moments, Excellent acting, Great characters, Space-saving boxed set.
The Bad: It's all over after the second season finale . . .
The Basics: Chris Carter's most successful (to date) non-The X-Files project is Millennium, a series that is erratic with real hints of greatness that didn't quit while it was ahead.


There are few television series' that I truly consider as examples of a poor overall work where there is something to love. But with Millennium, Chris Carter's project while The X-Files (reviewed here!) was at its peak, it is hard to discuss the series with love and feel like one is being truthful. With Millennium The Complete Series, this becomes very evident. The show had three seasons, but the first is radically different from the second and the third struggled to reinvent itself and, coming on the heels of a powerful season finale, failed horribly. The result is a creative, but terribly erratic series which does not hold together very well at all.

Millennium is a forensic crime drama that precedes the C.S.I. craze. The boxed set of Millennium The Complete Series features the same discs from:
Millennium Season One
Millennium Season Two
Millennium Season Three without any additional bonus features or discs, but in a slimmer DVD case. Millennium focuses on Frank Black and is a deep, very dark psychological horror series that has a former F.B.I. Agent working for a group of consultants as the year 2000 approaches.

Season one finds Frank Black, having recovered from a mental breakdown as a result of his work, moving to Seattle with his wife and daughter. There, working as a consultant for the mysterious Millennium Group, he finds himself getting more and more back into the life he thought he left behind as he chases down serial killers and other villains against society. Frank Black is no ordinary investigator, though. He possesses a freakish talent to understand the mind of evildoers so well that he can see what they see. He catches glimpses into the minds of those who do evil and is thus able to track them down with a high degree of success. Over the course of the first season, Frank is put in situations where he must confront serial killers, mind-controlling cults, bombers, molesters, and zealots. Frank's professional life is balanced by his family life. After a day of encountering evil, he returns to his bright yellow house to the woman he loves and the daughter who is growing up in the world Frank is desperate to make for her.

In the second season, Frank and his wife Katherine are estranged as a result of the extreme lengths Frank went to to save Katherine's life at the climax of the prior season. On his own and with Peter Watts, Frank struggles to understand serial killers, torture artists and actual devils and angels who cross his path while attempting to reconcile with his wife and see his daughter.

And the third season has Frank reuniting with the F.B.I. when it appears the Millennium Group is actually a sinister organization.

The problem here is that the seasons do not truly relate to one another. Season one has the Millennium Group working to save humanity and treasuring Frank's gifts while ridding the Seattle area of all sorts of darkness. Season two has quirky stories that exposes the supernatural and insinuates the Millennium Group is not all it initially seemed. And the final season pairs Frank Black with a rookie investigating surprisingly mundane cases.

Like all great dramas, the stories revolve around characters and "Millennium" is no exception. The principles for the first year (though only Lance Henriksen and Megan Gallagher are credited every episode) are:

Frank Black - This is mostly his story. Frank tries desperately to keep evil at bay by catching the worst elements of society. But his gift comes with a soul crushing price as he comes to realize that the world is too big to be saved by one man,

Katherine Black - Is a social worker who loves and supports Frank and keeps him grounded. She is a pragmatist, but as Frank's association with the Millennium Group progresses, she begins to feel more and more distance from him and more fear for what he is doing,

Bob Bletcher - the Chief of Detectives in Seattle and an old friend of Frank's, he helps Frank whenever possible and acts as a friend to both Frank and Katherine. Unsure the depth of Frank's ability or ability to stay grounded, Bletcher lives in the real world, but accepts Frank's help when the case is unspeakably bad,

Peter Watts - Frank's coworker at the Millennium Group. A forensic expert, Peter represents the Group which is otherwise nebulous. He is efficient and calculating,

and Jordan Black - the daughter of Frank and Katherine, she is almost completely innocent. Her innocence is challenged when Katherine begins to suspect that she may share in Frank's abilities, making her a target of evil.

Millennium is a show where pretty much anything can happen. Unlike some shows that will take the viewer to the edge of terror and then everything turns out all right, Millennium is a show grounded in some measure of the worst aspects of reality. Good people suffer, evil occasionally gets away, relationships get strained. It has a gritty feel to it that makes it quite compelling.

The actors must get some serious credit. Megan Gallagher is wonderful as Katherine Black. She lends a realism to the supernatural show by embodying a strong, intelligent woman who expresses so much through her body language. She was perfectly cast as a foil to Lance Henriksen. Similarly, Terry O'Quinn establishes Peter Watts as an intriguing character. O'Quinn has a gravitas to him that lends well to a character like Watts who clearly has more knowledge than we ever see in this season. O'Quinn is balanced well by Bill Smitrovich, who plays Bletcher. Smitrovich's everyman quality works perfectly to portray a less guarded associate of Franks. Smitrovich is likable and his ability to balance an air of integrity with good natured smiles makes him a pleasure to watch.

Lance Henriksen is amazing as Frank Black. First of all, it is refreshing to see someone who looks more like a real person than most anyone else on television. Henriksen does not possess a Hollywood face or bearing. Instead, he and his gravely voice make Frank into a believable entity. Henriksen plays confused, confident, and stricken without ever leaving the conflicted character of Frank Black. He is a pleasure to watch and a force of his own on screen.

But the entire series is erratic and viewers might do better with the first and second season without the third to weigh it down. Even though the first and second are radically different, they are both good. The third is deadweight on a creative series.

For other shows that originally aired on FOX, please check out my reviews of:
Family Guy Presents: It’s A Trap!
Glee - Season Two, Volume One
Fringe - Season Two
Arrested Development
Wonderfalls
VR.5
The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

5/10

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

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The X-Files Sinks Impossibly Fast With "The Complete Seventh Season."

The Good: One or two truly great episodes, Moments of character development, DVD bonus features
The Bad: Loaded with average (at best) episodes, Largely unchallenging to the actors and characters
The Basics: Largely dull, the first post-conspiracy season of The X-Files nails the coffin closed by bringing Mulder (but not the viewer) closure in "The Complete Seventh Season!"


Lately, I have been pretty consistent in experiencing new things to review and have been generally excited about the whole process. So, I suppose, the way I finally realized how little I enjoyed the seventh season of The X-Files came when I realized that I was getting through the DVD set so slowly and I was finding any excuse possible to not review it. Today, I overcome that hurdle and I am ready to write.

Unfortunately, as a fan of The X-Files, here is where I begin to feel like something of a traitor. In its seventh season, The X-Files has become average with few moments that shine and even fewer that completely wow the viewer. Plagued by a high number of comedic episodes back-to-back (having "Hollywood A.D." and "Fight Club" proximate to one another was a mistake, especially with the weak "Je Souhaite" following that). This is a season of endings and the problematic aspect is that the seventh season does not offer as much satisfaction as it does answers. So, while there are answers, there are very few good ones.

Mulder suffers from a cataclysmic brain trauma that leaves him weakened and within the grasp of Diana Fowley and the Cigarette-Smoking Man. Delusional and believing he is given an opportunity for a completely different path, he succumbs to the ravages of an extraterrestrial force as Scully works to study the giant alien craft off the Ivory Coast. The gain the secrets and abilities he believes Mulder possesses, the Cigarette-Smoking Man undergoes brain surgery to take what Mulder has and implant it in him.

Recovering from this incident, a far less skeptical Scully renews her explorations of the paranormal with Mulder. This leads them to discover a kindly, brain-eating shark-man, hooligans who move faster than the speed of light, a man who seems to be supernaturally lucky, a magician, a werewolf-like creature and a mysterious entity that is killing off the lovers of a sheriff who is married to a devoted housewife. There is the return of serial killer, fetishist Donnie Pfaster (from the episode "Irresistible," reviewed here!) and Skinner sells one of the agent's cases to a Hollywood studio and it is made into a movie, much to the embarrassment of Mulder and Scully. There are dopplegangers and a genie as well.

With the collapse of the conspiracy and the syndicate in the prior season, there remain remarkably few loose ends to tie up as far as extraterrestrials go and as a result, the seventh season is largely focused on terrestrial matters, not alien encounters. The exceptions to this are, of course, the season premiere, which is forced to pick up the thread of the prior season's finale whatwith Scully uncovering a downed alien craft. She continues to study that, but the emphasis is certainly more on the medical effects it has on Mulder. Aliens do not pop up again until the season finale when the FBI agents return to their origins and Mulder is sent on a journey that he never expected.

In its seventh season, The X-Files closed off the dangling storyline of Millennium, which ended abruptly in its third (and final) season finale. Fortunately, fans of Millennium need not feel any compulsion to hunt down this DVD set, as the episode from The X-Files that resolves the series is included as a bonus feature in that third season boxed set. In addition to all of the other adventures, there is a creepy church-related story, one of the worst episodes ever ("X-Cops," which puts Mulder and Scully in an episode of Cops) and a Lone Gunmen adventure featuring their exploits into a sinister video game!

But the only episodes that made me seriously consider recommending this boxed set were two intensive character studies. Mulder finally gains closure on the abduction of Samantha in an episode that is well-presented but largely unsatisfying to the viewers (Mulder gets closure, the viewer does not). As Mulder comes to peace with his sister's abduction, the viewer is not given the concrete answers they seek about exactly what happened to her or where she is now. The other episode that gives me pause as a fan and reviewer is the Gillian Anderson-written and directed "All Things," which might arguably be the last great episode of the series. In that, Scully looks at the road not taken and determines that she took the right path.

The X-Files: The Complete Seventh Season is a set that those who love the idea of Mulder and Scully as a couple seem to get behind, despite the fact that Mulder has a vision of him and Diana marrying and growing old together in the season premiere while Scully struggles to save his life. In "Millennium," they share their first real kiss and in "All Things," there is the strong implication that they have spent the night together in a way that resulted in them making love (not made explicit in the episode or in the commentary track!).

But largely, devoid of a mythology to fall back on, the seventh season provides one "freak of the week" scenario after another and after six years of that, the show seems to be hitting an awful number of ruts. This is especially true of the losses that come from the recurring characters (there are remarkably few left to kill off and the replacements are hardly noteworthy) and the reappearance of villains like Donnie Pfaster.

And whereas prior seasons have done a good job focusing on the characters, episodes like "The Goldberg Variation," "First Person Shooter" and "Je Souhaite" all seem especially gimmicky, as opposed to decent character studies. Indeed, there is little to say about the principle characters in this season. Nevertheless, here is where they go for the seventh season:

Fox Mulder - The FBI agent, devoid of alien conspiracies to track down, recovers from an encounter with an extraterrestrial artifact that seems to indicate his brain is able to process information at an exceptionally heightened way (including reading minds). He learns the fate of his sister and grows closer to Scully, finally finding some real attachment to her even as he loses the last member of his biological family,

Dana Scully - Having now seen and studied an extraterrestrial craft, as well as encountered invisible men, genetic mutants and creepy snakehandlers, she opens up to the realm of extreme possibilities, including making her own paranormal guesses in "Fight Club." She has an encounter with a dying colleague who reminds her of her past and their almost-indiscrection, which leads her to Mulder for a relationship,

Skinner - Plagued by Krycek and the devices he has implanted in him, he nevertheless risks his life to save Mulder, with the aid of Kristchau. Skinner puts his professional reputation on the line when Mulder and Scully hunt an invisible alien craft, which leads him to his best delivery yet,

The Cigarette-Smoking Man - His past conspiracies all in ruin, he plots with Diana Fowley to gain the immunity he needs to the possible alien invasion. While he takes that ability from Mulder, he finds himself weakened as a result, manipulates Scully into finding his own cure and - in an unlikely move - turns to Krycek to preserve his legacy,

and Krycek - Abandoned by the Cigarette-Smoking Man, he is recovered with the assignment of finding the downed UFO in Oregon which would allow his mentor to start work anew on plans to save or dominate the world.

Perhaps the reason that The X-Files is so unsatisfying in its seventh season is that the actors all know their marks and the characters are not being challenged in any special ways to give them the chances to truly explore their range. Outside Duchovny's performance in "Closure," Anderson's performance in "All Things" and Mitch Pileggi's delivery in the final moments of "Requiem" the season is mundane on the acting front.

The DVD bonus features for this boxed set are average. There are only three commentary tracks and the one on "All Things" featuring Gillian Anderson seems more like a lament to all of the things that had to be cut than any sort of insights on what ended up in the episode. Still, that is not bad and there is the season feature, a collection of special effects spots and approximately ten deleted scenes from various episodes that appear both on the bonus disc and within the episodes using branching.

Still, it is not enough to recommend. This season is remarkably average and the highs are not quite as high as in previous years and there are an awful number of lows or mediocre episodes that sap the enthusiasm, even from loyal viewers. Fans of the series might want to pick up "The Complete Collection" (reviewed here!) so they get all these episodes without feeling like they actually paid for them!

5/10

For other television episode or season reviews, please click here to visit the appropriate index page!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Classics That Aren't All They're Cracked Up To Be: Before Today, I Actually Hadn't Seen The Terminator!

The Good: Good concept, Moments of character and acting, DVD Bonus features
The Bad: Some truly hammy acting, Genre conceits, Soundtrack
The Basics: Fairly well done in many ways, The Terminator is still not the best science fiction film ever produced, though it does have a clever concept behind it!


Believe it or not, before today, I had never actually seen The Terminator. I have watched the sequel films and enjoyed them, but somehow I never got around to watching the original. With an increasing number of people advising me to watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I figured it was time to go back and watch how it all began. Truth be told, it took watching The Terminator for me to realize why almost everyone considers Terminator 2: Judgment Day better. It's a shame, but it's true; The Terminator is hampered by enough problems that the sequel is a bit better than the original.

The thing that caught me most, though, was actually how unnecessary a lot of the problems with The Terminator were. Director James Cameron had other science fiction and science fiction horror films to reference that he could have used to avoid problems, most notably, Alien (reviewed here!). Ridley Scott's Alien did a decent number of things that it seems Cameron tries to do . . . poorly, in The Terminator, most notably presenting a strong female character who is thrust into a situation well beyond her experiences. There are moments in The Terminator where Cameron and those he is directing just fail to hit their marks and the result is a film that seems remarkably dated. And to eliminate the easy argument, there are plenty of early '80's science fiction films that present an alternate version of the '80's (big hair and all) that are perfect films, most notably V (reviewed here!). The Terminator simply does not carry a larger sense of greater themes that other, similar, works do.

A man appears naked in Los Angeles amid an electrical storm, sent back from a bleak future where machines have overrun the world and are hunting humans for no other reason than they can. Another man appears elsewhere in Los Angeles, also naked and both men quickly procure clothes, avoid police and attempt to find Sarah Connor. One of them, who has armed himself with quite an arsenal of firearms, manages to find two Sarah Connors in the Los Angeles area and kill them. Surprised by a news report of her death, waitress Sarah Connor's bad day becomes worse when she comes to believe that there is a man following her. Unfortunately for her, she is right.

One man is there to protect her, armed only with a sawed-off shotgun and his wits. He is Kyle Reese and he tells Sarah a story about how he was sent from the future to protect her. The other man is not a man at all, but rather a cyborg: a robot covered in human skin. His mission is to kill Sarah Connor, thus preventing her from having a son, a son whose existence leads to a human victory over the machines. Unfortunately, as the police become involved in the killings surrounding both men, Reese and Sarah become more and more boxed in, which allows the terminator to move in for the kill!

First, what The Terminator does right; the plot is remarkably solid and more than a little clever. Rather than killing the great general of the war, the machines move to prevent his entire existence. It might be a bit more creative than an A.I. is usually assumed to be, but with that conceit, everything else is wrapped pretty tight. The idea that "if this one fails, why can't they send back more" is addressed, which makes perfect sense and works. Similarly, the story as told in this movie is remarkably well structured, sometimes in contradiction to maintaining a sense of pacing that is engaging.

So, for example, the story unfolds for quite a bit of time without revealing who Reese or the other man is. We see the Terminator killing, but for much of the movie, he is simply a cold-blooded killer. The clever aspect about the plot structure of The Terminator is that it is only when Reese reveals everything to the police and is written off as a crazy person that Cameron reveals just how right the actually is. It's incredibly clever that we are not shown any evidence of the Terminator's nature until late in the film.

Unfortunately, Cameron and co-writer Gale Anne Hurd surrender to the usual horror conceits. After extensive chases and near misses, the end is a series of rather predictable continuations of a fight that is hardly as tense as one might like it to be. I blame the lack of tension on the soundtrack. Cameron uses a soundtrack much like the techno-leaning one Ridley Scott used on Legend and here it telegraphs the emotions, most notably the "feel tense!" vibe. There are moments when the synthesizers and percussion are just plain distracting in this movie.

Returning to what works, the limited amount of character work there is is well-executed. Sarah Connor is believable as a woman pulled out of obscurity for the task of saving the world and what makes her character work is her utter disbelief of Reese. Indeed, the police lieutenant and detective who deal with Connor are remarkably worldly and when Sarah Connor turns to them to talk her out of believing Reese's story, it rings very true. Having that element of disbelief allows us as the viewer to buy the premise completely.

Also, Reese is far more convincing than he is crazy. Reese is pretty wonderful in that he is shell-shocked and wiley and in flashbacks to the future, we see some of what he has been through. If anything, it is unfortunate that there were not scenes included where he was simply taking a moment to enjoy being in the sunlight again!

But what makes Reese work so well is largely the acting talents of Michael Biehn. Biehn never gets enough credit for his work in The Terminator and that is unfortunate. Indeed, there is an entire scene that becomes unnecessary solely because of the strength of Biehn's acting. Reese finds himself staring at a construction site at one moment and without any words, Biehn expresses the abject fear and distrust Reese has in that moment, long before director James Cameron flashes forward to illustrate the comparison Reese is making between the equipment he sees and the killer droids he has fought. We, the viewers, get it.

The Terminator is lauded as one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's great performances, but it's not much of a stretch. He walks in, shoots lots of guns and is not charged with any real extensive acting. Still, it was remarkably fun the moment he first says "I'll Be Back."

But much of the film rests on the acting talent of Linda Hamilton. Hamilton is given the difficult task of both playing a woman who is just a normal woman having a truly rotten day and one who has a potential to train the general who will save the world. It's a tough balance to play but Hamilton makes it work. While her character transforms from a mild-mannered waitress to a woman on the run for her life, Hamilton evolves her body language from slouching to a more solid stance. In combination with other changes - like eye contact, Hamilton shows well what the story tells! This is a remarkably good performance on her part.

On DVD, there are documentary featurettes, deleted scenes and a featurette on The Terminator in relation to the budding franchise, but there are noticeable lacks as well. There is no commentary track running through the feature (at least not on the "Special Edition" I watched) and the trailers are fun, but not terribly insightful.

And in the end, The Terminator is a fairly simple concept stretched out with car chases, gun fights and a lot of killing (the last part is fine by me in this context). But it's not the flawless gem so many want to make it out to be. Even with its rough edges, it's still a worthwhile film, but those who want something more than a basic science fiction chase story will not find it here.

For other science fiction classics, please check out my reviews of:
Star Wars
The Back To The Future Trilogy
The Indiana Jones Trilogy

7/10

For other film reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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"If We Pit Two Popular Monsters Against Each Other, Can We Gut Both Franchises?" Alien Vs. Predator Fizzles!

The Good: Interesting story moments, Decent acting and effects
The Bad: Speed, (Mis)Use of Bishop character, Obviousness
The Basics: When humans find a subterranean Antarctic pyramid, they discover they are pawns in a battle between two creepy science fiction/horror villains.


It's surprisingly easy, after viewing Alien Vs. Predator, to see why Sigourney Weaver, the acting mainstay of the Alien franchise (reviewed here!) wanted out of the series when it looked like the series was headed toward a melding with the Predator franchise. That is not to say that a crossover between Alien and Predator could not have made for a movie that was as good as the Alien Trilogy, but this movie is not the cinematic accomplishment the first three installments of the Alien franchise was.

Set in Autumn of 2004 (giving people something to look forward to other than election stuff!), Alien Vs. Predator finds a heat signature blossoming on Antarctica in a remote area that ought not to have any life. When a team, financed by businessman Charles Bishop Weyland and headed by an explorer named Alexa Woods, goes to investigate what appears to be a subterranean pyramid, they discover the source of the heat signatures is a processing plant wherein an Alien Queen is making eggs for use by three young Predators who have come to reclaim the pyramid from the invading humans. Hilarity, er, something, ensues.

The more apt title for Alien Vs. Predator would be Boring People Vs. Alien Vs. Predator. I'm a huge fan of character-driven films and I went into this movie with low expectations. It was about what I expected. Actually, I went in to see Lance Henriksen as Weyland. I like Henriksen and his portrayal of Weyland was interesting. He acts well as the predecessor to the Bishop character of Aliens and Alien 3.

Unfortunately, the character makes little sense. My thought, going into the film, was that Weyland - whose Company spends the Alien movies desperately searching for the Aliens for their bioweapons division - would encounter an Alien, end up with no material evidence of the creature and set his company on beginning the quest to find the deadly creatures out in the universe. That level of thought does not even come into this project. In fact, how the Company becomes aware of the Aliens is now a complete mystery and the fate of Weyland is an incredible disappointment, despite Henriksen's performance.

In fact, given the experiences of Weyland in this movie, the Company should have been set upon searching the galaxy for the Predators. C'est la vie.

The real drawback of Alien Vs. Predator comes twofold. The first is that it plays to a PG-13 audience and the second problem is that it insults the audience. Whoever approved taking two rated R franchises and melding them into a single PG-13 movie should be stripped of their ability to make movies. Ever again. It's easy to see why this is a PG-13 movie; all of the horror of the Aliens is gutted, all of the gore of the Predators is cut away from moments before it occurs. In short, the violence and significant action takes place either entirely off-screen or between aliens and predators, which is considered acceptable violence because they are not human.

This premise, along with several key plot points, insults our intelligence like the revelation of Luke Skywalker's parentage after watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy (ever think about that? The punch from Darth Vader's climactic revelation in The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!) is completely gutted by the prequels where we see everything happen!). So, for example, there comes a moment when an alien facehugger leaps at an unmasked Predator and the next time the Predator is seen, it is putting its mask back on. The end of the movie, then, is of absolutely no surprise as anyone with a brain can see it coming.

But the same lack of sense in setting up a sequel (the Queen alien exits the film almost the same way she enters it) pervades the movie. Things don't happen organically in Alien Vs. Predator based on the established tenants of either movie franchise. I speak to the Alien half because I am vested in it, while I know little of the Predator franchise (though I've seen the television edit of Predator). In order to make the action of Alien Vs. Predator realistic, events unfold with ridiculous speed once the team reaches the pyramid. In Alien, the alien takes a long time to gestate within Kane. In Alien 3 it similarly takes quite some time for the alien to grow in Ripley. The ox (or dog) alien may be excused from the time element because of the simplicity of the creature and (in the ox's case) the ambiguous time element (i.e. it seems reasonable that the ox could have been infected hour before Ripley's body was found). Yet, in Alien Vs. Predator, the aliens gestate within fifteen minutes. And they grow huge even quicker.

Come on!

Alien Vs. Predator utilizes state of the art computer generated effects with the alien face huggers, but their cluster opening approach does not make sense on any level and is not even entertaining. This movie is an exercise in nonsense from two franchises that had complex backstories and ideas.

Still, it's better than The Virgin Suicides.

For other creature features or horror films, please check out my reviews of:
Predators
Robert A. Heinlein's The Puppet Masters
Quarantine

3/10

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

© 2011, 2004 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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