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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
For once, an intelligent sci-fi film to watch, April 18, 2004
Gosh, am I the only person to like this film? I am forced to come to the very cynical opinion that the more intelligent a film is the more people will pan it!
I get the distinct impression that if a film is full of blood, guts and gore, and heinous acting, along with fantastic special effects then people suddenly exclaim, "OH WOW! What a mind blowing film!" totally forgetting the only intelligent conversation between any of the characters in the film are "ARRRRRRRGH! I'm being eaten alive by acid green slime..."
The storyline for Alien Hunter wasn't complex but it was intelligent and this is where it fell down big time because it didn't appeal to the cranially challenged.
Alien Hunter has the excellent actor James Spader taking the central role of Julian Rome, an expert in the field of Cryptology who ends up in the South Pole when a friend of his Dr Gierach, a Botanist working on a government project in a remote part of the Pole asks for his help.
Deep in a huge block of ice that has been dug up some sort of Alien "black box" has been found and it's transmitting a signal of surprising complexity that has its origins in Roswell.
As Julian struggles to crack the signal code the Botanists decide to break open the "black box". Too late Julian finds out what the code is saying over and over again, "DO NOT OPEN" and it here when the true psychological and physical horror is unleashed upon those in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the "black box" is opened and its contents exposed the first people start to die, melting away swiftly and painfully.
Pretty good special effects, not too gory, and very realistic. However this film relies more on YOUR imagination rather than what it shows you.
The film jumps back and forth between the Pole and NASA, where government officials tell Julian's Boss Dr John Bachman the truth about horrific truth about Roswell and what actually as been found in the South Pole and persuade him to tell Julian and the others, as they know Julian will believe his boss over them.
The Aliens who landed all those years ago were not unfriendly but they were carriers of a highly infectious pathogen that wiped out life on Mars millions of years ago and now they have accidentally ended up on earth and the Botanists are all infected. Some died instantly the pathogen got into their system but the survivors appear to have some sort of immunity to it, but this does not mean they are not infected by it.
There is no cure for the killer pathogen and only one way to stop the contagion from spreading. A Russian nuclear submarine is sent forth with the unhappy mission of wiping out the remaining men and women left alive in the underground bunker in the South Pole.
Of course we have one selfish scientist who won't accept his fate, the excellent John Lynch plays Dr Michael Straub a man with a built in self preservation gene and he legs it at the first opportunity, hoping to get out of the bunker before the missile from the Russian Submarine hits the complex.
Julian races after him, trying to convince him that the blood tests they have all taken and appears to be clear of any viruses doesn't mean that the pathogen isn't hiding in their DNA, waiting to explode at the first opportunity.
Of course Michael doesn't believe this but as they race through the underground sterile field that the Botanists had been working out, the corn that they have been growing instantly dies, withering away as they brush past it proving that Julian was right, they are all infected, carriers of the pathogen, it won't kill them but it will kill any other living creatures they come in contact with.
Michael gets outside via the field's drains but he and Julian are trapped in an Alien force field that appears to be protecting the outside world from infection. It seems that by opening the "Black Box", they have sent out some sort of distress signal, and the Aliens have come to collect those who have been infected but have survived the initial release of the Pathogen. Michael panics and subsequently dies but Julian realises that help is at hand, not from their fellow man but the Aliens who know that the infected humans cannot stay on earth. Obviously there is no way that they pathogen can be cleared out of their system, or this is the implication you get, like I said you have to think and use your brain on another level that isn't always visual.
By then only Julian, Dr Gierach, Julian's old flame Dr. Kate Brecher and a young female Botanist Shelly Klein are left alive and they leave in the Alien ship before the Bunker is completely obliterated by a nuclear missile.
There is a hint in the beginning of the film, when we get a glimpse of the Roswell incident, that the Aliens "want to assimilate with humans" but this is never fully explained, which makes it all the more tantalising and I got the impression that the Aliens hoped that some of the humans might be immune to the pathogen that they were immune to and that the survivors of the Bunker would be those that would help them in an evolutionary way to move forward, to help THEIR (the Alien Race) survive.
All in all, for me, this was a very satisfying film, with good acting, good special effects, and a good story line too.
I know that Alien Hunter isn't everyone's cup of tea and I guess I can understand why some critics gnashed their teeth over it but films that make you think aren't necessarily those with the most blood, guts and gore.
Give this film a chance, it's pretty good and its short falls, are fewer than you might think.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beam me up Scott! There are no intelligent reviewers here!, September 7, 2004
Except one.
I bought this movie used solely because James Spader was in it. That man is a consummate actor and I love everything he's done. I had no problems following this film; the DO NOT OPEN sequence was a bit hokey but otherwise the film made a lot of sense. The idea of friendly aliens accidently landing on earth is a belief I have held for a long time. Why does everyone look for hostile like in Signs? Anyway, despite some of these reviews, I considered this to be an enjoyably viewable film with an interesting premise and the alien ship coming to rescue the escape pod finding instead of a comrade, these unintentially infected humans reminded a bit of coccoon. They offered a sanctuary rather than obliteration by their own government. Spader's Julian is the only level headed one in the bunch, much as he was in Stargate. Sure, it has elements from other movies, every sci fi flick does. This is one film I am proud to have in my collection. Hey, I cried at the end, I wanna go too!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Sci-Fi Flick, March 16, 2005
If you are a science fiction fan, you are probably fed up with the formulaic evil aliens jumping out of the dark. This movie is refreshing on many levels. Yes, it has a few problems, but for the scientifically-minded, this movie has only subtle fallacious science in it, as opposed to the travesties in other sci-fi films. Also, this is a must-see for any James Spader fans, as he performs brilliantly yet again. It's a good movie!
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