After their small Australian country town is annihilated by an overwhelming airborne attack, a group of civilians evade capture and discover they are now among the last remaining survivors of an extraterrestrial invasion engulfing the entire planet. As humanity falls under world-wide occupation, they form a home-grown army to fight back against vastly superior enemy forces. On the front lines of the battle for Earth, they are our last hope. A small group of town residents have to band together after a devastating ground invasion. As they struggle to survive, they realize they must stay one step ahead of their attackers, and work together for a chance to strike back. The following may contain a FEW 'spoilers' but I think it's a general description of the movie, not spoiling the story of the movie itself. <br/><br/>OK, so the plot's basically 'Alien Nation' meets 'Saving Private Ryan!' (if you're not old enough to remember the first, it's basically a bunch of aliens who lose their planet and come down to share ours and the prejudice that causes.) But the pacing's great, I was gripped for all two hours of it, I didn't want it one bit shorter. I loved the seamless transition between small-town life and full-on war movie, that was handled excellently. I loved how the characters were developed so fast without it feeling rushed or implausible - I could really see that situation bringing out those traits in people. And I felt I was getting a close-up of one arena of a whole, vast conflict, not just a 'war' happening in microcosm that should have been easily squashed by groups from outside the area. It felt like it was part of an Earth-wide conflict! <br/><br/>But where this movie roared was in the heart and belief everyone put into it. The whole cast were totally behind the director on this one, it's his second movie, the work of all lifted it into something that should have been released internationally. OK, 200 million dollar Hollywood movie it was not, but it had more heart than many of those I've seen. It totally deserved to be out there, to show what this guy can do given a sniff of a chance. <br/><br/>Me, if I won several lotteries(!), I'd give him double the budget to take the follow-up Out There, humans and aliens in space together, using alien technology to see other worlds for the first time. See what the other races make of Humans, the new kids on the block, what we learn from them and what, if anything, they learn from us. Most alien invasion movies lead full circle with Earth killing all the aliens and going back to exactly how we always are afterwards. I've a feeling this movie could lead to a franchise/TV series (as did Alien Nation) and show what co-operation between species can achieve. <br/><br/>I loved it (And the sound-track, which others gripe about, but then I love New Age music which it basically was!) And I'm looking forwards very much to the next one. <br/><br/>Thanks, Luke, for a lovely 2 hours. <br/><br/>Chris. (This MAYBE contained spoilers, I'm going to tick 'Yes', you're welcome to change it, moderators!) 2 stars for decent acting and cinematography but zerooo for the story, directing and SFX.<br/><br/>Feel bad for the actors The movie’s derivative but lively and has a surprising scope.
Wasdore replied
327 weeks ago