I basically went into "Alien Raiders" knowing two things: It was for Raw Feed (The makers of the classics "Rest Stop" and
. "Rest Stop 2: The Revenge of George Michael") and it had a horrible title. Seriously, visions of Sci-Fi Channel Original Movies danced through my head, and not the good kind with Bruce Campbell either. Already I was thinking about just missing it. Get some rest. Save up my energy for some other movies. It's day four, after all.
But my friend already had tickets for both of us, so I figured at the very least if it was boring I could just catch a nap.
Well
the nap never happened. Alien Raiders rises up above its horrible title and executes a tense and exciting low-budget action/sci-fi tale. Proof of this is the fact that out of all the movies I saw (Zack and Miri, which was great; Feast 2 which was... all right; couple more... can't think straight right now), this is the only one I'm bothering to write a review for. I think it's because since it's a straight-to-DVD movie, it probably won't get it's fair share of publicity. So allow me to put on my publicity gloves (And matching pants).... ahem...
The movie is about a small supermarket in Arizona that, one night while closing up, is over- run by a group of armed terrorists. The men claim that they have to "check" the remaining people, mentioning that "the king" is there and they have to find him/her/it. Now
obviously the title ruins any hope for keeping the movie's twist secret SPOILERthere are aliens that are in need of raidingSPOILER, but this movie still does a pretty good job at keeping the viewer engaged and wondering what the hell is going on, without ever confusing them.
The thing I liked the most about the movie was how it ended up being a few different kind of movies in one. It's a mystery when the cops are trying to unravel the reason for the hostage situation, it's an action film (The opening shoot-out is pretty friggin' intense), it's a sci-fi movie (Aliens
being raided), and it's even got a dash of monster movie in there for good measure. The atmosphere of the movie is pretty tense throughout. And the pacing was great as well. The movie's just under 90 minutes and no part of it really lags.
Acting-wise, TV fans are gonna' be pretty happy. The main character is played by Carlos Bernard, who we all know and love as Tony "F'ing" Almeda on "24". The character he's playing here isn't that much different from Tony, but it fits the character who, as the movie progresses, goes from being a quiet and almost creepy presence, to being a very sympathetic character. Also good was Rockmond Dunbar (C-Note from the first two seasons of "Prison Break" and one of the hit men in "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang") as the heavy of the group... The guy who is all business and no non-sense... You know
the asshole. He could have easily been a one-note character, but is given a few instances to add a little flavor to his performances that help flesh the character out a little. There's another character that
I don't really want to give anything away, but he dies pretty early on and that kind of bummed me out. I would have liked to seen more of him. The rest of the cast did a great job as well, with only a few weak points here and there.
I got to hand it to first-time feature director Ben Rock. The dude took a really tiny budget (I've heard it was anywhere from $1.5-3 million) and turned out one of the slicker movies I've seen. He and his cinematographer's use of lighting and different styles of shooting really makes this movie rise above their financial limitations. Although, it is a shame that, towards the end, they have to resort to some old tricks (Stuttery-looking action scenes, anyone?). But at least it looks better than "Automaton Transfusion", which looks like it was shot by a hyperactive kid with a camera strapped to his head while he tried to stand still.
Overall this movie was a pleasant surprise. I'd have to give it at least an 8 out of 10. I heard this is going straight to DVD, so I definitely say give it a shot when it comes out. Hope you use this review.
