This may seem like a high amount of stars based on the comments I've seen on the boards for this film, but I have to say that as a bad movie buff and a big sci fi geek that I liked this film.
The beginning starts off kind of slowly(ish) and for the first hour or so I was disappointed in the lack of bloody alien-facilitated death. When it became courtroom drama time I thought I was going to fall over. At some point, however, this movie started to get to me. I feel like the acting improved in the latter portion of the movie and I quite enjoyed the revelation about the animosity between Shilling and Eric Norris. At that moment I realized that Shilling is one miserable and vindictive guy. I also ended up enjoying (while yelling at the screen) Marina Sirtis' turn as an angry attorney. Her final screamy mini-monologue where she was shaking with rage was pretty good as a person so bent on winning that she could really give a darn that she's calling a kid a monster to his face.
I think that what got me were a couple things: the movie got amusing around the time of the internet montage, when I felt kind of like "See? They're showing us that all sorts of normal people totally care about cute alien kids!" The comedienne segment following that was pretty good as well and if that lady's a real comic I'd go see her. The civil rights arguments, however, and the testimony about the Writ of Habeas Corpus (I love the law, sorry) were what really sucked me in. Sure it's not the best movie but there was a (valid and for me, emotional) point, and I liked it. The end made me cry and as a parent that's what really stuck. There's nothing like seeing your child hurting and nothing anyone says or does matters when it comes to one's child. I felt like this was the most real part of the whole film and while my movie buddy was horrified and claimed this one is a stinker, the ending was worth the whole thing to me in terms of emotional payoff.
So yeah, it's not an Oscar winner and yeah it's a B-flick and it's kind of slow going (and really, the lack of alien rampage made me a little bummed) but I think that the performances at the climax of the film lent it some emotional punch that I haven't gotten from "better" films. I know a lot of people disagree with me and I can totally understand why. I liked it though. (And Gary Graham <3<3<3)
The beginning starts off kind of slowly(ish) and for the first hour or so I was disappointed in the lack of bloody alien-facilitated death. When it became courtroom drama time I thought I was going to fall over. At some point, however, this movie started to get to me. I feel like the acting improved in the latter portion of the movie and I quite enjoyed the revelation about the animosity between Shilling and Eric Norris. At that moment I realized that Shilling is one miserable and vindictive guy. I also ended up enjoying (while yelling at the screen) Marina Sirtis' turn as an angry attorney. Her final screamy mini-monologue where she was shaking with rage was pretty good as a person so bent on winning that she could really give a darn that she's calling a kid a monster to his face.
I think that what got me were a couple things: the movie got amusing around the time of the internet montage, when I felt kind of like "See? They're showing us that all sorts of normal people totally care about cute alien kids!" The comedienne segment following that was pretty good as well and if that lady's a real comic I'd go see her. The civil rights arguments, however, and the testimony about the Writ of Habeas Corpus (I love the law, sorry) were what really sucked me in. Sure it's not the best movie but there was a (valid and for me, emotional) point, and I liked it. The end made me cry and as a parent that's what really stuck. There's nothing like seeing your child hurting and nothing anyone says or does matters when it comes to one's child. I felt like this was the most real part of the whole film and while my movie buddy was horrified and claimed this one is a stinker, the ending was worth the whole thing to me in terms of emotional payoff.
So yeah, it's not an Oscar winner and yeah it's a B-flick and it's kind of slow going (and really, the lack of alien rampage made me a little bummed) but I think that the performances at the climax of the film lent it some emotional punch that I haven't gotten from "better" films. I know a lot of people disagree with me and I can totally understand why. I liked it though. (And Gary Graham <3<3<3)