This one appeared on UK TV not long ago with a reasonable
write-up, so I finally got around to watching it. (Warning – this review contains spoilers.) It
features James Spader as a scientist with a background in SETI (the Search for
Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, in case anyone's in any doubt) who is invited
to an Antarctic research base to investigate an object buried in the ice which
was discovered by satellite imagery. It had been excavated and transferred to
the base, and as the ice around it melts it gradually emerges as an alien
vehicle – warm and emitting radio signals. Cutting it open is the traditional
Bad Idea since it turns out to be an escape pod containing an alien who
promptly revives from suspended animation. For once the alien isn't hostile,
but it does carry a disease lethal to all Earth life which is transmitted with
great speed, leading to the deaths of several of the researchers. The US
government is aware of this risk (from Roswell, of course – need you ask?) so
has asked the Russian government to order one of their submarines in the area
to hit the base with nuclear missiles. Meanwhile the aliens arrive to find out
what's happened to their escape pod.
Alien Hunter has
nothing original to say and isn't that well produced. It uses rapid scene
changes, especially at the start, leaving the viewer with no time to absorb
what's going on or to get to know any of the characters. There's also an
obtrusive soundtrack banging away all of the time (thought for the day – some
of the most impressive films I've seen have no music in them at all). The
result is a by-the-numbers effort which left me unengaged, although it just
about remained watchable. The ending seemed to be calling for a sequel to
follow-up what happened to the survivors from the base, but if this were ever
to be attempted it would require a lot more imagination from the script
writers.
A final point for collectors of screen trivia: one character
is played by Carl Lewis, the famous athlete from the 1980s and early 90s. I
wasn't aware that he appeared in films and TV programmes, although a quick
check of his Wiki entry shows that this wasn't the only time.
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