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Review
by Tiger the Terribleđź
Alien
Code doesn't deserve its title. Not only does it totally spoil
one of the film's more intriguing surprises, it sounds like some sort of
History Channel mockumentary. The movie is better than that.
Smarter, too.
Kyle
Gallner (if there's ever a Metallica biopic, he's a shoe-in to play
Lars Ulrich) is Alex, a cash-strapped computer cryptologist who comes
home to discover a corpse on the floor...his own. It's the
first part of a labyrinthine puzzle which the movie dishes out one
piece at a time.
The
nutshell plot has Alex recruited by a shady organization to decipher
a complex code embedded in a retrieved satellite, which they think is
from the future. Alex discovers, however, that it is alien in origin.
Not only that, the code consists of partial blueprints for some sort
of apocalyptic weapon. The agency dismisses Alex before he can
complete the entire code. He also develops a fatal brain tumor that
allows him to see these aliens...faceless, suited men who exist in a
different temporal dimension (or something like that). With time
running out - not-to-mention becoming increasingly warped - Alex
tries to stop the weapon from being used, with help from Beth (Azura
Skye), the previous cryptologist who worked on the code (and who also
has a brain tumor).
 |
| Lars Ulrich in the studio. |
The
overall narrative is far more complex than that, with a strange new
twist thrown in every few minutes or so. Part of the fun is watching
how these plot points are linked and eventually converge. The film
doesn't sustain its unique premise all the way to the finish and
sometimes threatens to collapse under the weight of its own lofty
ideas (often at the expense of any real character development). But
for the most part, it's enjoyably perplexing, coming to a logical -
if inevitable - conclusion.
Despite
a deceptively stupid title, Alien Code is a decent example of
intelligent science-fiction on a limited budget. Free of any flash or
spectacle, the film is driven entirely by its ideas, which are
certainly interesting enough to warrant checking-out a time or two.
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD. LIKE CAT CHOW.
2 comments:
Just saw this film and came to the interwebs to see what people had to say (full disclosure: hoping to have the crucial conversation slowed down and decided for me). This is the only genuinely thoughtful, well written commentary I've found, and I'm in full agreement, right down to the waste of a title.
Solid review, thanks.
Oops, fat finger syndrome strikes again. Meant "have crucial conversation decoded ... "
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