Alien Lockdown (2004)

Divertingly artificial textbook stuff (as it takes form and repeats what has happened in such films like; 'Aliens (1986)' and 'Resident Evil (2002)') and it doesn't try to be anything else than what it lays out. I have a soft spot for these type of lousy knock-offs, however I'm quite surprised about the hate this straight-to-TV presentation seems to cop. I won't deny that it doesn't feel shallow, but it demonstrates enough to be passable and it makes the grade as perfectly lazy b-entertainment. Its budget restraints noticeably shows up with it restricted and phony looking sets, as a lot of the time involves the soldiers moving about through corridors and rooms waiting for their encounter with the unstoppable extra-terrestrial. The alien itself is a bit a CGI mixture of Alien, Predator and maybe something from 'Starship Troopers'. The very kinetic effects aren't that bad for such a minimal production. TV director Alex Cox's (Larva '05' and Mammoth '06') up-tempo filming style is slick and shiny. He can stage some well presented, nice and bloody and alert action sequences, but in the end they feel more like a copy and paste job. Atmospheric lighting and rapid camera shots are aplenty. John Savage gives a dazed and bemused performance, while James Marshall is there to obviously to ignite some sparks. Michelle Goh goes in all tough, but with a silently lethal and icy air to her part. The rest of the cast are bait… that's fine by me. The story might be slight (with a vapid script) on originality and substance (despite its scientific babbling), but it does offer up an honest twist or two.

Alien Lockdown starts as high ranking military geezer General Anslow (Martin Kove) orders a bunch of marines into a top secret Government laboratory to hunt down & kill an escaped genetically created creature that had been developed to be used in battle & become the ultimate predator. Commander Talon (Michelle Goh) & her team enter the isolated facility & find two survivors, ex-military convict Charlie Dryfus (James Marshall) & the scientist who created the creature Dr. Woodman (John Savage). Dr. Woodman has sabotaged all the facilities major operating systems, he deliberately set the creature free & plans on protecting his creation. Talon & her team must kill the creature & clean up any loose ends before the facility is blown to kingdom come in 12 hours...This made-for-TV sci-fi horror film was directed by Tim Cox & is yet another Nu Image creature feature although to be fair it's a decent enough time waster that isn't anything special but isn't too bad & it's better than a lot of Nu Image's generic creature feature flicks. The script by Ross Helford & T.M. Van Ostrand is basically an Aliens (1986) rip-off, you know in writing comments for horror & sci-fi films it's incredible how many times I've written the words 'Aliens rip-off' which says just how influential James Camerons brilliant film actually is considering the amount of other films that blatantly steal from it. In the case of Alien Lockdown there's the troop of American marines, the initial battle where many are ambushed & picked off unawares while their screams are heard over the intercoms by the other character's, there's the scene when the creature crawls through the ceiling as a means of surprise as well as numerous other scenes which remind heavily of Aliens. To be fair this moves along at a reasonable pace, it never bores to the point of distraction, the character's are OK & there are some nice moments in it. Alien Lockdown is nothing original but I still quite liked it all the same.Director Cox does a very good job here & the film is actually pretty stylish as it's lit in cool blue & green hues which look visually interesting. He manages to generate some tension, there's a decent atmosphere & some reasonable action scenes. The creature itself looks very, very good & is best described as an Alien with it's elongated head & exo-skeleton crossed with a Predator with it's claw like mandibles on it's face in particular. Most of the special effects for it are created with a man in a rubber suit which I always prefer to rubbishy CGI computer effects, there are also loads of baby creatures which CGI is used for although to be fair they look very good as well. There's some gore here, there are various dead bodies in different states of mutilation like having been torn in half & having limbs missing. There is a shot of the creature eating someones intestines & luckily the filmmakers weren't shy with the fake blood.Technically the film is fine & considering it's a Nu Image production it's rather impressive with nice cinematography, decent sets & neat special effects. As usual for these Nu Image productions this was shot in Sofia in Bulgaria. The acting is alright but nothing special & it's not like the actor's had a lot to work with, Martin Kove is the 'name' actor.Alien Lockdown is a decent cross between Aliens & Predator (1987) & while it isn't anything original it's perfectly passable sci-fi horror entertainment, it is what it is & doesn't try to be anything else. Worth watching if you can find it cheap or catch it on TV.

I've seen worse. Which is not exactly a compliment for this movie considering some of the utter garbage I have encountered in the last few months on the Sci Fi Channel and elsewhere. Nonetheless, while this movie was bad, it falls more under the rubric of the traditional bad Grade B movie which just rips off its entire plot, creature, setting and everything else from superior movies, but still manages to be mildly entertaining. Indeed if this movie had been the first of its kind, there would even have been a few laudable things to comment on -- the unrelentingly dark and creepy remote laboratory, a suitably vicious creature which kills in gory fashion (and looks like they spent a little money creating) etc. But as it is, its just one cliché after another. Its been done better many times before. But then again, its been done worse. If you want to see how bad a movie with "Alien" in its title can be, check out something called "Alien 51". Comparatively this is a work of art, and while I am glad I did not rent it, I am not entirely upset at having turned on the TV to catch it. For fans of the genre, not good, but not pluck your eyes out terrible either.

It became very apparent in this film that the government does control this facet of our media. I didn't quite see it at first, but as the film progressed I could see the embarrassing tactics of the government trying to be implanted onto the minds of our youth and sci-fi aficionados. I walked away from Alien Lockdown (possibly should have been running) with a stronger knowledge of how I should be a soldier. Here are the rules (from watching this film): 1) Never question why you are going into a darkened complex that has dead bodies that do not look like bullet wounds killed them. You know that it is not going to be an alien. 2) if someone says that you are not going to fight an alien on this trip … 9 times out of 10 you will be fighting an alien 3) shoot, then ask questions later 4) the prime objective is to kill, not question and finally 5) when all else fails, nuke 'em. Yep, following those simple five steps I could easily be a soldier too, but sadly I am not. I just thought we rushed too deeply into this battle. The creature probably was having some mothering issues with the doctor and hastily took it out on the overly aggressive soldiers. I ended this film feeling more sympathetic towards this creature than I did our own nation … is that bad? Outside of the mindless soldiers who somehow followed every order without question and chose to never give us their names or emotional back-stories, this film was horrendous. There was some budget on this cinematic disaster that I was not expecting when I first placed it in my DVD player. I will be honest, I was taken aback when I first saw the budget. Riding low from the lack of budget in Alien 51, I thought this would follow the same fair. I was wrong. There was someone in this feature that knew how to use a computer, and while it may have been a Commodore 64, it was still appreciating to see. Sadly, that grew weak once we entered the locked complex. From not caring about any of the characters to jumping between moments of interest and filler, Alien Lockdown fizzled shortly after it took off. It started with an interesting premise that I thought they were going to expand upon, but that would have been wishful thinking. I think claustrophobia settled in during this film because I just couldn't get excited about anything that director Tim Cox presented to me.The creature was definitely recycled from the film Alien vs. Predator and the characters just didn't go outside of their safety boxes. I knew nothing, nor did I care, about the creature killing the soldiers, because half the time I didn't even know their name. They were expendable to the director when they should have been bigger elements that would have led to a stronger story. Speaking of the story, there wasn't even one there. I am currently reading Make Your Own Damn Movie! by Lloyd Kaufman and in it he talks about not having a completed script while making your film because it allows you to put more into it later while making any adjustments. I do believe that director Tim Cox has read this book as well. Sadly, this was not a Troma production (which may have done a bit better), but instead a serious picture that had me shuttering throughout the night. With not having a completed script, I felt as if scenes randomly ended and left nothing up for further discussion. This only allowed the creature to continue to eat humans like they were going out of style. Again, I think what Tim Cox missed with this film was that he placed too much emphasis on the creature, and not enough on the human element surrounding the creature. I think if he would have taken a bit more time for the emotional element, he could have had a stronger story, better characters, and a more gripping picture. He did not, and thus Alien Lockdown just goes nowhere fast leaving us with a burning sensation in our eyes.Overall, this film was a mess. The lack of story, characters, and development hurt more than it helped. This left plenty of time for director Tim Cox to spend on the creature, which it showed. While the creature was plagiarized from the Alien and Predator films, by the time that you get into this film you just don't care enough to argue. Mostly, what disappointed me about this film was the apparent disrespect to nature that Tim Cox showed. Not only with his decision to have the soldiers shoot the creature instead of question it first, but also with his ending that hurt more than just the creature, but all of humanity as well. This was a very pro-war, anti-question film that will subliminally hurt us in the long run. Films like these should be banned from our cinematic existence in hopes of creating stronger films that explore the depths of our minds. I do not suggest this film unless you are looking to remedy the pain of a root canal … then Alien Lockdown may be your relaxant.Grade: * out of *****