|
SYNOPSIS:
Our world is threatened with an imminent invasion from a swarming alien menace. And there is only one hero brave enough, smart enough and tough enough to fight back - Ben Tennyson! But when Ben teams up with an outsider, he breaks rank with Gwen, Kevin and Max and risks losing against the toughest enemy he has ever faced. The stakes are high and the action is intense as Ben fights to protect our planet from the Alien Swarm!
MOVIE
REVIEW:
Embarrassingly, the only time we get in touch with Ben 10 is walking past the endless rows of Ben 10 lunchboxes, stationary items and toy figures in the departmental store despite the fact the animation series has been around on Cartoon Network since 2005.
In a nutshell, Ben 10: Alien Swarm is about the adventure of Ben Tennyson who wears a watch-like device (imagine a huge G-Shock) called the Omnitrix that allows him to transform into various Alien identities to battle the baddies. Together with his cousin Gwen, Grandfather Max and his half-breed human friend Kevin, they are out to investigate a strange case of Alien-like nano technological menace in this live-action sequel to the 2007 Ben 10: Race Against Time.
I guess it’s quite pointless to argue if the plot makes any sense or if it delves into any deeper reasoning. Just like any live-action episode from the Power Rangers series, Ben 10: Alien Swarm flows digestibly right from the start. The villain is established as a swarming alien of sort within few minutes of the opening credits and the cast which consists mainly of young good lookers such as Ryan Kelly (Ben), Galadriel Stineman (Gwen) and Nathan Keyes (Kevin) chips in relatively lively performances onto their respective roles.
This reviewer of course has seen his fair share of cheesy dialogues and outrageously lame visual effects. Fortunately, Alien Swarm fairs surprisingly well in these two factors as the story setup pretty strong chemistry between the various characters and the fighting sequences between Ben’s alien forms and the nano creatures engages the audience as well.
Directed by Alex Winter (the other dude from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure), Alien Swarm is an energized sci-fi action fantasy specially tailored for the teens crowd. It has fast cars, a reasonable story line to sustain and enough SFX to thrill in the slim 69 minutes running time. So even if you aren’t a regular fan of the Ben 10 series, you won’t be entirely lost. As for longtime fans of Ben 10, Alien Swarm shouldn’t disappoint.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
The DVD comes with a music video plus an amazingly short Behind the Scenes feature.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Presented in 4:3 full frame, the visual is passable for a TV feature and the Dolby Digital plays its part well in the action sequences.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
Posted on 31 January 2010
|
