Alien Outpost - Review

"Mankind's Last Hope"

From the found footage technique to the "mocumentary" , directors have been trying alternative ways to engage the audience and convey their story. Enter Alien Outpost (originally Outpost 37) into the mix, a faux documentary war film by director Jabbar Raisani and written by Blake Clifton. after the events of an alien invasion various outposts have been erected to combat against the invaders left behind called Heavies. A documentary crew has been assigned to follow a unit of elite soldiers stationed at one of the outposts and document their ordeal as they try to defend the earth at great personal cost.

     As seen in the trailer this is an independent film with a small budget and a majority cast of unknown actors save for Adrian Paul but his appearance is a blink and you miss his brief cameo. Despite the lack of Hollywood A-listers present in the film, the performance given by the actors are surprisingly good and the bonding onscreen does seem legit. It's good to see that they actually put real emphasis on their acting instead of just hamming it up for the cameras just to receive a  paycheck. The effects are of good quality given the scope of the budget and the aliens , even though they appear for brief moments, look visually impressive. This is though where it seems to impress because the actual story is a bit lacking in terms of engaging the audience. We are not an audience watching a movie but more like witnesses to "actual" war footage being broadcast with behind the scenes narrative by the soldiers giving their own point of view of what was going on. This is the part that can break the momentum of the film just like a commercial would interfere with our favorite TV show.  

     There are so many alien invasion films out in the wild that even trying to come with something original can be daunting because it probably as already been retold a million times over or  will just look like a complete rip off of this or that film. Like someone told me and perhaps i can say the same this movie is passable just like a small kidney stone is passable. Take this with a grain of salt as you will , you wont necessarily waste your time but it might not satisfy your appetite for complete alien annihilation.