"Infestation"
First film of 2010 at last!
Meh. Not the great ride I thought it was going to be.
The film gets off to a very fast (though needlessly interrupted thanks to the opening shot) start that sees the World, country, county....er....no idea....attacked by a giant bug sonic assault where everyone wakes up (or not) cocooned up.
A group of survivors (lead by a guy who looks like he's had giant hamster cheeks grafted onto him) fight their way...blah...blah...you know the deal. It's "Dawn of the Dead" with beetles.
Despite the 'getting down to business' start the film does take long and numerous downtime breaks to have the less than thrilling characters less than thrillingly waffle on about their less than thrilling lives and actually, despite the fast start, the 'bug action' is quite far apart and not that interesting really.
The FX are pretty good with only a few of the CGI shots looking bad.
But death and violence is minimal, as is bloodshed, lots of cliche characters sitting around (or walking along) arguing is at a max, loud false scares are frequent and will only surprise those of a generally nervous disposition anyway.
Things pick up with the late introduction of the ever welcome Ray "Twin Peaks" Wise and there is a general air of 'fun' about the project. But some of the more serious dramatic parts really don't mix well with the generally comic tone. An uncomfortable, actually really serious, topless attempted seduction scene in the film is the best example of this.
And the big problem.........The end!
I know we live in a time where film makers think that a sudden, movie destroying, 'twist' has to rear its inbred head far too often but "Infestation" has perhaps the least satisfying, utterly meaningless, finale I think I have ever seen.
It's wrong to really call it a twist, it's just a...er....the film ran out of the camera moment that literally leaves you with no idea at all...at all...about what just happened or is about to happen.
It could be a big bad nasty twist, or a happy ending or the Producers suddenly breaking onto the set to close things down.
You literally have no end...to the end. Not happy, not downbeat, just nothing.
So what we are left with is a generally fun, generally well acted creature feature but with a lethargic screenplay, ho hum direction, dull cliche, little ick factor (unless you have a toothpaste phobia), so-so FX, seen it all before action and a lousy ending.
The fact...and I do mean fact...here is that this wants to reach the majestic heights of "Tremors", the film that every single light hearted monster romp will be forever judged, but it fails in most of the ways where "Tremors" beautifully succeeds.
Only the excellent (and again something that succeeds in the way "infestation" does not, including the introduction of the odd serious moment) "Deep Rising" has come close to having any chance of usurping "Tremors" from its throne.
"Infestation" has no chance.
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