High Plains Invaders (2009)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Outlaw Sam Phoenix (James Marsters) prepares to meet his maker; the condemned man has his neck in the noose, when a huge evil robotic like insect-looking creature marches into town and the townspeople waiting for a hanging run and take cover. The outlaw tries to gather sensible townsfolk that can handle a weapon to fight off a horde of interstellar creatures. Sam vows to turn back these predators, but he is needing the help of every man and woman not wanting to be on the alien's menu.Sounds pretty far-fetched; alien invaders in the old west. This SyFy flick is one of the better ones to come along lately. The creatures are fun to watch even if at times the CGI isn't the sharpest. Worth your while, really!Also in the cast: Cindy Sampson, Sebastian Knapp, James Jordan, Sanny van Heteren, Angus MacInnes, Antony Byrne and Dan Bordeianu.

Okay, this is far from perfect, but it is watchable compared to other SyFy channel movies, most of which range from really quite bad to unwatchable. Granted the story is formulaic, the writing silly and weak, the characters clichéd and the ending abrupt. However, what makes High Plains Invaders better than most of SyFy's outputs is that in particular while it is not high art visually it doesn't look cheap either. The photography and editing is less slapdash than usual, the lighting has more atmosphere and the effects are much less crude and used fairly well. The music and sound effects for a SyFy movie are also above average, the film's direction while hardly genius or influential actually feels as though there is direction evident and the pacing is much more even than usual, going at a brisker pace without feeling too rushed apart from the ending. Also while the characters are clichéd, James Marsters, Sanny Van Hetteren and Cindy Sampson's above decent performances stopped me from feeling bored and disengaged by them. So all in all, could've done with a lot of improvements but actually compared to a lot of SyFy's stuff it is one of their more tolerable movies. 6/10 Bethany Cox

It's more difficult to review a movie that is abysmal than wonderful because there's just so much that's bad it's hard to decide how to begin. The dialog was infantile. Not only was the writing cliché and trite, it was obvious that the writer had never seen a western let alone ever heard anyone who actually spoke with an authentic western accent and dialect. Possibly the most horrid aspect of this terrible writing took the form of the character "Rose" whose ludicrous dialog mixed with laughable acting made for a character of pure comedy, but it wasn't supposed to be funny.The story line was sophomoric, moronic even. The plot was as thin as tissue and weaker than a ghost town's watered down whiskey. The timing of the expository statements were so in-your-face that one watching could only believe that the writer had the impression that everyone in the audience was incapable of understanding anything over second grade information. Saying it was insulting is an insult to the word insulting.The guns were a horrible anachronism. The style if six shooters used in the movie wasn't in place in the "Wild West". The only consolation is that the guns matched era of the dialog which is modern, though stupid.This movie is the clearest case of "let's make money as quickly as possible" I've ever seen. Utter crap. I wouldn't have finished watching it but my eyes were glued to the screen as if I were watching a horrible accident on TV and couldn't look away.

In the Old West of 1892, a bank robber is about to become guest of honor at a neck tie party. Suddenly, giant metallic scorpion type things appear and break up the party. But just when this looks like it will be another body-count sideshow, an interesting story emerges.The budget isn't extravagant, but much is accomplished with what they have. The style of the story is a tip of the hat to the vision of Jules Verne (who is mentioned in the film), and it shows some real imagination. The invaders also look to be of the sort H.G. Wells might cook up after a bad nightmare. The plot draws you in, with an intriguing mystery of just what do these rampaging creatures want, why are they here, and where did they come from. The film wisely withholds some of that, and releases just enough information to the characters and you at a very well constructed pace to keeps things interesting. It isn't even too clear if these things are machines or organic life forms until deep into the movie.A weakness might be that the characters are written as western clichés, but they are developed in an adequate fashion. The acting is actually superior, and most of the cast rises above any limitations the script gives their roles. CGI effects are done well enough to make these hostile invaders threatening. The dialog supports the action, and doesn't fall into the cornball quips trap that so many films do. The ending is perhaps too abrupt, with no epilogue given at all.Overall, not a bad watch.