Alien Origin (2012)

Touches You

Good concept, poorly executed.

Crappy film

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

****Contains spoilers**** Despite all the bad reviews, as a fan of sci-fi i decided to watch this movie. I have to give credit to the bad comments in several aspects, not seeing anything but 1.5 seconds of the right leg of the alien's mechanoid was a bit frustrating, the lack of amusement of the crew when they've met the alien ship too, in fact the lack of military behavior in most of the film but very specially in that part is almost unbearable. Speaking of military stuff... even if it is a civilian reporter going on a routine patrol, every and all members of the party ALWAYS wear military uniforms, not a bright yellow jacket in middle of the jungle, but i want that jacket, it never got dirt! :-D The movie has several funny situations for those willing to see them, like that one previously stated. One that took a laugh off me, maybe because i've spent almost 30 years of my life as photographer, was to see the guy recording the soldier with a 400mm lens while being less than 2 meters away LOL But! The movie has a nice way to generate tension and one is many times waiting to see what will happen next, sadly in most cases it is left to the viewer's imagination, as the film wont show it.I think, or i want to think, that this movie was made on a notoriously low budget, if so it is quite remarkably well done, the footage scenes has more proximity with what real combat footage is than many would recognize. Camera shaking is all around, as many stated before myself, but that is part of real footage, unless you use a well-known-brand of action sports video cameras the shaking will be there and there is close to nothing to be done about it, changes in exposure due to uncontrolled environment are well represented in the movie as well Now, if there would be any part of the movie i could cut-off that would be the epilogue. Firstly it wasn't really necessary to explain anything, secondly it would have saved the film from it's biggest mistake: No one can do a DNA analysis in middle of the jungle, without a sophisticated lab and in such short time! lol OK, now that I'm done writing this, i want to watch the movie again. If not anything, i think it is quite inspiring for many to try and roll their own movie on this style, quite few will succeed and earn a lot of satisfaction, but i guess most will earn a new respect for this movie after failing at it.

I really knew nothing about "Alien Origin" before sitting down to watch it, other than the title. After the first couple of minutes I thought this was going to be a "Predator" copy. Nothing could be further from the truth!After watching "Alien Origin" I'm left to wonder what was the point of this film? Was it to see how much boredom a human being can tolerate? Perhaps there's a subliminal message embedded in the film urging viewers to eat more vegetables? It certainly wasn't to entertain the audience with an engrossing tale and engaging dialog. I would love to hear the director being interviewed about his reasons for making this film, I'd imagine the conversation would go something like this;Interviewer: "Well Mark perhaps you could tell our viewers what inspired you to create Alien Origin?"Mark Atkins: "Actually, my sole purpose in creating this film was to see just how much life I could suck out of people - end of story." Interviewer: "That's a bit callous isn't it Mark, after all life is short."Mark Atkins: "Ehh, It's just what I do."Please, do not waste your precious life watching this film. If you really have 88 minutes to spare, why not clean out the garage, start working on last year's tax return, or better still, visit your sick Aunt Mabel, all of which would be infinitely more entertaining. 1/10

I am a huge fan of bad movies, and over the years I've enjoyed some real stinkers... but this ain't one of them. Even using the word "boring" to describe it does an injustice to the definition. The camera work makes me wonder if the cameraman was an intern. The storyline is preposterous and there is never any suspension of disbelief. I fell asleep about midway through but forced myself to go back and watch the parts I missed just to be sure it didn't redeem itself. It never did. It's the entertainment equivalent of Novocaine. While I also didn't care for Blair Witch, that movie was at least original and mildly entertaining. The only thing this movie has going for it is Belize. In fact, if you mute the sound, some of the film looks rather like a travelogue. If they'd stuck with that idea, they might have had something.

Without reading much from the other reviews, I can sum up the movie like this: Blair Witch meets Predator. I am thankful, however, that the producers decided to artificially steady the video, as I would have truly been nauseated by the rapid camera movements. As for the overall plot and production: I've seen better; I've seen worse. Some things in the movie were not very believable; such as all the military guys in full camouflage jungle gear, while the "adventure editor" shows up looking like she's posing for an ad in an LL Bean catalog. I almost mistook her for Laura Dern's character in Jurassic Park; she was dressed almost identically in sleeveless tee shirt, colorful over shirt, tight jeans or shorts, and hiking boots. While she definitely added to the "scenery", if the intent of the group was to conceal their presence in the jungle, she shouldn't be wearing bright yellow. It also didn't help that the commando leader didn't seem like much of a leader; always asking the men "OK? We agree, OK?" He also didn't know much about silent signals either; I was constantly confused by the "I see you" signal. He shouldn't have needed to point out to his men that they should be looking ahead of them, instead of at him. Lastly, the alien skull was definitely a fake; nothing more than a hardened clay model. I was hoping for something better, but I guess the budget didn't allow for it. One bright side to this movie; like others have said, "At least the scenery of Belize was beautiful."