Roswell (1994)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Your enjoyment of this film does not depend largely on your acceptance of the story of a crashed alien spacecraft and a government cover up that just does not seem to want to go away. If you believe the narrative, which is based upon Kevin Randle's book UFO crash at Roswell, you will be amply rewarded by a tale that adheres closely to the story, and which treats the subject matter with respect. Even if you think the whole story is stuff and nonsense, you can still enjoy a well made, well cast film that has plenty of atmosphere and crisp direction. Although made for television, Roswell has above average production values which add greatly to the overall tone of the film. Kyle Mclachlan's performance as the perplexed Marcel is fine and some of the set pieces, especially the discovery of the spacecraft wreckage are truly unnerving.

Kyle MacLachlan is the real-life retired USAF Major Jesse Marcel. He was one of the first people to handle the debris from a suspected alien spacecraft crash on a remote field in Roswell, New Mexico. The government then ordered him to shut up. Many years later, at a reunion of his unit, MacLachlan is old and dying of emphysema, and is intent on prying the Truth out of the several others who were involved in collecting and disposing of the mysterious trash.It's pretty dull going, even for UFOlogists. MacLachlan goes from barbecue to swimming pool to dinners, encountering others, and getting their stories in flashbacks.The more dubious aspects of the legend -- disappearing participants, living alien corpses, "men in dark suits" -- are accepted with the same eager alacrity as the more credible claims -- the government's throwing all kinds of humdrum explanations against the wall to see if any of them stick, the tendency of agencies to beef up their own importance by classifying information about what they do.The movie gives you the legend in its full-blown form here, with Michael Sheen showing up as "Townsend", the man who takes MacLachlan aside and spills the beans in their entirety, in a scene that is an anti-climax if there ever was one. The explanation is all hearsay from an anonymous source. MacLachlan must depart the scene still in a state of distress and confusion.With the exception of some of the supporting players, the acting is perfunctory. The direction is pedestrian. There isn't any real tension and there is no real ending. It all just seems to fade away.These comments, I ought to emphasize, are about the movie, not about the question of UFOs. I should think that by now, with multiple, credible witnesses, the presence of something inexplicable is indisputable. Oh, maybe not alien space ships but surely something. The alternative belief is that many of our military and commercial pilots, scientists, police officers -- people to whom we entrust our lives -- are crazy. Well, let's throw out 99% of the most reliable sighting. That leaves 1% who are believable. All it takes is one case. Too bad none of the UFOs has been obliging enough to put down on the White House lawn.

When watching this film , viewers have to keep 2 things in mind: That this is a TV movie, and that this movie was made to tell a story, not to blow you away. While some things in this movie were made up in order to tell the real story(As far as I know, the whole thing about the reunion of all the soldiers and Jesse Marcel talking with a lot of them in order to find out what happened , is made up. While Jesse Marcel did exist and everything that the movie said that happened to him really did happen to him, the scenario of him talking to all this people 30+ years later was created to tell the story of the crash). But when it comes to what is important: The Roswell Incident, this movie is accurate with what eye witnesses have been saying for years. If you are an skeptic who really doesn't care about the subject at all, then you will find little, or no entertainment value here. But if this subject interests you, this movie will entertain you and inform you. Highly recommended to all of you who are curious about what happened in Roswell New Mexico in July of 1947.

At an army reunion, Jesse Marcel still finds he is treated with derision by his colleagues for claims he made years ago when serving in Roswell, New Mexico. Marcel finds the reunion provides him with more information and a fresh perspective on what happened. In flashbacks he remembers his original discovery of a suspected crash site with unearthly metals, his report and the following coverup. However as more witnesses confide in him how much can he believe is true, a problem that becomes even more pronounced with the input of the mysterious Townsend.This tv movie is actually quite good. The story is told in flashback and allows us to hear witnesses put in their accounts rather than just see events unfold as fact. This allows the story to be less of a story about what happening at Roswell, but instead to be an account of what may have happened - pieced together over the film. The end result is that the picture painted is quite reasonable and is a bit more believable because we get it bit by bit, accounts adding to other accounts making the whole thing more believable. The only downside of this is that the film doesn't manage to come down on either side of the arguement and doesn't take a stance on what it thinks happens (although this may be a good thing).The story moves along slowly, trying to remain credible despite the nature of the material,, but eventually it ruins this slow building in one key scene. The final scene between Marcel and Townsend is really enjoyable and moves really fast. Like Marcel we're not sure if Townsend is telling the truth or if he's misleading Marcel and us - in this respect it's still good. However this scene takes away a lot of the credibility that it has built up - Townsend begins to reveal all sorts of stories including tales of aliens messing with human DNA to shape evolution etc, and it really makes you doubt the whole thing. However, despite this it's still a very interesting story.MacLachlan is good here as the man who knows what he saw but can't explain it, but his makeup for his "old-age" character is quite poor. Sheen may only have a small role but he does manage to have a great screen presence. The rest of the cast is really well filled out by well known faces such as Gunton, Xander Berkeley, Peter MacNicol and Charles Martin Smith.Overall this is an interesting film that almost manages to move gradually enough to keep cynics on board while still satisfying the X-files crowd. The ending is a little sudden and requires a great leap of faith to accept Sheen's suggestions - but then maybe that's the point. Good.