Official Denial (1993)

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent but underrated film

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Although is is clearly a B movie, I have seen it at least three times and recorded it once but have lost the tape and have many times wished I still had it on nights when TV viewing was exceptionally poor. And I have Sky too.I have just found this title on ebay and placed a bid for it, which if I win in about 3 hours time, will have cost me a phenomenal £10 in a time when used VHS tapes can be picked up for 50p.I found the film thought provoking and inspiring. I have long been a sci-fi buff but only when the subject is truly believable. And this film is just that. It actually brings to the surface some of my own thoughts on the subject of whether or not "we are alone". And indeed if our visitors are actually our closest relatives and living here on earth too.I would urge all to see this film.

Official Denial has much to recommend it and also much that I did not like. The negative points were the risible aliens/spaceship/cardboard soldiers/"spirit world" native American, all of which appeared to be out of a comic strip. Also Dirk Benedict who was totally unbelievable as a bad guy. The special effects also gave the film a feeling of a childrens TV programme.The positive side was the fine and sympathetic performance of Chad Everett as the General and also the ending which was quite ingenious. It was great to see the power shift from the Everett character to the Parker Stevenson character, who knew the secret at the end. The secret itself was a nice touch as well and ended the movie on a high note.Erin Gray looked pretty throughout but was not entirely convincing as the long suffering wife with the "fruit loop" husband. Although she appeared worried she did seem to take it in her stride a little too easily. "My husband is a nut", "Ho hum", "Just another daily happening". That was not quite believable although she gave a good performance, as did Stevenson.There were some good one-liners and a healthy cynicism about governments and the military. The plot was strong also and it did all come together at the end. All in all this is a film to watch a second time but certainly not a classic, for me.

Having seen this movie on t.v one late night, i still look back fondly. This movie should be seen as fun, not serious (it had me in stiches). Underneath the poorly designed alien DOS and the incredible hairless man, is a well thought out plot line with serious undertones. But it cannot be taken literally, without wishing to give away any of the plotline, watchout for the shoulder carrying moment. Full of cliches, laughs, fantasticly corny and for those who need more, a good plotline i recommend Official Denial.

I watched this film on late-night television, as has become my habit in my year-long sojourn here in England. At first, I thought it looked pretty stupid. Actually, at first it was stupid. But I kept watching for no real reason other than that I was too lazy to get up and cut off the telly, and then I discovered that this was really a moving, thought-provoking picture. Paul Corliss, who starts out as kind of an unlikable character (even when you know he's right about the aliens), gets progressively better as the film develops, which leads me to believe he was played by a damn fine actor. His wife, who starts out looking like a nagging, annoying (but pretty) nuisance develops into a strong and likable character. The general and Colonel Lerner, who both start out looking like typical, knee-jerk reacting, firepower-crazed officers develop in separate directions; the general gradually reveals himself for what he is--a thinking, caring authority (who nevertheless knows his job), and Lerner becomes the kind of villian it's easy to dislike--an un-thinking, un-caring, letter-of-the-law authority. Even the tight-lipped government agent near the end of the film (whose name is "not important") makes his potentially boring and/or unbelievable single-scene role a pleasure to watch. At the special effects end, this movie is visibly cheap. We viewers who have been conditioned by digital effects to believe only in realistic (though uncommonly smooth-looking) extra-terrestrial beings and vessels can only see these B-movie effects as...well...B-movie effects. However, if you can suspend disbelief as if you were in a theatre, this movie is immenently watchable, not the least because of its engaging and inspiring story. Without revealing too much about the end of the film (which I partially guessed beforehand), I can say that the viewer can come away from this film ready to try and make this world a better place to live in, and feel that we the human race are not doomed to kill each other off or pollute our planet beyond recognition. Long live Earth.