the audience applauded

Admirable film.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Alien Hunter is a movie with a simple storyline, good performances and nice effects but there's some confusion or lack of clarity in few scenes that involves the alien and the humans, in particular a scene where it or whatever it carries kills few of the characters and not others. I wasn't convinced how these survivors got lucky, the explanation provided felt quite simplistic. Besides that, I found the movie kinda dull, especially the drama or suspense in the later half. James Spader in the lead role of an "alien hunter" gives an above average performance. The rest of the cast are all fine actors but I was surprised to see the sprinter Carl Lewis! He acted quite well, wish he'd more screen time. Overall, it's a decent timepass and if any aspect of the story nags you, the message board here can be of some help.Verdict: okey dokey.

"Hey everybody! I've got an idea, we found this egg-shaped thingie from outer space so why don't we thaw it out and open it up?" "Yes, I know that would be the dumbest thing a scientist could do, and it could be filled with contaminating bacteria or viruses unknown to earth and could potentially wipe out the human race, but hey, I want to know what's in it". "And nobody tell NASA, they might take it away from us". "Wow this thingie gives off vibes!" "Yes,really strong ones on contact so don't touch it but it's okay to cut it open". "Hi there handsome, check out my nips". (Later that day); "DO NOT OPEN"!!!!! Uh oh, we have to run all the way to the lab and tell them not to open it because we don't have phones or radios or intercoms even though we have a gazillion dollars worth of other equipment here. "I've never seen such organic technology!" "Yeah, lemme take this stick and stab it.". "I'm getting out of here, I don't care if I do kill the other 6 billion people on Earth, nobody's nukkin' me!" "Look! it's the friendly aliens from "The Abyss"! They want us to come with them". THE END

This was an OK movie for sci-fi buffs looking to kill an hour and a half, but check your brain at the door, enjoy the ride and the SFX. The visuals of the alien spaceship are spectacular and some of the best I've seen.Numerous plot holes left a lot to be desired however, and ultimately a sense of dissatisfaction. Wasn't whatever was inside the alien shell supposed to facilitate the destruction of the whole Earth? So how come the survivors (those who weren't immediately killed by contact with it) were "beamed-up" into the alien ship into who-knows-where? The threatening looking alien in the shell turns out to be rather helpless and looking for support, and is quickly dispatched by a bullet or two. Staff at the base do briefly turn on one another but not in any really convincing way. The movie seems to be a hodge-podge of ET, Alien, Cocoon, The Thing...Not entirely hopeless and quite engaging at a superficial level, but not standing up to any serious inspection. 6/10

Recap: Something mysteriously dense that transmits radio signals is discovered in the ice of Antarctica. The mysterious block is dug out and brought to a research station on Antarctica. Julian Rome, a former SETI-worker, is brought in to decipher the message. Problem is that one of the researchers is a old girlfriend of his, and the situation quickly turns awkward, especially since the other female researchers practically throw themselves at him. And the block of ice with the thing inside is melting unnaturally quickly. Soon the object is in the open. The mystery continues though as the object generates a huge amount of electricity. It is decided to open the object, but just before that is done, Julian decodes the signal. "Do not open". But too late, and the object explodes as it is finally breached, and two things unleashed on earth. The first is an alien, that had been dormant in the object, and the other is a virus that instantly kills the research staff. And Washington, that is suspiciously updated on this historic event, decides that those things can not be unleashed upon the earth. So a Russian nuclear submarine, carrying nuclear weapons is sent to Antarctica.Comments: The movie holds a few surprises. One is Carl Lewis who surprisingly puts in a good acting performance, and the other is that the special effects that are beautiful, well worked through and a lot better than expected. Unfortunately the story holds a lot of surprises of its own, and this time not in a good way. Actually it is so full of plot holes that sometimes the movies seem to consist of almost randomly connected scenes. It is never really explained why Washington know so much, why Washington is able to command Russian submarines, why the object is in the Antarctic and has woken up now. It is really puzzling that the alien pod is transmitting in understandable English. Some might want to explain this with that the alien had been to Earth before and knew the language (and obviously chose English, why?). But then it is very confusing why the nice aliens that apparently want to save the Earth from the virus, send their "Do not open" message encoded! And finally the end is as open as an end can be.The movie is a little entertaining but too much energy (from me) must be diverted to fill in the voids in the plot. Therefore the total impression of the movie is not too good.3/10