Pretty Good

Don't listen to the negative reviews

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Hanger 18" is from Sunn Classic Pictures....a now-defunct studio that brought us some quirky, paranoid films such as "The Outer Space Connection" (a documentary that claimed ancient civilizations were in constant contact with aliens who, apparently, made their cool structures) and "In Search for Noah's Ark". I expected very, very little from a Sunn film...that's for sure. However, the longer I watched the film, the more I realized it wasn't bad at all. Paranoid...yes...bad....no.The film begins with footage of the space shuttle that looks dated today...but was amazing stuff for 1980. Consider this...years before the creation of Pixar, the film shows a lot of high tech CGI effects of the shuttle. I didn't have any idea how Sunn could afford this. It was only in the end credits where the studio thanked both NASA and Rockwell International....and it's likely they got the footage from them, as studios of the day simply didn't have the money or HUGE computers needed for such graphics. Regardless, it was pretty good footage.While on a routine mission to deploy a satellite, the satellite accidentally collides with a UFO...and the UFO crashes to the Earth. This portion and the scientific study of the ship...all this was very well done and interesting. But there's another plot...one which seemed too influenced by Watergate...where some presidential aids take control of how to tell...or NOT tell the public. This portion, while interesting in its own way, kept the film from being better...that is until the nice twist ending. Overall, a solid sci-fi film masquerading as yet another lousy Sunn film. Well worth seeing and highly original.

In 1980 three astronauts in a space station attempt to launch a satellite from space itself. Wouldn't you know it crashes into a UFO and one of the astronauts is killed. And the UFO crashes into New Mexico famous of course as the home of crashed UFOs if you believe some folks. It's two weeks until the president of the USA is running for re-election and his chief of staff Robert Vaughn decides to stonewall the inquiries as to what is going on. And for reasons I'm still not figuring out he decides that the two surviving astronauts Gary Collins and James Hampton are to be left in the dark. Some speculative news reports convince Collins and Hampton that they're being set up as the fall guys for their colleague's death and whatever else comes out of this mess. They find out that the UFO is being kept on an abandoned Air Force base in Texas in Hangar 18.This film was put together with some NASA newsreel footage and some other military films and it looks and is cheap. The players do their best, but the incredulous story line just defeats them. I will say I liked the ending because it will leave you with all kinds speculative possibilities. My favorite is what would have happened had the UFO crashed in the then Soviet Union.

Well if your reading this your either bored, deciding on whether or not to watch it or just trying to get some perspective. So lemme' clear the air.First off, this is a sci-fi movie in the way the smith/goldbloom blockbuster "independance day" is. In other words its not a sci-fi movie but more of a fantasy action drama. You could even consider it a kind of cop chase movie crammed with ample techno-psycho babble. But I don't think those genres are quite fitting. I personally deem it a sorta pulpy/campy flick and possibly a soon to be cult classic. That said, don't compare it to "independence day". Think more along the lines of kubrik's "dr. strange love or how i..." Who will like this movie? Well studied and open minded ufo nerds, people who laugh at things that ain't meant to be funny, film students and of course stoners. Who will hate it? People who read the book first, people who like any vin deisel movie or magnolia, film critics and of course stoners. Whats the straight dope? Its very well shot, but its pock marked with terrible and often confusing dialog. It has constant trouble pacing the scenes but the action bits seem way too cool. As a pluss the actors give a serious tour deforce and make sure to keep an eye out for Charlton Heston. By far, the most grooved out aspect is wondering how much of todays media was inspired by this movie.The best- an astronaut spontaneously stealing a car. The worst- the first 10 minutes. The line to know- "Airplanes crash every day."

I saw it when it first premiered on television, Gary Collins was at KPIX in SFO at the time, it was some morning show if I remember right. Several years later I bought the movies on std VHS, it cost 85 dollars then. The design of the craft itself was just awesome, interestingly that design of the ship is rendered in the architecture of the Yavapai Apache police HQ to an extent. It landed just below the Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde Arizona, so to speak. The website for the casino at one time had a shockwave flash of a shooting star which represents the UFO's lightning speed descent. And it is the Flag-Mother-Ship of all Indian Casino's in the nation. I am the author of the political strategy that made Indian gaming possible in California. No public declaration to that fact has been made, but I am the author without question.Well, back to the storyline. I wish there was a sequel to Hanger 18 which begins where it left off, now the remaining surviving scientists aboard the craft had better learn to fly it. The new twist being where to park it, so it can be studied further (If you recall the Designated Landing Areas), The scientists problem has been compounded twofold and must now keep it out of the hands of both the government as well as the aliens who flew it here. If you want to see backyard footage of the real thing flying over Sonora, Calif. Please go to sonorasightings dot com. Its the multi-lighted one on the start page. What do you think? Doesn't that look like the same pulsating ship and plasma firings similar to the craft in the movie. I did a frame by frame analysis of the video...its all authentic coverage....some frames reveal the modular shape of the pilots tower bridge, other modules, and the square plates around the perimeter of the saucer...very few frames I might add, it was filmed at night and reviewed in presence of witnesses. Hope its of interest, enough to demand an explanation from our government, how is it "they" can fly at will anywhere including restricted airspace without FAA beacons. And note the plasma or fusion technology modes and behaviors of these various craft.Also the elections scenario of the movie is akin to the "Four More Years" of the Republican Party Obtained by the first Bush after Reagan's two terms, interestingly enough.