Here's a great one....what if aliens were too small to see with the naked eye? That's the premise of this tale, based on the novel by Michael Crichton and presented as 'Science Fact' rather than fiction. A satellite crash lands in a small town in New Mexico, population 68. But by the time the recovery team arrive, the population is down to just two! The plot reveals itself gradually, so I will just comment on the last quarter hour or so, which is dedicated to a rather silly 'disarm the device before it kills us all' scenario, which has been done to death by so many stories from FAILSAFE to ALIEN. Also, the meal James Olson makes of reaching the off-switch makes you wish for the bomb to go off after all.He lurches, he staggers, at several points he simply stands and stares at the walls despite having less than five minutes to reach the disarming station. I know it's in the novel, but that was just Crichton making the point that Man's technology is his own worst enemy...they could have knocked a good five minutes off it without the film suffering. The 'space virus' is dealt with pretty effectively prior to this so the director Robert Wise may have felt the running time needed some padding but apart from this he has done a brilliant job. The special effects were handled by Douglas Trumbull, the man responsible for such classics as 2001, A Space Odyssey and Silent Running. This is well worth a look, but be warned...it's pretty long so get your beer and crisps ready before you sit down to watch! More infectious entertainment from Sneaky Elephant SOON!
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