Monster Island - Lacking in Monster Fights and Eric Robers Screentime

I was looking for Kaiju movies when I came across "Monster Island" on Prime.
The title conjured up visions of the old Godzilla movies and a tropical island that was sort of a retirement resort for Kaiju.  This is not one of those movies.  Like many a SyFy movie, it makes use of a well known screen name for some star power. In this case, Eric Roberts gets the privilege of being the draw alongside the monsters.  His character, General Horne, however, is criminally underused.  Relegated, as the name stars in small productions often are, to a single set and phone call interaction with the main cast.  I honestly did the same thing with Debbie Rochon in "Alien Vengeance" 1 & 2,  so that I could get her into both movies with just one visit to Florida, where they were shot back in 2010.

Aside from only letting Horne shout into the phone most of the time, I thought it was odd that he was a GENERAL in the Navy. (Or Coast Guard, but it looked like a naval uniform to me. Military experts feel free to clear this up in the comments.

Alright, enough about the wasted talents of Eric Roberts in the movie, Let's get to what the movieis really about. The monsters!

The word "Kaiju" is thrown around plenty and it applies in the broadest sense of "giant monsters", but fans of the traditional Kaiju movies will likely be disappointed.  The creature designs are cool enough and they have some neat powers, even some backstory, but no personality.  There is plenty of build up about the main monster before we even hear about the second, which she will fight.  This kind of tension building is common in giant monster movies, but I would have preferred a parallel development of the two creatures.  As it stands you feel like you're watching a serial more than a feature.  Each segment playing out as a story and leading to the next rather than developing as one cohesive story.

The "Pacific Rim" movies have likely made the CG type creations seen here more acceptable as Kaiju and the first creature's design is simple, but effective as a sea monster.  Her adversary, however, is a stiff looking lump of a hero.  He barely seems to move during a particularly anticlimactic engagement with his nemesis. Considering this a fight for the fate of humanity, you'd think they would dedicate some time to it, but don't go to the bathroom or you'll miss it.  And it's paced like a stop motion fight I did. I get it. Animating monster fights is hard work, but this a movie with "Monster" in the title.  We need some monster action.

There is a great portion of the movie where the main cast is stranded on the gigantic monster in a small submersible, and honestly, with a low budget, I would have made the entire movie about them trying to stop it from there while an unsuspecting world was waiting for the thing to hit land.  But, just as I was beginning to enjoy the suspense and possibilities of this concept, the story moves past it.

Really what "Monster Island" is in the end is a not bad adventure film with monsters in it.  Somewhere between the fun of "Tremors" and the epic monster on monster action of the Godzilla series sits the not as good as either, "Monster Island".

Would I recommend it?  Well, if you're like me, can't get enough of monster movies, have seen most of the classics and old not so classics and can catch this one for free, then sure, give it a look to pass the time.  It's not bad.  It's also not a "must see" monster flick.

InALIENable - Sci-Fi Courtroom Drama

"InALIENable"  is available on Amazon Prime and Midnight Pulp (where it is truly free instead of "Included with Prime").  Midnight Pulp also hosts a few of my movies, including, both "Alien Vengeance" films, my short film starring Joel D. Wynkoop and Nicola Fiore, "Shelter",  my epic man vs monsters movie, "Lumber vs Jack" and the road drama, "Stopped Dead".   (Okay, there's my self-indulgent promotion for this blog.)  There's lots to see there for free if you're willing to sit through an ad or two every ten minutes or so.

Back to the movie at hand, "InAlienable", starring Richard Hatch and written by Walter  Koenig. These two recognizable names of epic sci-fi shows aren't alone.  The cast is a veritable "who's who" of Star Trek players with Koenig playing a villain, Marina Sirtis showing up later in the movie as an attorney and Tim Russ making a cameo as a newscaster, to name a few.  Hatch leads up the cast with Courtney Peldon playing his love interest.

With such a cast you would expect the acting to be top notch, and while everyone turned in a capable performance a lot of the time I felt more like I was watching the rehearsals than the final takes.  This is often the case with lower budget productions.  There isn't a lot of time for actors to get into their roles, rehearse with other cast members or feel out the relationships between characters.  In the case of "Inalienable" things like deep feelings between characters felt forced and rushed at times.

The movie plays more like an extra long episode of "The Other Limits".  In fact, if you've seen the "I, Robot" episodes of that show (either, the classic or updated versions), then you have seen most of the concepts touched on within this movie, with the exception of the genetics involved.

At first I thought the movie was being very clever, using an unseen parasite that we get to view an X-ray of, to play the menacing alien.  I was looking forward to a bit of a Val Lewton "don't show them the monster" type of story, where the characters are the focus and the creature is just the impetus.  Not long after we see the human/alien hybrid and it's pretty outstanding.  Especially for a movie that shied away from using CG in 2007.  The puppet was fantastic.  Later on we get some man in make-up effects that are less convincing, but still on par with the TV sci-fi vibe that the movie had set up by that point.

Eventually the movie turns into a courtroom drama about who or what deserves "human rights".  Again, we enter "I, Robot" territory, but with an organic entity at the center of the debate.  The pace really slows to a drag here, but honestly there was very little action to be had even up to this point.

There is a subplot of Koenig's character hating Hatch's character, but for some reason we don't find out the motivation for that hatred until near the end of the movie.  Perhaps it was hinted at through some of the cryptic dialogue and I missed it. You'll have to watch for yourself in order to know.  Tell me if you figure out their dynamic before it is clearly spelled out toward the end.  I would love to know what clued you in on it.

The ending left me unsatisfied and no more informed on the topic of human alien relationships or what makes a being deserving of protections under the law than I was two hours earlier before I watched the movie.

It was a way to kill a rainy day (which the past week has been for me) while I waited for some guests to arrive.

If you're in the mood for sci-fi action and running from spooky aliens, skip this one. (In fact, maybe try one of my "Alien Vengeance" movies, even though they're more "whodunits" than action movies).  If, on the other hand, you want to do some deep thinking and can stand to watch a few very awkward relationships play out on screen, consider giving this a shot.  I think it would make a better book or maybe an unusual science fiction play.