U.F.O (aka Alien Uprising)

Click for alternative poster.

2013 / Director. Dominic Burns.

Dominic Burns is a new director who I am getting excited about. His previous film Airborne was a fun little mile-high fright flick and his latest movie, UFO, is even better. The initial premise is rather contrived with the city awakening to widespread black out  followed by a gigantic UFO hovering above. The images immediately conjure thoughts of District 9, but this film bares no other comparison to it, drawing its inspiration from the likes of War of the Worlds and V. A group of friends holed up together during  this act quickly, pooling their resources as they frantically try to figure out their best means of survival. Dominic Burns has skilfully crafted a fast-paced, thrilling and effective sci-fi film. With a low budget the special FX are fantastic and Burns cleverly keeps them secondary to the drama. Any airborne attack or strike action is kept to the background or even implied with use of lighting and character reactions. The focus of the movie is on the characters themselves and how easily fractured relationships become under pressure. The dialogue is good and the perfect amount of humour is injected to give the audience breathing room. The cast includes Sean Brosnan (son of Pierce), Sean Pertwee, Simon Phillips, Julian Glover and Jean-Claud Van Damme who acts alongside his daughter, Bianca Bree. All players are good and Van Damme's performance is one of his better. He's enjoying resurgence at the moment and his style has matured with age. There is not a dull moment in this exciting little film and it signals a promising director; one to keep an eye on. UFO is the type of movie that gets me excited about independent genre cinema. Fun stuff. 

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