Twenty years after Hollywood made NIGHTWING they decided to tackle the subject of killer bats once again with results that turn out to be less than inspired.
It's not that BATS is a particularly bad film; it isn't. It ticks all of the boxes and runs through the scenarios with a modicum of energy and drive. The problem is, as with most Hollywood films made recently, a series lack of originality or indeed intelligence. BATS turns out to be cheesy and predictable in equal measures, delivering up its threat of genetically-modified bats without much in the way of passion or intrigue.
The plot follows the likes of THE BIRDS and other classics fairly closely. Moments between the set-pieces are dull, while the bat attacks are spoiled by some average CGI effects work (Hitchcock's superimposed birds are still superior to the creatures here). In close up, the rubbery menaces are about as realistic as the bats in Hammer's SCARS OF Dracula; not Greg Nicotero's finest moment, that's for sure.
Cast-wise, it's pretty lacklustre. Lou Diamond Phillips goes through the motions and STARSHIP TROOPERS' Dina Meyer displays a singular lack of presence. Leon's character reveals everything that's wrong with Hollywood's reliance on the clichéd "funny black guy" in otherwise straight films. All in all a largely forgettable movie that disappeared as quickly as it arrived; go back to Hitchcock for a decent winged-menace movie.
It's not that BATS is a particularly bad film; it isn't. It ticks all of the boxes and runs through the scenarios with a modicum of energy and drive. The problem is, as with most Hollywood films made recently, a series lack of originality or indeed intelligence. BATS turns out to be cheesy and predictable in equal measures, delivering up its threat of genetically-modified bats without much in the way of passion or intrigue.
The plot follows the likes of THE BIRDS and other classics fairly closely. Moments between the set-pieces are dull, while the bat attacks are spoiled by some average CGI effects work (Hitchcock's superimposed birds are still superior to the creatures here). In close up, the rubbery menaces are about as realistic as the bats in Hammer's SCARS OF Dracula; not Greg Nicotero's finest moment, that's for sure.
Cast-wise, it's pretty lacklustre. Lou Diamond Phillips goes through the motions and STARSHIP TROOPERS' Dina Meyer displays a singular lack of presence. Leon's character reveals everything that's wrong with Hollywood's reliance on the clichéd "funny black guy" in otherwise straight films. All in all a largely forgettable movie that disappeared as quickly as it arrived; go back to Hitchcock for a decent winged-menace movie.