Six disparate teens must prevent an alien species from taking over their high school and probably the world. Jordana Brewster is the bitchy queen bee Delilah Profitt. Clea DuVall is the weird loner Stokes Mitchell. Laura Harris is the newcomer Marybeth Hutchinson. Josh Hartnett is the genius drug dealing Zeke Tyler. Shawn Hatosy is the star quarterback Stan Rosado. Elijah Wood is the geeky Casey Connor.
Writer Kevin Williamson has written a knowing script of witty smart teens. Then director Robert Rodriguez adds his sense of action. Both of them have combine to create a smarter than average body snatching movie. Still I have a couple of problems.
First they show their hand too early. The first section with the teachers is just unnecessary. It'd be better to have the audience question if there was an actual problem. Also it'd be better to start with the kids since they're the lead characters.
Second the logic of the twist doesn't make sense. If the aliens can be wipe out by killing the queen, she should be much better protected. And the fact that we know neither Bebe Neuwirth nor Robert Patrick is the first alien. It makes those encounters less compelling because we know for sure they're not the queen.
There is still much good here. It has many memorable elements that Kevin Williamson and Robert Rodriguez have piece together. They've got good actors playing all the different teen types. It's a horror from people who've watched a lot of horror.
Writer Kevin Williamson has written a knowing script of witty smart teens. Then director Robert Rodriguez adds his sense of action. Both of them have combine to create a smarter than average body snatching movie. Still I have a couple of problems.
First they show their hand too early. The first section with the teachers is just unnecessary. It'd be better to have the audience question if there was an actual problem. Also it'd be better to start with the kids since they're the lead characters.
Second the logic of the twist doesn't make sense. If the aliens can be wipe out by killing the queen, she should be much better protected. And the fact that we know neither Bebe Neuwirth nor Robert Patrick is the first alien. It makes those encounters less compelling because we know for sure they're not the queen.
There is still much good here. It has many memorable elements that Kevin Williamson and Robert Rodriguez have piece together. They've got good actors playing all the different teen types. It's a horror from people who've watched a lot of horror.