| When a meteor crashes in Arizona college lecturers Ira Kane (David Duchovny) and Harry Block (Orlando Jones) go to investigate. They discover that it contains primordial soup. The single-cell organisms therein quickly evolve into multi-cell organisms, worms, then all kinds of strange life-forms. Unfortunately once past the worm-stage they begin to look a bit silly. The bright-coloured and cartoon-like creatures are obvious CGI, with none of the texture that films like the Jurassic Park series or The Phantom Menace boast. The most promising, a fierce-looking primate is sadly underused. When the Army try to muscle in on their discovery the teachers team up with wannabe-fireman Wayne (Seann Willlam Scott) against a Napalm-happy General and Julianne Moore's Dr. Allison Reed to try to stop the alien menace. The premise of an alien species that constantly evolves to adapt to its surroundings and become more efficient predators is a good one, and could really have supported a straight sci-fi plot, where it would have been explored a little more fully. The seeming lack of any reasoning intelligence behind the threat makes it a little nebulous though. Evolution is being hyped as the new Ghostbusters. They are both directed by Ivan Reitman, and concern maverick scientists battling to protect humanity, but that is where any similarities end. This movie is not in Ghostbusters' league. The script isn't a patch, and the cast nowhere near as gifted. Duchovny shows some talent for comedy, but he is alone. This film is not nearly as funny as its supposed progenitor. Duchovny will never be Bill Murray, and a little wit and genuine humour goes a long way alongside the more adolescent toilet-orientated jokes predominant here. This is enjoyable enough movie, but the big laughs that you would expect from it fail to appear. It certainly cannot withstand comparison to Ghostbusters. In many ways its more like Men In Black, and like that film, you'd be lucky to work up any enthusiasm for a repeat viewing. 6/10. |
