Director: Brandon Slagle
Writer: Brandon Slagle (Screenplay) Michael Mahal, Sonny Mahal (Story)
Starring: Tara Reid, Robert LaSardo, Richard Grieco, Jolene Andersen, Tania Fox, Tasha Reign
Plot: A SWAT team transporting a vicious crime syndicate boss must fight their way out of a county detention center during a catastrophic alien invasion.
Tagline – They’re here for blood
Runtime: 1 Hour 43 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Attack of the Unknown starts when a SWAT team with Vernon (Grieco), Maddox (Tait) and Hannah (Andersen) in take down a notorious drug dealer Miguel ‘Hades’ Aguirre (LaSardo) but lose the case to the FBI who see it as a bigger problem.
When the FBI turn back to the SWAT team to transfer Hades, they finding themselves dealing with a form of alien invasion, trapped in county detention centre, looking to a battle to escape, needing to decide whether to trust the criminals or their own instinct to survive.
Thoughts on Attack of the Unknown
Characters – Vernon is a member of the SWAT team that has taken down a big drug dealer, he has seen his divorce go through, but bad news hits when he learns he has cancer, his team is tasked with transporting a criminal, the same one he was taking down, he must end up leading the defence of the people from an alien attack. Hannah is one of the team that goes against the stereotypes, willing to fight along with the troops, while celebrating in a world the men enjoy. Miguel Hades Aguirre is the drug lord the SWAT team took down, he is always looking for an escape, believing he will find a way out, while having more information about the legend of the aliens. We do have a lot of characters in the county lockup, which can become difficult to keep up with the pure number involved though.
Performances – Richard Grieco takes the leading role and does give us a character with the most going on within his life, while Jolene Andersen brings us a strong action star figure in the war against the aliens. The rest of the cast do well, with one of the more random appearances from Tara Reid involved too.
Story – The story here follows a SWAT team that must transfer a suspect they captured, only to find the city coming under attack from aliens. The story does have a lot of elements we have seen before, with the idea that both law enforcement and criminal will have to team up to defeat a new enemy, this time aliens, it shows how both sides would need to put their differences aside for the better. By diving into an origin story of the aliens, in what is mostly told in a folklore idea, does bring something fresh to the table and is the biggest aspect of the story we could see a lot more from going forward to. One of the weaker sides of the story will be the number of characters, which don’t get enough detail given to them, mostly here for disposable reasoning.
Action/Sci-Fi/Horror – The action in the film comes from seeing how the two sides are having tactical shoot outs to stay ahead, while the aliens have technology which would make things more difficult.
Settings – The film does spend more time inside the police lockup, which will show the tactical positions to take a stand, while the exterior shots are focused on the destruction or impending attacks.
Special Effects – The effects are used to give the aliens look like they are part of the world, while their primary weapons rely more on the CGI side of things.
Scene of the Movie – Ready for the war.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too many characters.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun entry into the sci-fi alien invasion movie, it has strong characters and a fresh approach to the handling of the invasion happening.
