Area 51: Directed by Oren Peli and written by Christopher Denham and Oren Peli
I have to just lay this out there for folks right off the bat. I can not stand found footage movies. That shaky cam and trying to make things realistic to make people believe that what is happening is real really make me nauseous. I get severe motion sickness from watching this type of cinema. I decided to forgoe my distaste for found footage movies because I found the idea behind this movie to be interesting. Three friends decide to sneak into Area 51 and document what they find there. Every person who is interested in aliens and UFOs know all about Area 51 and everyone wants to know what is going on there.
I'm no different. I went out there to Rachel, Nevada to visit it. I got a little giddy by watching these places on the screen again. I enjoy it and I'm intrigued by it. I still have this nagging feeling though that this movie had no need to be found footage. It could have been a standard narrative and achieved far more success. When they make it into the base and the camera is still going wild, I had a difficult time determining what was happening. I wanted to know some semblance of what was happening. I wanted those moments between the friends and the woman who helps them where we learn about who they were as people. I wanted to know why they were obsessed. We never really learn much about any of them.
You also find yourself asking why are they still filming when things go insane. It's the same question people ask when they watch a found footage movie. Making this a standard narrative removes that problem from the story. The ending was also blah. It has that usual bad ending that a lot of these found footage movies have and it was kinda BS. The beginning spoils this ending as well.
The performances are pretty meaningless and outside of the interest in UFOs and Area 51, there's nothing to do here. It's scattered and a wasted potential. I hate to see that.
I give this movie a D.
I have to just lay this out there for folks right off the bat. I can not stand found footage movies. That shaky cam and trying to make things realistic to make people believe that what is happening is real really make me nauseous. I get severe motion sickness from watching this type of cinema. I decided to forgoe my distaste for found footage movies because I found the idea behind this movie to be interesting. Three friends decide to sneak into Area 51 and document what they find there. Every person who is interested in aliens and UFOs know all about Area 51 and everyone wants to know what is going on there.
I'm no different. I went out there to Rachel, Nevada to visit it. I got a little giddy by watching these places on the screen again. I enjoy it and I'm intrigued by it. I still have this nagging feeling though that this movie had no need to be found footage. It could have been a standard narrative and achieved far more success. When they make it into the base and the camera is still going wild, I had a difficult time determining what was happening. I wanted to know some semblance of what was happening. I wanted those moments between the friends and the woman who helps them where we learn about who they were as people. I wanted to know why they were obsessed. We never really learn much about any of them.
You also find yourself asking why are they still filming when things go insane. It's the same question people ask when they watch a found footage movie. Making this a standard narrative removes that problem from the story. The ending was also blah. It has that usual bad ending that a lot of these found footage movies have and it was kinda BS. The beginning spoils this ending as well.
The performances are pretty meaningless and outside of the interest in UFOs and Area 51, there's nothing to do here. It's scattered and a wasted potential. I hate to see that.
I give this movie a D.