just watch it!

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Alien Thunder (whoever came up with that title should have been pistol whipped) is just plain dull!Donald Sutherland (in a wooden, unlikable performance) plays Dan Candy, a member of The Royal Canadian Mounted Police who arrests an Indian for slaughtering a government alloted cow without prior approval. The Indian escapes and kills his partner.Most of this excruciating movie consists of Sutherland walking into the woods, coming back empty-handed, and arguing with his superior officer.There's no suspense and what little action there is (before the climax) consists mostly of pot shots taken by and against Indians on his various trips to the reservation.Considering the talent involved, (Sutherland, Kevin McCarthy, Chief Dan George) this should have been good. I suggest you watch Thunderheart instead.

There may have been something of a good chase film here, based on a true story about a Cree Indian who turned cop killer when confronted by the Mounties over a stolen cow, but the version I saw from Digiview is so amazingly badly transferred that it's almost unwatchable. It's too bad, simply because a clean, crisp version--not edited by some lunkhead in Lower Slobovia--may have saved it from my donate-to-the-library pile.On the whole though, it's not a bad story. A mid-thirties Donald Sutherland appears to have made this movie as a favor to his native Canada; he couldn't have been paid much because the whole movie looks as if it was made by a university film class rich with a grant from a provincial arts endowment. Sutherland is believable, and so are the group of Canadian actors and actresses, both Native and European.The only bad performance is by a great screen presence--Chief Dan George. It was either the transfer and lack of scan and pan or no direction for the chief that robbed George's character of doing much more than looking inscrutable, usually almost off screen (because of the lack of scan and pan). In fact, there are whole chunks of the movie where you can hear people cooking or slogging through slush or gurgling from a gunshot wound, but you can't see them because nobody taught that guy in the transfer booth how to operate the doohickeys on the master board.I had a heart procedure done last summer--nothing huge, but I'm good for another 40,000 miles. Anyway, while I was getting zapped by a high-tech soldering iron, I was strapped down on this table called an ironing board. I couldn't move my head; my vision was confined to the thousand-pound x-ray machines above me. Very unpleasant (except for the end result). Not having scan and pan is something like that. You so want to look around the sides of your screen to see what the hell you're missing. I wanted to sit up, push the x-rays out of the way, and ask the cardiologist what he was up to. I think that's why they strapped me down.Oh, well. What you can see, from time to time, is the provincial equivalent of some beautiful plains-state wilderness. Cold and raw, inviting to visit.It's still not worth the buck. If this sounds appealing, try to find a decent copy.

First of all, I have one thing to say. I was there. Between 1968 and 2002, I went to Canada quite regularly. The movie is based on the story of the Cree Indian Almighty Voice. A fugitive who killed an Agency cow, and went on the run for over a year. Almighty Voice is pursued by Constable Dan Candy. Played quite ably by a young Donald Sutherland. Set in 1885, the same year as the Metis Uprising led by Louis Real, Candy commandeers a train of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The Northwest Mounted Police, (the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,) post a reward of five thousand dollars. Candy's ordered more than once to come in. He refuses because he's close to bringing in Almighty Voice. The Northwest Rebellion was part of Canadian history. The movie illustrates the differences in the treatment of the First Nations by the Canadian people, as opposed to the treatment, (or lack thereof,) of the Native Americans, by the Americans. There are, and were, differeces. The Canadian approach was like that of Heinlein's Patrol in Space Cadet, and the Federation in Star Trek. More diplomacy. Guess what? There were actually REAL peace treaties with the Indians. Where were they? Canada. The Cree Indians who lived at the Duck Lake Agency, were close knit and didn't turn Almighty Voice in for five thousand dollar reward. The American treatment of the Native Americans was quite different. It followed General Sherman's maxim that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." We made fake peace treaties and NEVER kept them. The movie ends with____see it for yourself to find out. As another reviewer said, make sure you have a legitimate version because the beginning's grainy and most of the historical note at the end is cut off. The movie itself was filmed at the Duck Lake Agency.

I only gave this movie a 4, but that's mainly because it was kind of slow. I like Chief Dan George, so that was a plus right there. I read a comment from one of the commentors and he mentioned how grainy the picture was and I pretty much experienced the same thing. However I thought it added realism to the movie. The dialogue, the sets, the wardrobe, the scenery. It almost looked like someone had a video camera back in those days and actually filmed what was taking place. It's always a good thing when movies use real Indians instead of actors that are painted up to look like Indians. You would think that I would have givin' this movie a higher rating with all the positive things I've said, but it is a movie to fall asleep too. I got this movie in a 20 movie pack, so what the heck.