Truly Dreadful Film

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Real or Fake? Does it matter? The best scientists in the world say that there is life on other planets..so it's real. But they also say that we will never be able to make contact...so its fake. Unless the Fermi Paradox is true, then it could have never been real in the first place...that is unless the zoo theory is true and they are already here and then, it could be real.real or fake, real or fake, real or fake? I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream.It doesn't matter, most of us don't watch anything involving aliens because we think it could be real...we watch it because it's entertaining.And Fire in the Sky is entertaining...the exact same way that the X-Files was entertaining. In fact, the movie feels like an extended stand alone episode. It looks like an X-Files episode. It, well, it's an X-Files episode sans Mulder and Scully. That's perfectly fine by me...even if it did have Doggart Bottom line is it's dark, sorta scary fun. Scary in that paranoid cold chill up your spine sorta way...So honestly, the entertainment is real, and that's all that matters. Let the tinfoil hat crowd argue about Travis Walton, I just want more movies like this one.

'Fire in the Sky' tells a fascinating story but constructs it all wrong. It is based on the true story of Travis Walton who claims that in 1975 he was abducted by aliens and put through some excruciating tests aboard their spaceship.We know that the movie assumes this to be true. After all, the opening titles begin with 'This is a true story'. The problem is that the movie spends two fourths of it's running time with characters trying to decide whether or not Walton's friends who witnessed the abduction are telling the truth.We know they aren't lying (in terms of this movie) because of a brilliant opening scene. The group (six of them including Travis) are driving home and see lights in the sky. Travis jumps out of the pick-up and runs toward them, is zapped by the light and lifted aboard the ship. The next day a state investigator (James Garner) questions the men about his possible whereabouts especially one (Craig Sheffer) who nearly came to blows with him on the day he disappeared.I have no problem with character study but in this case I was less interested in the personal lives and marital problems of Travis' friends then what happened to Travis himself. The closing scenes of the movie are chilling. After Walton turns up, naked and shaken at a gas station he flashes back to his harrowing experience inside the alien spacecraft.We get to see a brilliant via a production design by === the interior of the ship and the excruciating tests that Walton goes through after being covered with a wet sticky cloth and then waking up inside a goo-filled coffin. These scenes work but I couldn't help wondering if they wouldn't have worked better at the beginning of the film. Then show us the after effects of Walton's life after his return, the interrogations, the suspicions and dealing with it as the years pass. I just think that Walton's story is much more interesting then the suspicions surrounding his buddies.

This movie must have been approved by the participants in the "true story," because this movie spends an inordinate amount of time - most of its time, actually - telling us what ordinary, folksy, down-home, nuclear-family-breeding good old boys these characters are. I expected to see them photographed in front of a giant flag like Patton. After a friend disappears during a trip, the town tries to determine whether it was an actual alien abduction as the men claim. This, in itself, could have been compelling, courtroom drama type stuff, but it is dreadfully dull. We are at about the eighty minute mark before we see any aliens, and they are indeed scary, and the scene is frightening. Fans of the movie must remember these four minutes, which can probably now be seen on YouTube. This is the only portion of the movie worth viewing. For the remainder of the movie, you'd be far more entertained hanging out in a truck stop.

The only movie to make me think, and worry, that this activity does exist. Based on "true events" or whatever, there is no reason not to enjoy this film. It's much better than watching someone telling their story about the backyard Sasquatch. I was young when I first saw this, but it's a believable issue that should be considered. There could be others out there. 8 stars for me and maybe 9 for you? I don't have anything against Sasquatch, I just think they would have been found by now. The movie over does it sometimes, just like this website making me write ten lines just to have an opinion. So that's that. Fire in the Sky is a good movie.