Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Hey look, if slow-mo machine gun fire an unexplained random "supernatural stuff" is yer thing... then go for it.I got sucked in by the cast - but O'Toole is laughable and Affleck shows why he has is a success - good looks and good one liners - otherwise no talent.Shreiber is great, but after that this is a total big hollywood bit of nonsense. If you don't need a real plot and like 'explosions and stuff'.. its fer you.

PHANTOMS is a film of two halves; kind of like from FROM DUSK TILL DAWN. Except that in Tarantino's crime/vampire flick both halves are good and gel together well. The horror/sci-fi aspects of PHANTOMS do not go so well together. The first, horror-orientated half is expertly done and one of the creepiest things I've sat through in recent years. The second half descends into science fiction territory and falls apart with lame explanations (unsurprising considering that it's based on a story by overrated writer Dean Koontz), too much action, too many loose ends and a real let-down of a climax, followed by a twist that makes absolutely no sense to anyone.This films would get a top rating if based solely on the first half, right up until the military come in and ruin everything. The pacing is slow but steady, building up unexplained incident after unexplained incident, throwing in a handful of clues and lots of scary tension-building which really works for a change. Lighting, sets, sound effects, and music are just right in creating a creepy atmosphere of suspense and unease which, when combined with the clichéd but effective plot set-up of a place deserted for no reason, makes for unmissable viewing. Every minute something new crops up to entertain the viewer, with weird phone calls, distant voices, gruesomely drained corpses, mysterious piles of metal and the like to entrance the viewer.The second half introduces far too many extraneous characters who just serve as cannon fodder for the film's enemy, which is some kind of huge underground liquid creature which absorbs the intelligence of the people it eats (gee, where have we heard that one before?). Scenes are ripped off from the likes of ALIENS as soldiers investigate deserted buildings and find themselves picked off one by one in repetitive "body snatching" moments familiar from scores of other recent movies. Whilst I did like the Lovecraftian undertones of the giant, godlike underground monster nothing much is made of it and it's killed off far too easily. Once again the creature is animated by unconvincing CGI effects work (which really has come a long way in recent years, in comparison to films made just three years later it looks rubbishy and fake) which dampens the effect. The physical effects by Steve Johnson and the KNB effects group are pretty decent though.The casting isn't bad and in fact Peter O'Toole is the only reason to watch the second half of the film, as he commands it with his presence as a spooky writer of ancient theories. Ben Affleck takes the male lead as the heroic sheriff, but has little to do other than point his gun and shoot (in fact the only characterisation he gets is an interlude when he reveals that he accidentally shot a kid with a toy gun once, which itself is ripped off from DIE HARD). The two female characters are underdeveloped as with the rest of the central characters although Rose McGowan does get a few kooky moments to herself. Liev Schrieber has probably the most interesting role as a sleazy, slightly mad deputy sheriff but he gets killed off early on (as is usually the case with interesting characters in B-movies). I was delighted to see screen veteran Bo Hopkins appearing although it's little more than a cameo as an FBI man.It's difficult to see what kind of audience the makers of this film were hoping for. Certainly with all the gory effects of melted faces, decapitated heads and hands, and weird creatures it's not really suitable viewing for family members. Thrill-seeking teenage crowds are likely to be put off by the slow and effective first half so ironically will miss the more action-orientated second half which is tailor-made for them. Horror fans similarly will find this an underdeveloped film that's not nearly gory enough for a modern horror yarn. I can only say that it starts off a lot better than the same year's SPHERE, before degenerating into much the same dull kind of movie.

Sadly the basis of the book was not translated very well to the big screen, now that special effects are much improved, it may be time to rekindle the dying embers of what should have been a great film.The taunting of the people in Snowfield, the arrival and setup of a cordon, the reason why Santa Mira police were there in the first place were all dismissed. Sadly in many ways, the whole point of the movie wasn't really realised because they were so focused on getting to the end that they seem to have entirely forgotten about the story, no suspense moments whatsoever, no what's gonna happen next..It was a major disappointment sadly because it didn't get the treatment it deserved; it should have been so much better, one can only hope that the script is redone; with a better understanding of the book and the nature of the story.

Knowing that the Scream franchise was so huge at the time of this films release, Dimension and Miramax marketed this film as another nod to the audience, wink wink movie, as seen on the DVD cover.And why have they done this? Its a mess of a movie.Who sisters go back to their hometown for silly reasons, only to find that its desolate, and half the townsfolk have been wiped out by an unknown force. They bump into Ben Affleck and his gang, and things start to happen, like awful CGI critters wiping out the group one by one.Luckily the producers of the film had enough money to get Peter O' Toole on board to come in halfway through the film to explain what it's all about...The problem with this film is that it can't decide what it wants to be, full on horror science fiction, or tongue in cheek pastiche. One moment it can be quite gripping, the claustrophobic set is pretty suitable, but then you'll have someone like McGowan or Schrieiber saying something stupid, and it just takes you out of the moment.Affleck is okay, but has very little to do, and as said before, O'Toole is just there to okay Basil Exposition.The final third picks up, only because it has no other choice but to be totally bonkers and throw bad CGI cars at O'Toole, and it all ends up with a little wink wink at the end.Its a wasted opportunity, with half decent performances......