good movie 🍿🎥

source: The Hybrid

The Three Acts: The initial tableaux: Mercenaries invade a compound in a former Soviet republic. At 36 minutes in, that was all that was accomplished. They have some advanced intel, so they know how to penetrate deep (as in below the surface) into the compound. It's a medical research facility of some sort. Delineation of conflicts: Something 'down there' is waiting for them, and is not friendly. The mercenaries get stuck with hypodermics and gassed. The reason for the effort was the desire on the part of the Soviets to catch up with UK-CH-US in terms of genetics. A vastly old meteorite found on Soviet territory contained some DNA of unknown origin. The scientific effort was to learn things about genetics using the DNA plus whatever was needed to fill in from the human genome. Hence the title, The Hybrid. The orders for the mercenaries from their client is to get the research and destroy the facility. The hybrids have different ideas altogether. Resolution: True motives and abilities show up, along with unexpected stupidity.

I really didn't have a problem with the basic premise of this movie, even if it has been done to a degree many times before in other movies. What I did object to, however, was how poorly done this particular version was. For starters, the movie moves at a glacial pace. Now, I am not one of those yahoo moviegoers who demands every movie move at a rapid pace from beginning to end; I realize that you do have to take time in a movie to set up the situations and characters. But the movie's first half all the same is way too slow, taking about double the time that another movie would take. Eventually I was asking the movie to simply get on with it. Actually, despite the slow pace of the first half of the movie, there are some parts of the story where the movie does NOT take its time. There are some very important plot points where desperately needed explanation is needed, but never happened. Whether the script was originally like this, or some important footage got left on the cutting room floor, I can't say for sure. All I can say is that the first half of the movie is extremely confusing. The second half of the movie is somewhat of an improvement over the first half. The pacing picks up, there is some action, and there is some plot explanation. But is it worth slogging through the first half of the movie? I say no. The movie still fails to engage the viewer, and you'll be counting the minutes before the movie finally ends. I say skip the entire package.

I grabbed this off Netflix as a random, but was pleasantly surprised. This is a film split into two halves. The first half is quite a tense and gritty war flick. A bunch of mercenaries have to infiltrate the stronghold of a eastern European warlord. The characters are quickly defined and interesting. The second half of the film has a definite Scifi tilt. The objective of the mercenaries is a creepy underground laboratory where the guy from the DVD cover is lurking. The action is hard hitting and the setting is atmospheric and interesting. The makers have stayed within the budget for the special effects and haven't been lured in by cheap, distracting cgi. I can't quite decide how I feel about the ending, but that in itself is probably a good thing. I found this to be an enjoyable, gritty romp. I wouldn't have paid to see this at the cinema but as a Netflix movie this is way above the average on offer.

Sent to a remote military facility, a team of mercenaries expecting an easy extraction operation instead find themselves the target of a deadly mission involving human/alien hybrids stalking them which compounds their escape attempts through the local militia. This here was a highly flawed effort overall. One of it's few good qualities here is the creepiness of the mission and what they're trying to accomplish since the facility looks quite dingy and dirty. The general concept of the group sneaking into that place under those orders gives this a nice enough base to start with, and the fact that the place is quite creepy in how they work that out is a rather enjoyable enough aspect in this one. As well, the few action scenes here, from the shootouts in the bunker to the rather strong and frantic escape and the ensuing gunfights with the soldiers on the surface allow for some rather nice energetic sequences throughout here, and with that comes some nice gore along the way with the practical effects really providing some strong parts to this one. While these here work nicely, it does have a few major flaws. One of the main issues is the film's incredibly slow pacing that drags this one out and makes it feel quite bland. The opening of the film, with all their infiltration tactics and sneaking past security that manages to be quite bland overall, not really generating any kind of horror thrills at all and just concentrating on their endless exploration of the base which takes forever to utilize any kind of idea what's going on. That it shows this going through every step of the way as they slowly make their way down the various floors and into the different sections of the bunker in a step-by-step walk-through which is seemingly endless that merely serves to highlight how low the budget for this one really is. That factor also makes itself known in the utterly laughable alien hybrids that are at the center of this one, which is just normal humans with awful CGI for multiple orbiting eyeballs or decked out in hilarious giant bug-headed masks and S&M-styled leather outfits which are just laugh-inducing more than frightening. Since the rampage through the facility is supposed to hinge on them being in contact with these supposedly frightening beings, the ending of this one is ruined highly because of the laughably non-threatening main creatures lowering this highly. As well, the nonsensical motivations and questioning for everyone here during the revelation about what they're supposed to be there for doesn't make any sense at all since it does is provide useless reasoning for double-crosses during the time they're supposed to be battling the main alien so that tends to cause those scenes to be reduced in power overall. Coupled with a truly ridiculous finale that has an incredibly ridiculous finale twist to it, this one here really had a lot to dislike about it. Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

I'm giving this movie a 10, mainly because there's way too many people that seem to demand far to much from movies these days. This movie delivered exactly what it intended to. That is a story that unfolds in unknown ways as the movie progresses and one that isn't predictable either. To many movies these days loose all sense of enjoyment by being Hollywood copy cats of ideas that have been done many times before. To be fair this idea has seen very similar threads in shows like 'The Outer Limits' for example but I really enjoyed the way it was put in a Russian setting and showed multiple dimensions to an infiltrated location. I'm not giving away anything in this review but wanted to mention that the sets, props, special effects and acting was terrific. There's nothing I would pick on, it's a great piece of film making and I only hope the creators are not discouraged by the sheer number of silly reviews out there (I mean seriously saying a film is not bad but giving it only 4 or 5 stars is like telling a University student that there not bad and have potential but they only get 40% in an exam. Hardly fair). Well done and I look forward to a sequel.

It starts like any B movie, and it can be a little boring at the beginning but continues excellently. Nobody really knows what kind of experiments the Russians were running during the cold war, so the story feels almost real. The general acting is very convincing. This is how real mercenaries may look like, and how they surely work. The civil war/postwar scenes located somewhere near Russia, also contributes with the dark scenario needed to create tension. You must know that this movie is not "The Expendables". There were a few good surprises and it got me intrigued till the end. It's a good job.

This film is not anywhere nearly as bad as the IMDb score would suggest. I almost did not watch this film purely because the score was so bad. It has helped me to re-evaluate what I accept as a decent score on IMDb. In the past, I used to avoid any films that scored less than 5.0 on IMDb. However, I have watched a few films under 5.0 (including The Hybrid) that are ridiculously under-rated. No, The Hybrid is not have a spectacularly original plot, but the plot is engaging nonetheless and the acting is solid and effects are good. In general, it is an entertaining film. There is no need to drop it to such a low rating, I have seen so much worse at a higher rating. The ridiculously low rating of this film has made me distrustful of IMDb's user rating system. Although, to be fair, anything I've seen under a 4.5 has genuinely been awful. My advice would be (if you're reading this) is to go check the numerous critic opinions before accepting user opinions, since, in my experience, they seem to be more objective (and true). This is a good film with good acting, decent (if not entirely original) plot and believable effects. I've given it a 10 purely because I believe other have under-rated it excessively. I feel I should try to bring the bar up. My real feelings are that it's a 6.

Think...Astro Zombies, only without any of the hideous B movie, campy charm. This movie is yet another example of how the producer, the director and anyone else who put money into the thing begged their parents and siblings to write a positive review about it, thus tricking us into believing it is some kind of avant-garde, grindfest miracle. I am actually speechless as I try to describe the vacuous banality of this awful...thing. I can't even call it a movie, as that would be giving it too much credit. I do not have any technical, academic or practical expertise in script writing, directing, casting etc., but must say, I am convinced, with about a few hundred grande, I could make a far superior movie, with no training, going on intuition alone. That's how bad this movie is. And you don't even have to be original to make it watchable. Just copy Alien, The Thing, The Bourne Identity and 24, and abracadabra, a watchable sci-fi horror is born, making way more money and notoriety than something so bogged down by utter incompetence. I'd rewatch Astro Zombies anyday.