Filmed under the title Invasion, this latest release from The Asylum underwent a quick name change in order to perhaps catch some of the direct-to-video thunder of Steven Spielberg's big budget remake of the same name - and they even went so far to release this on DVD the day before it's counterpart came out across the country.

If you know The Asylum's work then you'll know they're good at cranking out mildly entertaining B-movies that take a basic theme (for example: "killer pirate") and run with it offering viewers a few moments of humour and adequate effects to chew on. But if you're going to say anything about H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds then you've got to say that it's The Asylum's attempt at an "epic" and it certainly sports a lot more ambition than some of their prior efforts.

Co-founder David Michael Latt goes behind the camera to direct this alien invasion flick that stars C. Thomas Howell ("I was Pony Boy... Pony Boy!!") as an astrologist who's heading off on a second honeymoon with his wife (the attractive Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots who graces us with a nude scene the first time she's on screen) and young son. But soon a meteor is seen streaking through the sky and he ends-up staying behind in order to investigate it while his family heads-off to Washington.

It's from here that he stumbles upon the fact that alien creatures are pulling out a full-on assault on Earth and he has to try and survive as the World is transformed into a wasteland of rubble while he attempts to make his way to his family in hopes that they are still alive. Along the way he hooks-up with Army solider Andy Lauer and moody priest Rhett Giles (who gets to come out from behind the make-up of Jolly Roger and play a real person).

I truly tried to like this sci-fi/horror flick as it seems to be trying its damndest to be an interesting story filled with realistic characters and a few exciting moments of alien mayhem; but the problem is that it just meanders too much, sticks us with a pretty uninteresting hero, and turns out to be one depressing drag instead of the action-packed movie we're promised from the box art that riffs on Independence Day by having the spider-like alien robots from the movie destroying the White House.

There's a lot to like here including some decent visual effects (the robot spiders are a bit clunky at times but generally good looking for the budget), a few moments of pleasing grue, and some striking scenes that includes Howell waking towards a ruined Washington in the finale. But the script by Latt and co-writer Carlos De Los Rios spends way too much time throwing out heavy-handed speeches and gives Giles' pastor character way too many lines that only manages to make the character completely annoying.

Give this a Hell of a lot more action, cut down on the talkiness, and inject some urgency into the proceedings (since as a viewer we never really feel any) and you'd have one great B-movie - but with what's on display here we just have a somewhat disappointing time that does more things wrong than it does right.

Visit The Asylum for more info. (Chris Hartley, 7/4/05)

Directed By: David Michael Latt.
Written By: David Michael Latt, Carlos De Los Rios.

Starring: C. Thomas Howell, Andy Lauer, Rhett Giles, Tinarie Van Wyk-Loots.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: There's a few specks scattered throughout but it's barely noticeable and The Asylum has delivered a solid transfer that shows decent clarity and no real flaws.

Extras: It's the commentary tracks that makes the special features here worthwhile as most of the rest are too brief to make much of an impact.

We get a trailer (plus trailers for Jolly Roger, Alien Abduction, and Hide And Creep), a featurette on the visual effects, a "behind the scenes" featurette, three brief deleted scenes, a outtake reel running under 4 minutes; and the aforementioned commentaries: the quite listenable "Actors" one (with Latt, Giles, and Lauer) and the more dry, but still somewhat interesting, "Filmmakers" one (with producer David Rimawi, cinematographer Steve Parker, and visual effects man William Powloski).