You would have thought that after the cosmic Mogadon of zedding über-turkey Supernova, James Spader would have steered well away from sci-fi. Once bitten, twice shite: get past the sensational title and you have a ponderous, non-stick genre effort that's too aloof to embrace its B-movie roots.
Spader plays a polo-neck-jumper-wearing sort whose past as a SETI decoder qualifies him for a trip to a remote Antarctic base. The team is currently scratching its collective head over a mysterious spacepod that's been drilled from the tundra. A radio signal suggests alien life seethes within. To open or not to open? Well, duh...
As the team bicker and blather and succumb to a skin-melty galactic parasite, that creeping feeling suddenly hits: somehow director Ron Krauss has managed to craft an entire film made out of other movies' ideas. The Andromeda Strain, The Thing, Alien, Contact, The X-Files are all plundered with zero panache as tonal shifts and paint-dry pacing contribute to a deeply unengaging genre dribble. As for the gape-in-wonderment, Abyss-lite finale? Beyond absurd.
DVD Extras:
None.
