Scott LeBrun Ever reliable James Spader plays a professor named Julian Rome, dubbed an "alien hunter" because he used to work for S.E.T.I. He gets called in when a mysterious alien "black box" is discovered in the Antarctic. Some of his colleagues are eager to open this thing, and naturally when this thing - which could also be called a Pandora's box - is touched, it sets off unforeseen circumstances. Circumstances which could be dire for the whole planet. Meanwhile, a bunch of political bigwigs in Washington are meeting to discuss the implications of the matter, and the possible end result.At the risk of sounding unoriginal, this reviewer will say that what hurts "Alien Hunter" the most is its derivative nature. It plays like an amalgam of ideas borrowed from "Alien", John Carpenters' "The Thing", "Warning Sign", and even "The Abyss". It also succumbs to an unfortunate common cliché in having a Complainer character in the form of a scientist played by Irish actor John Lynch. This guy does so much bellyaching that one prays for him to be dealt with expeditiously. You know if the character doesn't become a menace himself, he'll at least be a major nuisance. The screenplay by J.S. Cardone (based on a story he concocted with Boaz Davidson) is uninspired (and, for a while, threatens to choke on its "science fact" style exposition), but director Ron Krauss (who also appears on screen) and his crew are competent enough to make this a passable viewing. The production design and cinematography are well done and atmospheric, and the music by Tim Jones is quite nice.Other than Spader, the rest of the acting is basically decent. Co-stars include Janine Eser, Leslie Stefanson ("The General's Daughter"), Aimee Graham ("Jackie Brown"), Stuart Charno ("Friday the 13th Part 2"), Anthony Crivello ("Spellbinder"), Roy Dotrice ('Beauty and the Beast', "Mozart"), Joel Polis ("The Thing" '82), Keir Dullea ("Black Christmas" '74, "2001: A Space Odyssey"), and Bert Emmett ("The Forsaken" '01). It is nice to see a bunch of these familiar faces here.Worth it for fans of "The Thing" to see the Norwegian video footage from that film, used here in a somewhat different context. What also makes this a little above average is that ending; while somewhat predictable, it is an interesting touch. (One has to dig those trippy visuals.)Six out of 10.

Woodyanders An alien black box is found in a chunk of ice in the South Pole by a team of scientists conducting botanical experiments. Cryptologist Julian Rome (an excellent performance by the always dependable James Spader) gets sent down to decipher the code from said black box. However things go awry when the ice melts and the alien frozen inside is unleashed. Director Ron Krauss relates the absorbing story at a snappy pace, creates an intriguing air of mystery, makes good use of the desolate wintry setting, and generates plenty of tension. J.S. Cardone's smart and thoughtful script draws the characters with a pleasing amount of depth while providing a few nice twists before reaching a bravely ambiguous climax. The solid acting by the able cast keeps the picture humming: Janine Eser as Julian's snippy former old squeeze Dr. Kate Brecher, John Lynch as the sarcastic and antagonistic Dr. Michael Straub, Leslie Stefanson as the perky Nyla Olson, Aimee Graham as the cute Shelly Klein, Carl Lewis as the friendly Grisham, and Roy Dotrice as stern college dean Dr. John Bachman. Kudos are also in order for the nifty special effects, Darko Suvak's slick cinematography, and Tim Jones' moody score. Worth a watch.

Aidan Doyle By god does this movie suck really bad. My first review i shall use as a starter to reviewing this awful mess of was is seen to others as cinematic enjoyment. This movie has a basic plot made complicated. I had no idea of what the hell was going on at times. The story is (i think?) of some guy who is obviously the guy who survives at all times in this cheesy sci-fi some crytography who is somehow needed for coding some alien message that crashed landed with a ship in the south pole (or north, it does't even matter where). People their are dead as alien kills, is killed and people escape. Is this not cinematic genius such as alien in which had me excited to see an alien kill people, but alien hunter the thing only appears for like ten minutes and dies easily. The title is misleading as well (in a way) as the alien hardly hunts and i thought this would have been a spin off of the predator movie. The acting is bad and effects are lame, script writing is bad and silly. This film bored me completely and is a horrific mess made. Hardly worth anyones time. I would not recommend this film, but if you really want to see a film that is worse than batman and robin or home alone 4. Check it out. Horrible film. 0/5

tomimt 'Alien Hunter' is your typical evil aliens with a twist kind of a movie, in which a research team located in Antarctica find an artifact transmitting a radio code from ice. So they call in a cryptologist Julian Rome (James Spader) to crack the code.AH isn't the sharpest nor the dullest knife in the drawer. It's main problem is, that it's basically too short for what it is and it fails to build up a tension in the key places. It's too short, because it too evident, that the characters stay very flat, though the movie tries to build up human relations between them. And because the characters stay meaningless, you care very little if they die or stay alive.The encounters between the humans and aliens are few and in between. The main issue soon becomes from a disease the alien is carrying, as it can't be let out to the world: it would kill everything.For what is it, 'Alien Hunter' is a decent film, with a decent cast, but that's all it really is.