Evolution (Evolution (DVD))

Member Name: sharktrager

Product:	Evolution (DVD)
Date:	30/07/01 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: David Duchovny and Julianne Moore

Disadvantages: They're not served very well by this movie

EVOLUTION could have been so much better. Indeed, it SHOULD have been so much better. It's got some talent both in front of and behind the camera. I'll grant you that it's not A-class talent, but it's talent nonetheless.

It's got Ivan Reitman, whose biggest hit was GHOSTBUSTERS. It's got David Duchovny, who of course we all know and love from TV's THE X-FILES. And it's got Julianne Moore, who has shown some excellent acting skills in, among other things, HANNIBAL.

Put them all together and you should have a pretty good movie. Unfortunately not.

Firstly, the plotline - a meteor lands in Arizona and on it there are lifeforms which are rapidly evolving. This could have been a good serious movie, and indeed this is what it was originally intended to be, until Reitman got his hands on it. Of course, Reitman can't do serious, so had to turn it into a rip-roaring comedy. Or at least, he had to try.

Second, the actors. Duchovny can be great. He was fantastic in KALIFORNIA, and had some excellent moments in THE X-FILES. The best of those moments was when he was sending up his own character of Fox Mulder, which he tended to do in the comedic episodes. Here, he seems to be doing the same thing, but it kind of made me think - "well I've seen that on the telly, let's see something new."

Julianne Moore - as I said, can be excellent when she is given good material to work with. Although on the whole I didn't like HANNIBAL, I am willing to admit that she did her best on the character of Clarice Starling, and I've seen her in other movies where she has come across very well. But here, with this crummy material, she just doesn't carry it off.

The only redeeming features of the film are the special effects, and that's a poor show for a movie which has a fair amount of talent behind it.

Summary: