Film Review: Evolution

A film worthy of its own X-file examination. Sort of.

Poor old David 'rubber lips' Duchovny just can't get it right. Sure, he's the star of one of the most successful TV shows of all time, but the less said about his film career the better.

The basic premise of 'Evolution' involves a meteorite crashing to earth in the middle of the Arizona desert. Covered by single-celled organisms, the creatures which subsequently evolve from it develop into, well, organisms with more than one cell. Soon there are lots of weird and wacky creatures roaming around (the best parts of the film overall), which, though amazing from an evolutionary point of view, must be stopped before they decide to take over altogether. Realising this, Professors Ira Kane (Duchovny) and Harry Block (Orlando Jones) attempt to stop the takeover. At odds with the US Government, who have sent in specialist Allison Read (Julianne Moore) to deal with the situation, the pair find themselves in a number of tedious and unfunny situations for the remainder of the film.

The problem with 'Evolution' is that it is a classic case of a good idea executed poorly. You come away from it thinking that it could and should have been a lot better. The creatures are fantastically well made, but after you've seen one cute creature turning out to be hideously deformed alien-esque thingy you tend to expect it the next time (in this case five minutes later). Even more annoying is the fact that Julianne Moore's character is set up as dizzy to the extent that practically every time she appears on screen she falls over. This is in an attempt to live up to the film's 'comedy' billing. Not even an average video.

Derek Nagle