ALIEN AGENT (2007)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *poor*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

This Canadian thriller crosses your basic American chopsocky with the premises of 1987's THE HIDDEN and TV's THE INVADERS. This puts it in the same bailiwick as the many low-budget sci-fi action flicks that appeared throughout the nineties, often starring kung-fu skilled actors like Don Wilson, David Bradley, and (to a lesser extent) the star of ALIEN AGENT, Mark Dacascos.

Aliens from a dying planet are looking for a new world to colonize. In a reversal of the more typical social opposition, the ruling class of these unnamed extraterrestrials has a code against invading occupied planets and continues to seek for uninhabited worlds. An impatient faction of rebels travels to Earth, using their convenient power to take over dead human bodies in order to infiltrate Earth society and to construct a wormhole portal, through which all of their allies can come to Earth en masse and can exterminate the locals. The good guys on the dying planet respond in an underwhelming manner, sending one agent, Rykker (Dacascos), to stop the rebels. Once Rykker has taken over the body of a dead criminal (just to show he's a nice guy), he tracks down the rebels, using his superior strength, regenerative abilities, and-- oh yeah-- mad kung fu skills to thwart the scurrilous plot, headed by two main villains, Saylon (Billy Zane) and Isis (Amelia Cooke).

While passing through a small town, Rykker also shows his nice-guy credentials by saving young local Julie (Emma Lahana of POWER RANGERS DINO THUNDER) from some rowdies. She becomes infatuated with Tall Dark and Reserved, even before her only relatives are slain by the alien rebels. She then attaches herself to Rykker like a remora on a shark's hide, finds out who and what he is, and aids him in quashing the rebel plans. Simple as the plot is, Lahana does bring a certain infectious charm to her role, whereas Dacascos can only go through the motions of playing the stoic alien, while both Zane and Cooke are seriously underwritten villains.

Since the budget's too low for real FX, the fights are the main attraction, but they're only fair at best.