Spirit Entertainment, out now

When aliens land in an Australia town and begin to enslave the population it’s up a to a brave bunch of soldiers to lead the resistance.

I imagine that some will opt to watch this corny score-fi actioner just to watch Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) kick the collective butts of alien invaders, but they too will be disappointed, along with the rest of us. It’s hard to imagine a movie so lacking in any original ideas and so willing to recycle what has been done so many times before, and so much better.

I accept that the alien invasion genre is well-trodden, but there’s still scope to come up with a new twist, something that writer/director Luke Sparks resolutely refuses to do. The aliens are generic bug-eyed monsters in armour and capes, wielding giant laser guns, while their fighter craft and mother ships have been plundered from any alien invasion pic of the last 40 years.

I can’t believe that a film can so lack in ambition – it sets the bar so low that the recycling of genre clichés isn’t even done as as pastiche or with a wink to the camera – it’s like we’re expected to be experiencing all of this for the first time. And pity the poor actors who either make the clunky transition from zero to hero or just stand around in a field with a giant laser cannon. This feels like the pilot of a TV show that was thankfully never taken to a series.

Verdict: We’re now at a stage where derivative invasion films like Independence Day, Skyline and Battle: LA are being used as the sources  for further dilution. Jingoistic nonsense, OTT patriotic soundtrack and leaden dialogue, it#s no surprise that this vanilla disc has no extras. This dud won’t be occupying space on many home entertainment shelves. 2/10

Nick Joy