Also Known As: Incident at Roswell (1994) (TV)
(Australia: video title) Roswell: The U.F.O. Cover-Up (1994)
(TV) (USA: video title) Runtime: Germany:90 min
Country:USA Language:English Color:Color Sound Mix:Dolby Certification:UK:12
/ USA:PG-13
Date: 31 January 2002 Summary: An interesting,
if workman-like sci-fi
At an army reunion, Jesse Marcel still finds he is
treated with derision by his colleagues for claims he made years
ago when serving in Roswell, New Mexico. Marcel finds the reunion
provides him with more information and a fresh perspective on what
happened. In flashbacks he remembers his original discovery of a
suspected crash site with unearthly metals, his report and the
following coverup. However as more witnesses confide in him how
much can he believe is true, a problem that becomes even more
pronounced with the input of the mysterious Townsend.
This
tv movie is actually quite good. The story is told in flashback
and allows us to hear witnesses put in their accounts rather than
just see events unfold as fact. This allows the story to be less
of a story about what happening at Roswell, but instead to be an
account of what may have happened - pieced together over the film.
The end result is that the picture painted is quite reasonable and
is a bit more believable because we get it bit by bit, accounts
adding to other accounts making the whole thing more believable.
The only downside of this is that the film doesn't manage to come
down on either side of the arguement and doesn't take a stance on
what it thinks happens (although this may be a good
thing).
The story moves along slowly, trying to remain
credible despite the nature of the material,, but eventually it
ruins this slow building in one key scene. The final scene between
Marcel and Townsend is really enjoyable and moves really fast.
Like Marcel we're not sure if Townsend is telling the truth or if
he's misleading Marcel and us - in this respect it's still good.
However this scene takes away a lot of the credibility that it has
built up - Townsend begins to reveal all sorts of stories
including tales of aliens messing with human DNA to shape
evolution etc, and it really makes you doubt the whole thing.
However, despite this it's still a very interesting
story.
MacLachlan is good here as the man who knows what he
saw but can't explain it, but his makeup for his "old-age"
character is quite poor. Sheen may only have a small role but he
does manage to have a great screen presence. The rest of the cast
is really well filled out by well known faces such as Gunton,
Xander Berkeley, Peter MacNicol and Charles Martin
Smith.
Overall this is an interesting film that almost
manages to move gradually enough to keep cynics on board while
still satisfying the X-files crowd. The ending is a little sudden
and requires a great leap of faith to accept Sheen's suggestions -
but then maybe that's the point. Good.