Back in 1995, black and white footage was released world wide of a supposed alien autopsy performed on an alien’s body in the mysterious Area 51. The world would be turned upside down by the footage and the United States government would be left scrambling to put together an explanation. Only thing is that none of the footage was real, but based on real footage that only one man (out of two) had seen and obtained from a stranger in Florida. What would make someone remake an autopsy of epic proportion? Money. Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield made loads and loads of money off a hoax and got away with it.
I remember this video released in 1995 and it looked damn authentic. Every scientist, every news show and every newspaper picked up the story and ran it like it was an epic discovery. Jonny Campbell’s construction of the events that lead up to that moment in Ray and Gary’s life is a fun ride. The intensity of the situation is firmly established through very good direction and actor delivery. You will sit there and enjoy the upswing that both Ray and Gary feel when their little adventure turns into a very large 15 minutes of fame. The only problem is that once Campbell gets to the top of the story’s hill he’s not sure where to go from there.
Before I go on, let me just say that I think the acting ensemble put together was perfect for the bill. The virtually two unknown leads, played by Declan Donnelly and Anthony McPartlin, did very well to handle the responsibilities of keeping Alien Autopsy interesting. While I have never seen Donnelly in anything, the only film I ever saw with Anthony McPartlin was his brief role as a television host in Love Actually. Still, they did a great job. As for the American actors in the bunch, Bill Pullman played another wonderful role as Bill Pullman (just kidding, he was documentary director Morgan Banner). He wasn’t as silent as he typically is and his entire 10 minutes on screen showed more emotion than potentially his career prior (including Independence Day). The fun character of the bunch was Harry Dean Stanton’s Harvey, the man who gives the authentic alien film to Ray. His reactions towards the end of the film were priceless and perfectly timed. He played a great bitter old man and an even better one when he was upset in the story.
The complete cast did a great job with what they had to work with; can’t complain one bit in this area.
Shifting gears back to the story, normally a Hollywood story falls and the two lead characters lose some sort of motivation or most of their good fortune after the movie reaches the pinnacle of happiness. Unlike most Hollywood stories, Alien Autopsy loses a little of that good fortune during the fall, but not really much by the end. Ultiamtely, the story’s conclusion is like watching two criminals getting away with stolen goods with no proper, fulfilling resolution. While Campbell’s not fully obligated to give us that type of conclusion, he does have issues with creating a good conclusion. Once our two leads Ray (Declan Donnelly) and Gary (Anthony McPartlin) begin to crumble a little, the move starts to shape-shift into tiny parts that don’t make much sense. For example, when Ray’s business partner Laszlo Voros (Götz Otto) demands more money through threats, he suddenly gets off’d by the CIA. Up to this point the CIA hasn’t even been mentioned or talked about. Campbell goes as far as to bringing a CIA interviewee into the storyline with what seems like the sole purpose of tying lose story ends. This device only serves to wrap-up what the story cannot explain in regards to the sudden death of Voros; it’s very awkward. Also, towards the second half of the film you have a mysterious reporter that shows up in many locations to flirt with Ray and get information from him, but she turns out to be a reporter in Florida that somehow finds a man named Harvey, who provided the original alien footage to Ray. What makes this outrageous is that no local television station would dare send their reporter across the world on a wild goose chase. Most affiliates wouldn’t purchase editing systems if they could get away with it, much less send someone on several first-class trips across the globe.
In the end there’s just too much sloppiness towards the climax of the film. You’re waiting for so much to happen, but it all just floats silently away into a very soft ending; very disappointing stuff.
What’s not disappointing is the set of features. First, you get a nice lengthy ‘Making of’ with the lead actors. You get some good comedy with a great explanation of how the film was made. It’s a typical ‘making of’, but it adds so much more to an ailing storyline. In addition to this, you also get some decent deleted scenes and some great outtakes. Not bad for a set of special features on a mediocre film.
