Really Surprised!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Outlaw Sam Phoenix (James Marsters) prepares to meet his maker; the condemned man has his neck in the noose, when a huge evil robotic like insect-looking creature marches into town and the townspeople waiting for a hanging run and take cover. The outlaw tries to gather sensible townsfolk that can handle a weapon to fight off a horde of interstellar creatures. Sam vows to turn back these predators, but he is needing the help of every man and woman not wanting to be on the alien's menu.Sounds pretty far-fetched; alien invaders in the old west. This SyFy flick is one of the better ones to come along lately. The creatures are fun to watch even if at times the CGI isn't the sharpest. Worth your while, really!Also in the cast: Cindy Sampson, Sebastian Knapp, James Jordan, Sanny van Heteren, Angus MacInnes, Antony Byrne and Dan Bordeianu.

Somebody thought it was a good idea to have extra-terrestrial creatures invade the Wild West and make it into a movie. The whole idea sounds very juvenile and the end result resembles a movie fitting for children but with the horror violence and gore added to attract mature audiences. Take away the horror violence and gore and this movie could have easily been made into a cartoon for children.The end result is atrocious. There is not one single redeeming feature about this movie. Poor acting, terrible CGI and dodgy special effects done on the cheap, sloppy anachronistic attention to detail, and an even worse story. It might have been a low budget movie, but it definitely shows.The dialogue was very unrealistic given the time period. Surely the screenwriters, the producers and the director would have done a bit of research and learnt from previous Western movies or even gone on the internet. It doesn't have to rip off famous movies from Clint Eastwood, John Wayne or Charles Bronson but surely they could have paid more attention to detail. A total insult to all Westerns.The movie was so bad, I stopped watching the movie after 40 minutes as I could not waste a minute longer watching this rubbish. I didn't really care for how it ended as I felt it would be very predictable.1/10 (if I could give this 1/2 a star I would).

This movie was actually better than I had anticipated. I mean, a sci-fi western movie, not really the best of settings in my book. But still, "High Plains Invaders" manage to surprise me and keep me thoroughly entertained.The story is pretty much straight out of the "how-to-make-a-sci-fi-movie" book. Robotic aliens have come to Earth in search for some materials to harvest, in this case uranium, and their existence collide with the local residents in the area, here being a town set in the mid-late 1800's. Of course the aliens have far superior technology and are overcome with the humans. Duh! "High Plains Invaders" actually have quite good CGI effects, of course, it is not in the likes of "Sky Line", "Battle: Los Angeles", and such blockbuster budgets, but still, they did manage to pull it off quite well. The aliens were nicely made and nicely animated, though a tad too much a rip-off of the bugs in "Starship Troopers".When I watched this movie, I didn't realize James Marsden was in it, and when I did see him I was trying to figure out just who he was, because his face was familiar, though I couldn't remember his name. And I was trying to sort out if it really was the guy playing Spike on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" show, just in an older, more mature version. And it was. And I must say, he was really good in this movie. I think it is actually the only thing I have seen him in aside from "Buffy". Aside from Marsden, then the movie had some good enough performances from the actors that was in the movie.Consider this a "poor man's" "Cowboys & Aliens" if you will. A great enough movie, though with a very mainstream and predictable storyline. You know how the movie will end as soon as you play it. But still, it is worth a watch and it is entertaining. "High Plains Invaders" would actually be a good warm-up movie before sitting down to watch "Cowboys & Aliens", just to get you in that sci-fi/western combo mood.

Okay, this is far from perfect, but it is watchable compared to other SyFy channel movies, most of which range from really quite bad to unwatchable. Granted the story is formulaic, the writing silly and weak, the characters clichéd and the ending abrupt. However, what makes High Plains Invaders better than most of SyFy's outputs is that in particular while it is not high art visually it doesn't look cheap either. The photography and editing is less slapdash than usual, the lighting has more atmosphere and the effects are much less crude and used fairly well. The music and sound effects for a SyFy movie are also above average, the film's direction while hardly genius or influential actually feels as though there is direction evident and the pacing is much more even than usual, going at a brisker pace without feeling too rushed apart from the ending. Also while the characters are clichéd, James Marsters, Sanny Van Hetteren and Cindy Sampson's above decent performances stopped me from feeling bored and disengaged by them. So all in all, could've done with a lot of improvements but actually compared to a lot of SyFy's stuff it is one of their more tolerable movies. 6/10 Bethany Cox