Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

THEY CRAWL is ostensibly a cockroach invasion creature flick but when watching you could be forgiven for thinking you're watching a typical movie-of-the-week government conspiracy thriller. The storyline sees a couple of cops on the trail of some naughty scientists into genetic modification who have engineered some super-duper cockroaches as part of research into biological warfare.Those expecting massed creature attacks will surely be disappointed because, inevitably, the cockroach attacks play second fiddle to this rather dull police investigation stuff. The characters just aren't interesting enough to hold the attention and you end up waiting for the next roach attack. Said attacks are animated by CGI, which is expected, and look like they've been heavily inspired by THE MUMMY. They're not bad but not quite as gruesome as you'd expect.Part of the fun here comes from spotting the footage ripped off from other movies - yep, it's a cut 'n' paste production that would make Godfrey Ho proud. I was surprised and delighted by the expensive-looking 'bus out of control' set-piece that opens the movie and sure enough it was stolen from RED HEAT. The producers seem to have a Schwarzenegger fetish as they also borrow liberally from LAST ACTION HERO as well as CHAIN REACTION and RUSH HOUR.Cast-wise, there are slim pickings here with the only recognisable actor being Dennis Boutsikaris, who had a starring role in BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED back in the 1980s. Mickey Rourke makes an amusing cameo as a superhuman killer and there's a little role for B-movie favourite Tim Thomerson pretty much riffing on the John Goodman character from ARACHNOPHOBIA. Things build to a preposterous but admittedly amusing climax in which the cockroaches display some truly unexpected behaviour, but this is B-movie territory all the way.

I watched this on TV because the digital cable guide listed it as a film "starring Mickey Rourke." Little did I know all he had was a very brief cameo in the film, yet it was enough for them to advertise his name all over the listings. In fact it actually stars a Tom Cruise lookalike named Daniel Cosgrove who suspects little bugs (cockroaches and that sort) are planning to take over the world.The film is shot in a gritty, blue-filtered way - like those TV cop shows (Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The Shield, etc.) but the problem is that the "reality" feel of the movie betrays its utter absurdity -- please, LITTLE BUGS ATTACKING THE WORLD?! What is this -- the 1950s?! The worst scene has to be the very ending (SPOILER AHEAD) when all the little bugs "form together" to create one giant, enormous "bug" that attempts to kill the hero. The way he "kills" it is laughable at best.It's not worth watching - not even for Mickey.

Read between the lines here and you'll learn its yet another White House Cover Up. The American government has long been rumoured to be conducting experiments on bug genetics and in the future they'll stop spending money on bombs and simply drop a few 1000 of these mutant insects wherever they are at War next. Its the cheapest way ever of killing people and leaves no traces. These bugs are very angry and very hungry and can deplete a large size area in a matter of days. Checking the User comments few poeople have understood the political implications here. But the very last frame of a single cockroach leaves it wide open for They Crawl 2

With Mickey Rourke listed as one of the stars, I expected some straight to video drivel or a bad Sci-Fi original movie. Surprisingly, it was pretty cool save for (you guessed it)Mickey Rourke. His involvement is one of only two complaints I had about the movie (the other was the reuse of stunt footage from other movies i.e., Rush Hour and Red Heat). Credible special effects (particularly the end) and strong characters (especially the female lead) made this an enjoyable surprise.