Ben 10: Alien Swarm

I was one of the few who enjoyed the cheesy first live-action movie of Ben 10, Race against Time. 2 years later, they produced another live-action movie, Alien Swarm. Alien Swarm is quite different from the first movie. This is more serious, has realistic special effects and better acting. I admit that in the first movie, the acting is horrible. Now, Alien Swarm is the more serious adaptation of the popular cartoon Ben 10.

The story: It is fairly simple so that kids will enjoy it and not care about anything else. Everything in the movie is quite good compared to the first one. The only thing disappointing is the lack of aliens. Even the first one which has a low budget can afford to have four aliens. This has a higher budget which is why the special effects look more realistic.

Overall: It is a fun ride. With a brisk pace and action, this is quite entertaining and enjoyable. Its' short runtime makes the movie faster pace. I am not a Ben 10 fan but I hope there will be another movie. This is so much better than the first one.

At first after seeing the first Ben 10 movie(live action), I thought it was horrible and that Cartoon Network can't do a better job for a sequel...well, I was wrong!!!

Ben 10 Alien Swarm out-does the first film in every way, such as: Action,Special Effects, CGI, and Acting. And the characters fit so well with their cartoon counterparts, It actually felt like I was watching Ben 10!!!

Another thing that surprised me is that this did not make it into theaters!!

How the heck can Hollywood bring crap like Dragonball Evolution to the big screen and not Ben 10 Alien Swarm?

I say forget what you saw in the first Ben 10 movie, and start fresh with the new one, and if you like Ben 10, your going to like Ben 10 alien swarm!!!

In 2008, when I first saw the brief preview for Ben 10: Alien Swarm, I though, "oh no, they are not making a stupid and horrible movie of Ben 10: Alien Force, not the better series". In early 2009 is when I saw more previews for Ben 10: Alien Swarm, I thought that it didn't look that bad.

In summer 2009, I was waiting for a preview to show some aliens in it besides Nanomech (I already found out due to the movie set in the toy line), than on Youtube, I saw a trailer with Big Chill and Humungousaur in it.

I was really waiting for the movie, when it finally was on, I jumped into my seat with joy. When it was over, I was a little disappointed but I said to my father; "It wasn't good, but definitely better than Ben 10: Race against Time" I give Ben 10: Alien Swarm a 6 out of 10 because it's better than the original.

Never too late to make a Ben 10: Ultimate Alien movie.

After the entertaining but horrendously executed "Ben 10: Race Against Time", Ben 10: Alien Swarm is a huge improvement. Not only does it boast higher production values and better directing, but it effectively captures both the look and the spirit of the original animated series in live action form. The movie also manages to up the ante on the action, making for a truly epic story but with a couple of flaws.

Set after the events of the "Ben 10: Alien Force" animated series, the movie starts with the main characters Ben, Gwen and Kevin about to bust some illegal dealers who are trying to sell alien nanotechnology. One of those dealers is revealed to be Elena Validus, a childhood friend of Ben and daughter of a disgraced ex-"PLUMBER" Victor Validus. (For those who have not watched the animated series, "PLUMBERS" are an anti-alien defense agency). Now her father has mysteriously gone missing and Elena needs Ben's help. Suddenly the alien technology springs to life and takes the form of a vast mechanical swarm. Following a brief scuffle with the swarm and a short malfunction of Ben's omnitrix, our heroes must uncover a secret alien plot to turn human beings into mindless drones. One lead lies in an old secret involving Victor Validus and Ben's own Grandpa Max.

The underlying mystery subplot blends nicely into the ongoing narrative as Ben, Gwen and Kevin race to stop this evil biomechanical swarm from turning the entire human population into mindless zombies. No doubt a little on the cheesy side, the story fits in well with the feel of the animated TV series while giving the illusion of a Hollywood summer blockbuster.

Although the film sacrifices emotional depth in favor of explosive action, Director Alex Winters spares no expense in those action scenes. The car and motorcycle chase scenes deserve special mention as they look really good, even better than some big budget popcorn flicks. Ben's trademark alien transformations are kept to only 3 scenes thanks to a malfunctioning omnitrix but the fact that those scenes take place at night or under low lighting make the otherwise cheap looking CGI seem a lot better than it actually is.

The character of Ben does undergo a good deal of development throughout the course of the movie while keeping the themes of responsibility and growing up established in the animated series. The cast play their parts very well with only the actress for Gwen looking a little uncomfortable with her role at times.

"Ben 10 Alien Swarm" is not free of a few nitpicks however. The entire first half of the film plays out like a "Goosebumps" movie. Essentially it is "Ben 10 and gang VS mindless mind-controlled zombies". Thankfully the second half picks up the pace. Also, new viewers looking to jump into the Ben 10 storyline and fandom would be left confused by the lack of character introductions and explanation of technical terms as the film zooms from one setting to the next that only a keen follower of the animated series canon would be able to recognize and appreciate fully. An inclusion of a booklet or featurette that introduces the characters and explains "the story so far" would have been a much appreciated addition to this DVD release.

Though a little inaccessible to newcomers, Ben 10 Alien Swarm is an enjoyable action adventure and a faithful adaptation that is sure to satisfy existing fans who were disappointed by the previous live action movie. It is not the best among live action adaptations of animated series, but definitely far from being among the worst.

I used to be a humongous Ben 10 fan as a kid, constantly obsessing over the now classic cartoon from my childhood. However, it has no bearing whatsoever on my opinions about the live-action TV films because I'm not blinded by pure nostalgia, unlike some people. With that said, I guess it's now time to remove my "rose-tinted glasses" and get serious.

If I'm going to judge this movie on its own merits as a level-headed adult, and not as a mindless fanboy, then I'd have to say the plot is generic and bland, the position of camera-angles and lighting makes the whole thing feel flat, the music is forgettable, some of the cast members do a fairly decent job with their performances (for the most part, anyway), and the technobabble dialogue is standard for this type of schlocky sci-fi script. It's everything an average film needs to be even more mediocre than it already is, which is why most of the time it's such a tedious watch to get though.

Ryan Kelley's portrayal of the titular character himself can be best summed up as being like a less charismatic version of Tom Holland's MCU Spider-Man incarnation. Alex Winter's direction is severely uninspired, so much so that it makes me think about how this film would've turned out if a far-more talented filmmaker like let's say James Gunn or David F. Sandberg were to have directed the project instead, and maybe then it would of had a bit of personality injected into it.

This film also has the same main problem that the previous one had, in which there were no recognisable villains from the show incorporated into either of the films; like Vilgax, Dr. Animo, the Forever Knights... you get the idea. Another glaring issue they both share is that for movies entitled "Ben 10" he never seems to turn into more than like 3 or 4 of his alien heroes. The movie is called "Ben 10", isn't it? ... so why don't they ever show more than a handful of them?!

The only reason for any non-fan to watch this is the special effects sequences which, taken the fact it was produced for television into consideration, manage to hold up even to this day. After all these years, the way the CGI visuals interact with the environment of the real-life filming locations still looks pretty impressive. Almost makes me wonder why a made-for-television movie from over 10 years ago looks more believable than something like the big-screen Aquaman film from 2018, which had a mega budget of $200 million when compared to Alien Swarm's humble $40 million (how embarrassing is that for DC).

In short, Alien Swarm may very well be a marginally better improvement over A Race Against Time (a cringe-fest with awful CGI), but neither one of them is really all that great. So if I had to at least suggest one of them, I think I'd recommend you skip the first one and just go straight for this sequel.