Review for criminally underrated movie
When i first heard of The Hidden,i thought that it's gonna be some average sci-fi action movie. So with that thought i went and found it,watched it and...wow. This is one of the best action/sci-fi movies that i saw.
Opening of the movie with random guy shooting people in bank and then getting into intense police chase while running over everything and everyone on his way blew me off my feet. I didn't expect that kind of violence and action scenes will be the first thing to start the movie. For the rest of 90 minutes it had it all; action,violence,suspense,humor,bits of drama,plot being changed from alien wanting to have fun to alien wanting to be president...
After i finished watching it,i knew that this has become one my favorites. But what bugged me is how almost nobody from my friends and colleagues knew about this movie.
Looking up about it on internet,i was surprised to see how originally it was almost unnoticed during its theatrical run. But what was nice to see is all the fans that it got over the years. Reading many good online reviews about this movie has only helped to make me love it even more. Although i personally don't think that every single movie that i or anybody else loves to death deserved better,The Hidden really did deserved a lot more.
It's awesome,100% fun movie that never gets boring. Come on,you have alien who likes heavy metal rock and ferrari's,you have another alien trying to stop him,and in between two of them a hardcore cop who can't figure out what the hell is going on in his city.
About the actors; everyone do their job right. There isn't single one that does it half good or quite bad. I really enjoyed buddy cop chemistry that Gallagher and Beck had,and much of it is because of the actors Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Nouri. As for other known faces,it's was nice to have Ed O'Ross (Red Heat) and Clu Galager (Return Of The Living Dead) in supportive,but important roles.
Script is well written and it has good,and quite often very funny dialogue.
Plot is very interesting and with the way it's happening through the movie,you could say that it's realistic and another thing that helps with that is some of the reactions of characters on certain parts.
Action scenes are top notch. Nothing blockbuster-spectacular,but still entertaining and quite surprising in places. Plenty of car chases and shootouts for action fans,that's for sure.
Special effects; As far as blood and gore goes,just fine. But one thing that should be mentioned is great and creepy effect early in the movie where alien goes from one body into another. Not only that it looks cool,but it looks real,specially for the time when movie was made,and it's not created by CGI at all. Movies today should really have more of these practical special effects.
Score - Solid. Creepy,tense,and when needed,even sad in places.
Soundtrack - Awesomeness do the bone. From opening car chase/carnage till ending credits,pure 80's. My fave songs are "Weapons Of Love" and "Hidden" by The Truth,"Still In Hollywood","Haunted Head" and "Over Your Shoulder" by Concrete Blonde,"On Your Feet" and "Go Down Fighting" by Shock Paris. You can't love this movie without mentioning "On Your Feet" that plays during opening pursuit. I love that song ever since i first saw The Hidden. Few times when i was playing GTA i would play this song in the background while running from cops or running over everything in my way just like alien in the movie.
What more to say but great,fun and very underrated movie that thankfully has its fans,and it's good to see that it is still mentioned amongst some movie lovers here and there even today.
Something that i wanted to mention; I watched The Hidden as a double feature two times. First time i watched it with Wes Craven's Shocker,and second time with Dolph Lundgren movie I Come In Peace (1992). Let's just say,that i had a blast both of the times ;)
10/10