The aliens didn’t land on Roswell, we landed on the aliens, and now they’re back with a vengeance. After the Roswell crash in 1947, the government built a group of five specially trained enforcers to raid alien bunkers and strong holds and take them down. But after years of inactivity, the team was retired, and they disbanded, becoming US citizens in search of another direction.
A surefire combination of “Red,” along with “Magnificent Seven,” David Flores’ science fiction actioner posits the question: If aliens landed on Roswell and were taken down, what did they originally intend if they didn’t want to invade? And why didn’t they come to Earth in full force? And if the aliens known as “greys” have their own drones that go in for them, why didn’t they send in the drones instead? In either case, “Invasion Roswell” tries hard to be an action movie, an alien invasion movie, and a comedy at the same time. If you think “The Expendables” and “Red” had its share of jokes about its middle aged cast, Flores and writers Jackson Stewart and Berkeley Anderson go whole hog with almost endless references to the age of the cast.
Director Flores’ movie is silly but at least has seeds for entertainment within its ridiculous comedy, and often laugh out loud absurd moments. UFOs are hovering over cities and obliterating entire metropolis’ and the news reporter always pops up a minute later to announce the genocide in the most nonchalant manner. Millions of people just died, you assume they’d at least have a catch in their throat when announcing the attack. She’s even nonchalant when the aliens have been defeated. Also wouldn’t the earth be somewhat affected by the massive alien ships crashing in to the cities? In either case, the cast is apt for this kind of film, and spends most of the time writing broad characters, all of whom have minimal conflict.
Greg Evigan is respectable as the team’s ex-leader who is focused on getting the band back together, especially when the aliens attacks accidentally murder his wife and destroy his farm house. Denise Crosby is his ex-lover who still has feelings for him, but is tough to the core, and most of the film is just a focus on how old these people are. Again and again. “Invasion Roswell” often varies from downright stupid to charmingly campy, with the second half going in unusual directions, and cribbing somewhat from Randy Quaid’s dilemma in “Independence Day” when a team member who always claimed to have an implant from an alien in his brain suddenly becomes useful. “Invasion Roswell” is goofy B movie slop, but it at least has its heart in the right place.