R E V I E W S
Evolution (2001)
Starring: David
Duchovny, Orlando Jones, Sean W. Scott, Julianne Moore Studio: DreamWorks Review Posted: 6.6.01 Rating: 6/10
By Stephen.
"Not the kind of evolution we should be embracing"
Evolution is a strange comedy. First off, the entire movie plays off of its alien theme. It's about the evolution process of a certain kind of alien life form. How did it get here? That doesn't really matter. What matters is that it's possibly quite dangerous and is about to hit us before we know it, because their evolution takes place within four to five weeks while the one of humans takes so many years I can't even remember. With that said, I think Evolution is not so much of a comedy, but a sci-fi with occasional humor.
The problem is that Evolution is not very funny. The occasional one-liners and quirky situations the characters face are not substantial enough to make you laugh hard. In fact, there isn't much good humor going around in this movie. Judging from the first trailer where hardly any footage was present, the movie looked interesting. Once the official trailer was out, with the plot discussed in great detail and all of the good humor used, it didn't look like the movie I thought it would be. The trailer used only the good parts of the movie, and still, it had some bad taste in it.
Evolution, directed by Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) and written by David Diamond, David Weissman and Don Jakoby, is an interesting type of alien sci-fi that suffered basically because it couldn't get the most important thing to work; the comedy. Some people will agree with it, some will not. I have a sense of humor, don't you doubt that, but there are certain types of comedies that you can just feel they're trying hard, but just fail in the end to make you really laugh.
Another problem with Evolution is that the characters are too bland. They're dim-witted, ordinary at times, but smart only when the situations need them to be. Also, I didn't really care about any of them. The relationship between the two major characters, Ira Kane (Duchovny) and Allison Reed (Moore), is almost entirely based on the notion towards sex. You'll get the idea when you see the movie. And did I mention Dan Aykroyd? His character's philosophy is act first and think of the consequences afterwards.
As far as making sense, Evolution tries hard, but fails. Sure, the whole notion of aliens developing on Earth is unheard of, then again it's not meant to be serious, but it still has to maintain some sort of sense. Too bad it doesn't, I could've appreciated it a lot more if it did. I mean, just take a look at the conveniences. What are the odds of a government scientist (Moore) teaming up with a college professor (Duchovny), a geologist (Jones), and a wannabe fireman (Scott)? Sure, it's just a movie, but then again, why not take effort in making it more believable so it can be considered more credible instead of hearing the ever-repeating, sarcastic remarks; "whatever," "sure," "right".
In the end, I can recommend Evolution solely on the basis of its alien-type story. Its scant variety of laughs are just not supportive enough to make this a highly enjoyable flick. Will most people have a great time seeing it? I can't speak for everybody, but I predict that everybody will/should have at least one thing to complain about. The only thing I enjoyed about Evolution is how the aliens evolved from cells into creepy, yet strangely friendly-looking creatures. Which reminds me, the huge and blobby alien in the end seriously reminded me of that one "South Park" episode where Cartman's evil game console turns into a man-eating computer feeding on energy. The only difference is that in Evolution, the monster feeds on fire. Hail the shampoo!
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