Well, this alien invasion sci-fi quickie tries really hard, but it's sure not on par with movies like "The Last Starfighter" (1984) and similar efforts. If you're a ten-year-old, you'll probably think this is one of the coolest flicks you'll ever see. And since I can get with that, I'm being very generous with my rating too. The special effects are entertaining and the film tries to maintain a decent pace. But the story is a heap of nonsense, really. Oh, and Mark Hamill stars in this film. Who would have thought that the Mighty Luke Skywalker would end up in a looney-bin on earth? Watch "Laserhawk", if you don't believe me.

The Dollar DVD Addict returns, with 1997's LASERHAWK, a movie that was surprisingly decent (when compared to some of the other one-buck wonder DVDs that I've sat through in the past year, anyway)... I will admit, the only reason I picked this one up at the local Wal-Mart (aside from the irresistible price!) was because I saw the name of Mark Hamill, (Luke Skywalker himself!) above the title. I really feel bad for poor Mark, because he's a fine enough actor, yet aside from his celebrated cartoon voice-over work, he's been trapped in direct-to-video sci-fi Hell for going on three decades now!! LASERHAWK is basically a low-rent mish-mash of ideas borrowed from bigger budget movies like "Men In Black," "Independence Day," and "The X-Files," to name just a few. It starts off by telling us that the planet Earth was "seeded" by a race of aliens called "Arachnoids" 250 million years ago as a potential food source, then jumps to present day and introduces a midwestern teenager (the kid from "Free Willy," whatever his name is) who at the beginning of the movie creates a stir with a "UFO hoax" video that he whipped up in his garage, and who then comes into contact with a REAL U.F.O. just a few nights later (what are the odds?). These giant space ships start appearing out of nowhere and kidnapping all the townspeople till none are left but UFO Boy and his sorta-cute-but-by-the-same-token-kinda-annoying Gothic girlfriend, who points out that his "hoax" UFO and the real-life ones all bear a startling resemblance to space ships featured in a comic book drawn by a guy called M.K. Ultra. Off they go to track down Mr. Ultra, who as it turns out based the entire alien-invasion story line on the ravings of a mental patient named "Bob" at the hospital where he used to work before he took up cartooning. Before you can say "so he's NOT crazy after all, is he?" M.K. and the kids race to the hospital to break "Bob" (Hamill, in a mostly thankless but pivotal small role) out of the pokey. Seems that "Bob" is actually a reincarnated alien good-guy from 250 million years back, who's been waiting for the "Arachnoids" to return so he can battle them and save Earth. Oh, and Free Willy Kid and Goth Girl just happen to be reincarnated good-guy aliens too, but their memories of it were repressed till the alien invaders arrived. Got all that? Well, from there our heroes have to sneak onto an Air Force Base (which oddly enough is filled with vehicles marked "U.N." as in "United Nations," not "U.S. Air Force") to recover their spaceship called "Laserhawk" (thus justifying the title), which had been hidden for the last 250 million years until the military stumbled across it. Eventually they get the Laserhawk ship into space and there's a (rather underwhelming) battle royale to destroy the Arachnoid mothership. I could go on but what's the point? If this sounds like your bag it'll cost you a dollar at a Wal-Mart or Just-A-Buck near you to find out how it ends. I'll say that the special effects, though dated now, are better than expected considering this movie's el-cheapo origins, and the decent acting performances and some unintentional humor make up for its many flaws. LASERHAWK turned out to be a dollar well spent. Since this movie is now ten years old, I assume I shouldn't keep my hopes up for a sequel continuing the saga of Free Willy Boy, Goth Girl, and Comic Book Artist Guy, even though the ending seems to be trying to set up Part II.

I just finished watching this movie right now on Showcase (Canada). I had no clue what the movie was, but there was nothing much on TV, so I just watched it.This movie, for what it is, is actually a very decent film. Including the obvious Mark Hamill, I noticed a couple other actors I knew, including the main star, Jason James Richter (from "Free Wily" and "The Neverending Story III"). Richter did well, as did the fiery and cute Melissa Galianos (who played as Cara).It's a semi-adventurous, semi-science fiction movie with a nice uniqueness to it: this one focuses more on the characters and their task-at-hand rather than the alien life the movie deals with.Assuming there was probably not much funding for this film, there were actually impressive, really decent special effects in the film - much more decent than a lot of other so-called more popular movies/TV shows out there, anyway.In the end, Laserhawk has a couple loose ends that are basically not explained, but who cares... it was a good movie overall, in my opinion. It's also an especially good movie if you take it for what it is, and not unfairly compare it to the top-tier films like it out there.If you're the type of person to be either very picky, or maybe only like high-end films, steer clear of this one; if not, and you enjoy the little fun/adventurous-type romps out there for what they're worth (such as "Little Monsters," "Howard the Duck," or "The Goonies"), then you'll probably like this one.Thanks a lot, M. Sorge

I don't know why so many people are saying that this was a bad movie. I saw it 5 years ago and I still remember it, which to me makes it seem like at least an okay movie. The costumes were pretty good, and it always struck me that the way the characters behave in this movie is exactly how me and my friends would behave if we ran into something like that. I'm a little disappointed that there was never a sequel or spin-off miniseries, since the three lights at the end saying that there's another attack happening elsewhere kinda suggested a possible series that would be right at home on the Sci-Fi Channel. All in all, I enjoyed this movie and would love to get it on DVD...you wouldn't happen to know where I could find it, would you?