Phase IV(1974)
The movie begins with a mysterious and monotone voice telling us about human evolution. Sadly, this does not lead to Mulder killing a giant monster with shampoo. Instead, we get more exposition and, a couple of long minutes later, a setting. Oh and we get lots of footage of ants. I would make more note of that, except 80% of the movie is footage of ants, so it's like saying 'this scene uses a camera to film it.' We get a pair of scientists (one young and one old) who show up in a desert town to deal with a problem. That problem: too many damn ants! They stay with one of the lone remaining couples in the town before seeing the threat first hand. They establish a private dome base to study the problem and find a solution. Didn't you guys bring Raid?
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The film has a very curious Act structure. We see a bunch of scenes and then it says which Phase that the ants are in. I just thought that you should know it.
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The movie wisely figures out that a lab with just two guys in it would be a bit of a 'sausage-fest,' so they introduce a lady. Of course, she does not get much choice in the 'joining' process. She goes with her family as the ants overrun their house. They try to flee, but their truck crashes into a newly-formed ant hill. At the same time, our heroes are letting loose an experimental, blue ant-killer. Oh and the truck gets blown up. Want to know how? The ants did it, by forming a chain. No, I'm not kidding you. They find the truck and save the girl, who lived because...the movie said so. Our young hero begins to get distracted by love, but, let's not focus on that. More footage of ants!
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As the movie progresses, it tends to get very pretentious. The ants begin to get smarter- or so the movie says- and even form their own obelisks. In what is portrayed as a very dramatic and shocking moment, our heroes smash one of those. Okay. Thrill at the dramatic action of...people sitting at giant computers (it is the 1970s, you know) and...ants crawling on wires. The entire dramatic crux of the movie is built around the ants evolving...for some reason and out-smarting our heroes. This is portrayed by having them bite wires which slow the 1kb hard drives to a crawl. Dramatic! Get used to it- it's the best that you are going to get. Well, that and images out of Pink Floyd's The Wall. The only really neat part is where the ants build pyramids out of a glass-like material (they apparently produced it) and use the old 'magnifying glass' trick against the humans.
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I would tell you more about the ending, if I understand a damn bit of it. The old man gets a little crazier because all of his plans are not working and they did not insulate their wires against tiny pincers. As the ants enter the final, titular phase of evolution...because of light from space or something, the girl tells them about how they need to give up and embrace the ants. Yeah, just go with it. He snaps and runs outside, meeting his death in a pit that he falls into. The film ends with the young man and woman walking out of the facility and into the desert. Is this a prequel to El Topo or something?
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Part of me really likes this movie, but part of me also likes creme corn. It is a very interesting movie in theory and a really pretentious one in practice. Even so, amongst all of the lazy 'animals attack' movies that the decade put out- including H.G Wells' Food of the Gods and Grizzly- this movie is unique and experimental. At the same time, it is unique and experimental. Take that for what you will, really.
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Did you like that movie, but felt that it was too pretentious and lacking in lasers? I have some good news for you. Stay tuned...
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