After 'Blair Witch': The Objective

What exactly is your Objective?  This 2008 film comes to us from Daniel Myrick, attempting to come back from a dull, Danish remake.  I still can't believe that the film didn't translate over!  Anyhow, this film finds Myrick in familiar territory: Directing actors wandering around in the wilderness.  As Myrick himself has stated, this film is different.  How?  It's in the Desert.  By changing climates, he has completely-defused my argument!  Ha ha.  This film involves a bunch of soldiers wandering around in Afghanistan looking for some source of power.  The movie is set in the wake of 9/11, not like the event is ever mentioned or has any bearing on the plot.  Giving the film some credit, it does actually build up to something happening.  It's been 8 years, so Myrick has gotten past people randomly standing in the corner of the basement.  Is this resolution- and the film that accompanies- good though?  To find out, read on...

Our hero is a C.I.A. operative sent to Afghanistan to find a mysterious source of radiation.  Is it a bomb?  A mobile power plant?  Not exactly.

In place of the 'let's shoot everything' mind-set of Blair Witch, only one guy shoots things, albeit with a much goofier device.  It's apparently some sort of heat-sensor/camera/satellite phone that I doubt actually exists...especially 10 years ago.

After a long time lost in the Desert, our heroes find a Bedouin in a cave.  Unfortunately, he appears to be friends with those demon-ghosts from Ghost...who show up on Night-Vision.  I totally buy that.   

As if things could not get any worse, they are confronted by floating spotlights in the night sky.  I wouldn't get too close to them or they will....shoot you with a laser that turns you into sand.  That's what you get for not listening!

Thanks to our hero's made-up camera, he can see invisible space ships in the desert.  Quick question: how aerodynamic is a ship shaped like an upside-down pyramid?

On his own, our hero wanders about some more, continuing to narrate to himself in the past tense.  When you see the end of the film, you have to question how that is working exactly.

After a serious alien-induced acid trip of sorts, our hero is discovered and ends up being tested in a lab.  Does this shot look familiar to one from Blair Witch 2?  Maybe.  The End.

In the Desert, no one can hear you scratch your head.  The plot of this movie is certainly more interesting than Solstice, but I'm not sure how much better it is.  The whole thing is made to pretty much be a Found Footage movie, although there is nobody actually filming anything in the plot (save for our hero).  The plot's only conceit is that he's talking in the past-tense about it.  Given how the movie ends, how is that possible?  Who is he telling it to?  Are we supposed to be his imaginary friend?  The problem with the film is that just raises more questions than it can answer.  Who are the aliens?  What are their goals?  Why are they in Afghanistan? Do they support Islam and hate America?  Why do they fly down, hang around and just leave?  How about you get off your ass and explain something movie?!?  Myrick said in an interview that he liked films that made people talk.  Here's some talk for you: make a good movie and I'll like you!  Take us away, goofy face...

Up next, I switch focus to the other Director- Eduardo Sanchez.  His film involves aliens too...and gets even weirder.  Stay tuned...