BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

MasterFantastic I have a confession to make: I like 'B' movies. Some can be very inventive while others are downright terrible. This movie falls somewhere in between the two poles. The plot of Monolith concerns a formless, shapeless alien presence which can transfer between bodies and gives its human hosts the ability of pyrokinesis. It also kills them after a fairly short time, but then again, it's an alien, it's been here before time began, so it really doesn't care much. And it's held by John Hurt who heads up the Department of Historical Research, which is a fancy name for a government black ops organization that tracks aliens.Enter two cops, played by Bill Paxton and Lindsay Frost. They're at odds with each other from day one, yet form a grudging respect and affection for one another by the end of the flick. They stumble onto the government's plan and after chases, watching their commander (played well by Louis Gossett, Jr.) get killed, and poorly staged fights, they manage to thwart John Hurts' plans and all is well...sort of.The good thing is director John Eyres manages to build some suspense with this flick in spite of working with a low budget. Paxton and Frost work well together even though the dialog between them--otherwise known as playful banter--is often stultifyingly bad. John Hurt overacts marvelously. His speech at the end ("I've earned this moment, I deserve this moment") should win an Oscar...or a Razzie. There's an amusing scene with a guard at the Department of Historical Research, an excellent good-cop/bad cop scene (very well edited, IMHO), and the music is surprisingly effective.The downsides to this film begin with the title. With a name like 'Monolith' I was expecting some kind of immense stone structure. We get a spaceship instead. (It's pretty cool, but still...) The dialog also could have been a lot better. A lot. Really, I'm surprised that the leads managed to work up any sympathy for themselves with some of the lines they had to spout and that's due to good acting more than anything else. The explanation for Paxton's wife's death is never fully explored although it can be guessed from the flashbacks, but is underdeveloped. I really think if Eyres had been given a decent budget and the script had been worked on more, it could have been elevated into 'A' status. Sadly, it wasn't, but it's still a very likable film in spite of its deficiencies.

udar55 Detectives Tucker (Bill Paxton) and Flynn (Lindsay Frost) individually stumble upon an out-of-this-world case when they both spot a deranged woman chasing down a young boy with her car and then shooting him dead. Things get messy when the Department of Historical Research boss Villano (John Hurt) shows up and takes the woman away (according to the screenplay, he has a higher security rating than the President) from police chief Mac (Lou Gossett, Jr.). Naturally, two curious and rule breaking detectives won't be having any of this and begin to investigate. But the bigger question is will these two cantankerous cops get along? Folks seem to peg this as an X-FILES ripoff, but that is hard to swallow because it was filming before that show debuted. It is more LETHAL WEAPON with aliens. Director John Eyres and screenwriter Stephen Lister had some marginal direct-to-video success with PROJECT: SHADOWCHASER so Shapiro-Glickenhaus maybe wanted a piece of that. It is nice seeing Paxton getting a film to carry on his own at this time (he previous did with THE VAGRANT), but the budget just isn't there for this one. Introvision handled the FX and some of them are really rough. It is a shame because I could totally get behind a "LETHAL WEAPON with aliens" film (well, I guess I have THE HIDDEN, which this closely resembles). John Hurt appears to have only done a day or two on this as his scenes in the last half have him isolated in shots (even including his major role in the finale).

diamondldy69 Well being that I actually got to be on the set of this movie for a time, while it was being filmed in my home town.. I have to say it was an excellent adventure. The time it takes to do each scene and the work that goes into it is time consuming and to be honest very fun. That said, Bill Paxton and Lindsy Frost were very nice and they treated me like a part of the crew while I was there observing.. I even got to help out with setting up some things for the movie... I was not credited for what I did, as it wasn't a whole lot, but to be invited on the set by the director, to learn how things are done to film a scene was the best time in my life.. and it wouldn't be the 1st Movie set I got to visit over the years.... Man how would you feel to have been there for that Opening scene of Lethal Weapon 4? Well I was and it was also an Exhilarating adventure.

1bilbo Monobore.I bought this expecting a sci fi in the vein of 2001 – was I wrong!All we had was a stupid story about a female vs male cop with all the clichés lifted out of every cop show ever.The occasional dip into sci fi consisted of beings who were possessed by some spirit and had the ability to fry people with their eyes (yawn.)Also just for good measure they included some nasty men-in-black who apparently knew everything and it was a big secret. The only bit of decent acting was John Hurt but his total dialogue was under 5 mins.Didn't see any monolith.