Review of Ben 10: Alien Swarm (2009) by Nicole R — 05 Dec 2009

I liked Ben 10: Race Against Time, the first live action incarnation of the popular Cartoon Network animated series. The movie won me over enough that I decided to give the show a chance, and I found that I enjoyed the animated series as well. Seeing that director Alex Winter was returning with another live action Ben 10 film, which is an adaptation of the Alien Force series of Ben 10 where the characters are slightly older, I was looking forward to Alien Swarm for some time now.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm opens up decently enough. It doesn't set up the story as much as it just throws you into the mix. The introduction showcases an elaborate action sequence that involves alien technology that someone is trying to sell black market style which goes wrong when the technology (nano-technology to be more specific) activates and tries to kill everyone nearby. Luckily, Ben Tennyson (Ryan Kelley) and his wristwatch thingy that turns him into various alien creatures is there to stop the nano-menaces from causing too much harm. For now, at least.

From there the movie loses a lot of steam. The various actors chosen to play each of the characters were fine, but I didn't like them as much as the younger actors from the last film. And I was letdown that Grandpa Max, played by Lee Majors in the first film, was replaced with a new actor. Barry Corbin is a fine actor, but I didn't like him as Grandpa Max and felt the character came off as more artificial this time around. Ryan Kelley worked as well as Graham Phillips did in the role of Ben Tennyson, and much like the Phillips, Kelley isn't given many memorable lines/scenes for his performance.

The villain in Alien Swarm is far more effective of a monster for Ben and his friends to go up against than the villain of the first film. Their identity is supposed to be a secret, so I won't say who they are. I really liked how this character used the nano-technology, and how it could turn people into zombie slaves. Sure, this isn't the flesh-eating sort of zombie, but anytime a film features any sort of zombie I'm happy. I just wish the showdown between Ben and this villain could have been a little better.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm really only works if you are familiar with the Ben 10 universe. Even for me the film felt empty through most of its short run, and there isn't much character development along the way. I guess this is another situation where I let my own biases guide my judgments since I am giving Ben 10: Alien Swarm a passing grade, even though it is far from perfect. If you like Ben 10, you should enjoy this film. But for those who aren't familiar with anything Ben 10, or don't care that much for it, you should probably just skip Alien Swarm.