Review of Fire in the Sky (1993) by Timothy S — 03 Oct 2012

Movies about allegedly true alien abductions are difficult to pull off convincingly and are an equally tough sell to audiences, which makes "Fire in the Sky" so unique. For the most part, this remains grounded and is told mostly from a police investigation standpoint of the claims of the six people involved.

There's nothing flashy or flamboyant in how the material is presented to the presumably skeptical audience, and Robert Lieberman's direction is direct and straightforward. Normally, that may not be a compliment, but for a film like this, telling the story as matter-of-factly as it can be told is the key to drawing the audience in.

Much like the movie itself, the acting is solid without being melodramatic, with Robert Patrick essentially holding the entire movie together seemingly without even trying. The story is intriguing even if the film never quite convinces the audience that any of it is actually true, but like all movies of this type, there's enough evidence to tantalize you.

Things become even more interesting when Travis Walton, played here by D.B. Sweeney, is returned but that's also when the film bucks the realism for a bizarre and lengthy sequence showing his recollection of the abduction. There's a reason that this isn't a special effects driven picture (they're mostly lousy) and I was far more curious to see how his reappearance would affect the police investigation. Those scenes are fairly typical probing and examination cliches that add little to the mystery promised by the first two-thirds of "Fire in the Sky". Until then, this is an engrossing albeit dry film that isn't good enough to make you a believer.