Retro Film Review: The Silencers (1996)

Roughly in the same time when The X-Files were becoming mainstream instead of cool little sci-fi show with cult following, many film makers tried to cash in on the sudden popularity of UFOs, Roswell, government conspiracies, Men in Black and other phenomena related to that brand of modern-day mythology. Among those film makers was Richard Pepin, whose 1996 science fiction thriller The Silencers was launched few months before the premiere of Independence Day.

The part of UFO/Roswell mythology that is covered in this film are Men in Black - menacing-looking people dressed in black suits and wearing reflecting glasses who come to the witnesses of UFO incidents and try to persuade them to forget they saw anything. UFO researchers usually think of Men in Black as government agents, but in this film they are actually aliens and their methods of cover-up include even murder. Their latest target is US Senator Rawlings (played by Madison Mason) who dies despite the best efforts by Secret Service agent Rafferty (played by Jack Scalia) to prevent the assassination. After a while, Rafferty is given another, even more important task – to protect the convoy with mysterious but very important cargo. It turns out that the cargo is actually Comdor (played by Dennis Christopher), alien who wants to prevent Men in Black from creating inter-galactic portal and thus taking over Earth.

The Silencers had misfortune to come out in a time when The X-Files was still fresh and when even the most ludicrous plots were presented in realistic and credible fashion. Comparison between the show and this film was devastating for the latter. The script by Joseph John Barmettler took one segment of UFO mythology and wasted it on a generic story where the plot is only an excuse for the series of action scenes that, albeit spectacular at times, usually don't make much sense. The characterisation isn't great either and Jack Scalia as protagonist doesn't help either. Dennis Christopher as good alien is somewhat better, but the attempts to give some depth to the movie with "politically correct" pro- environment and anti-violence messages turn The Silencers into unintentional parody of itself.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on December 2nd 2002)

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