Escape From Area 51 (2021)

Table of Contents

Cringe: ⭐⭐⭐ Enjoyment: ⭐⭐⭐

The film poster for Escape From Area 51. It features several characters in a hand-drawn sci-fi style, with neon colours. In the background is a planet which looks like Earth.

When conspiracy theorists raid the famous military base Area 51, an alien warrior uses a power glitch to escape from captivity which attracts the attention of her arch space rival. Now she must find her way back home.

Introduction
#

Escape from Area 51 is a 2021 sci-fi film written and directed by Eric Mittleman. It features Donna D’Errico as Sheera and Chris Browning as Sklarr, supported by a small cast of other characters. One of the production companies behind this film, Sterling Entertainment, is also responsible for the Empire of the Apes series, so if you’ve seen those you might have some idea what you’re getting into.

As Escape is a mid-budget sci-fi b-movie, it is right up my alley and I couldn’t resist the urge to take a look. The film and marketing also cleverly plays into the Storm Area 51 “raid”, which was one of the last fun in-person events we had before the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Plot
#

This review contains minor plot spoilers

We start off with a found-footage style segment, where a group of young dumbasses decide to “raid” Area 51. Of course, they don’t get far and just kind of poke at the gate before heading back. Regardless, a group of them decide to head for “Area 51 Weekend”, where they camp in the woods which are nowhere near Groom Lake and regale us with stories of their epic adventure. The dialogue and acting here, along with the rest of the film, is pretty bad.

A group of 3 people sit in camping chairs in a forest. The two male characters are mostly dressed appropriately for the wilderness, while the female character is not, and is wearing heeled boots. Their chairs are spread in front of a blanket on the ground, and in the background is a pitched tent. — Pretty sure this is near LA

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Sheera, the female alien protagonist of the film. Long story short, she executed what they call a “Power Glitch” in order to escape from Area 51, where she was being held captive, presumably by humans. Sheera’s defining characteristics are a large quartz pendant which seem to act like a conduit for her alien powers, and a shiny silver catsuit.

An image of the character Sheera, leaning up against a tree in the forest and peering around the side. she is wearing a silver catsuit, which is unzipped in the front to show her cleavage. Around her neck is large quartz-like crystal, and on her waist is a belt with a hunting knife tucked in it. — Even after escaping from Area 51, she has perfect makeup and hair

After capturing Sheera’s alien friend, Sklarr transports down to Earth to look for her. He is a rather imposing looking guy, wearing some sort of body armour and futuristic AR glasses. Sklarr doesn’t have much of a personality, though we are treated to some humanizing, and mildly amusing scenes with him throughout the film. Sklarr’s superpower is just that he’s mostly impervious to damage and really strong. Boring!

A close-up shot of the character Sklarr. He is a big and tall middle-aged man with spiky hair. He is wearing mostly clear augmented reality glasses and wearing a leather jacket over some kind of body armour. — Big man bad

Anyhow, Sheera ends up teaming up with our adventuring campers, and they go on an adventure to rid the universe of the evil Sklarr. This, of course, all happens in the random desert that everyone decided to congregate in. What follows is pretty standard sci-fi adventure fare, though there are enough amusing scenes and one-liners that Escape lives up to it’s comedy genre classification.

The character Sheera with her large quartz crystal in her mouth, sitting in front of a tent and some camping chairs in the dark. From the quartz, a green holographic depiction of an alien spaceship is displayed. — When Sheera wants to project an image of Sklarr’s ship for the humans, she does this

Review
#

Escape from Area 51 is an intentionally bad comedy sci-fi where a group of mostly useless humans team up with escaped alien Sheera to take on her nemesis Sklarr. Most of the film takes place in the forest, and there are some satisfying, but cheap, special effects. The acting is mostly bad, as well as the writing, but there are some redeeming, laugh-out-loud moments. Coming in at around 75 minutes, Escape doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.

The films earns itself 3/5 cringe stars, right in the middle. Some of the scenes really fall flat when they were supposed to dramatic or comedic, and the overall story is just dumb. It’s also clear this was only because of the afore-mentioned “Storm Area 51” event. As for enjoyment, Escape is also right in the middle at 3/5 stars. It has just enough zany sci-fi action to keep one entertained without going on too long. The special effects are also a nice touch, and fit with the theme of the film nicely.

An image of the character Sheera shoving her face with a Twinky snack food item, while kneeling in a tent at night. Projected around is a blue force-field like special effect. — Did I mention this is how Sheera charges up her powers?

I would recommend this one if you’re into this sort of sexy alien b-movie crap, or for a movie night with friends. Don’t go in expecting to be wowed, just sit back and enjoy the show.

Planet Dune (2021)

2024-06-16·5 mins