GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

mentalcritic In 1983, one of the best-rated miniseries broadcast on television in the English-speaking world was V, a quaint little story about aliens landing on Earth and using Hitleresque tactics to take it over. The scenario is only unbelievable because of where the invaders come from. Their motives, and the means that these motives drive them to, make the scenario so real that it's almost scary.The Final Battle picks up at an unspecified time after the original V. The resistance has been struggling to put dents in the Vistors' ability to carry out their sinister plans, but things aren't going so well. A new and improved form of armour ensures that the kind of weapons normally available to the resistance are effectively useless. The fact that most of humanity is being kept in the dark about what is really going on doesn't help matters any.In order to deal with the latter problem, the resistance conceives a plan to unmask the Vistors' leader on television. They figure that since television can be used for propaganda by the vistors, they can manipulate it to the same end. At first, they seem to succeed, even at tremendous cost. But the media's unrivalled ability to tell the people what to think or believe backfires on them. Enter the professional mercenaries who begrudgingly help them with a new armour-piercing ammunition and various other kinds of tools that allow them to put up a more effective fight.It sounds like a great follow-up, but looking back on it twenty years later, it really isn't. For one thing, this sequel seems so determined to wrap up every loose end that there is precious little time for character development. The old characters escape this mainly because they were given a lot of it in the original series. However, they don't progress much further from that point. Donovan is still an adventurer who would take on the entire Visitor army by himself if he could. Julie is still a confused, grumpy young woman who wonders why she, of all people, would be chosen to lead this outfit. Robert Maxwell is still the affable scientist who is torn by his need to protect his daughters, no matter what the cost is. Daniel and Eleanor are still the weak, insubstantial forms who don't realise that when all opposition is eliminated, they'll be the first ones up against the wall. If it hadn't been for the original miniseries, you'd know very little about these characters at the beginning of The Final Battle, and even less at the end.Not that it is all bad. Some of the loose ends are tied up so well that they become classic moments in television history. The fate of Brian is one of the most haunting moments in the story, reflecting a situation that has happened in many wars before now, and will happen in many wars to come. The use of germ warfare against the Visitors is an old story, harkening back to the classic War Of The Worlds scenario. Little was known about the nature of bacteria or virii in Wells' day, so it is even more satisfying that this time around they are able to give it some setup, making the payoff seem less like Deus Ex Machina. The little saga between Caleb and Elias Taylor is also given a payoff that will go down in television history as a classic moment. That Michael Wright and Jason Bernard didn't get more work than they did after this stellar performance is one of the many injustices of the Hollywood system.A special mention, of course, must go to Michael Ironside and Mickey Jones. When we are first introduced to their characters, we're almost bracing ourselves for yet another Rambo type. While we know little more about Chris Faber in the end than we did when we first see him, there's just enough in this series to make Ham Tyler seem vaguely three-dimensional. This, in turn, is a lot more than what can be said for most of the other characters unique to The Final Battle.Interestingly, a new miniseries has been announced with the original series creator Kenneth Johnson at the helm, and with key members of the original cast having already signed on. Whether Johnson intends to ignore or downplay this series remains unknown, but unfortunately, most of The Final Battle could simply be ignored without consequence. Most of the story seems more like a predefined statement of mission goals rather than any dramatic conflict as was shown in the original series, so in this instance, I'd just savour the classic moments and forget the rest. In all, a six out of ten seems about right.

konky2000 While I thought the original mini-series was great, this follow up only ranks as a fun trip down memory lane. I doubt I will ever watch it again after having just seen it on DVD.In the original we watch a band of revolutionaries form a secret underground resistance to the alien visitors. It is a very thinly veiled allegory to Nazism, but that is what makes it so effective.In this second part, we basically follow the 'incredible' adventures of the underground resistance as they perform various deeds. The plot just seems to be treading water and not going anywhere for the first 3 hours. As others have mentioned, the ending feels quite abrupt and unsatisfying. The biggest problem is that the resistance fighters seem capable of pulling the most amazing feats, slipping past security with amazing ease, and hiding out in a 'secret' hideout that would take the aliens about 10 minutes to find. The bottom line problem is, how can an alien race that is capable of travelling 65 million miles through space not also have a proximity detector that tells them when resistance fighters are rustling around in the bushes outside of their 'security headquarters'? With the credibility strained, the action sequences just feel repetative.As in the original, the human sub-plots are what remain the most interesting. The most interesting is the story of the girl who was impregneted by an alien in the first series. Watching her come to grips with being the mother of a possible alien is pretty good.If you remember seeing this when you were young, get it for fun, but don't expect too much from it.

JX When I was young this show was it. Aliens coming to take over our planet just like we always thought. Now they didn't do it via a all out attack, (although they could) no they had watched us for awhile and realized the best thing to due was to use politics. Then we would willingly turn our selves into slaves, and then when they got what they needed from us they would simply destroy the planet and leave. What a simple, easy, and almost traditional Earth plan.Of course not everyone on the planet was willing to be led like sheep by there leaders. They don't believe the news reports, and they cause trouble for the aliens and the elected officials. Storming news conferences, trying to expose a so called conspiracy, so on and so forth.It was an obvious re-working of the Nazi parties attempt to rid the world of what they thought were inferior people (jews,blacks,most everyone else who wasn't blond haired and blue eyed Aryans). This is mentioned in the very beginning of the series and is never in question. And although the effects are extremely dated at this point in time, the entire series was a up to date for 1983. You need to remember that Return of the Jedi was just coming or just did come out. As I remember Battle Star Galatica was still on, and CGI was a distant dream.Everyone was loving Sci-Fi and this mixed it with politics, humor, suspense and old memories of our own tragic past. The girls looked good in there body suit uni's and there were new weapons and vehicles for the all important merchandising tie ins. It was a movie so we all knew who would win out. And all the aliens came in Russian red. (I wonder why they picked red in the middle of a cold war? Hmmmm...)I remember watching this over and over, my parents just got a new vcr and we discovered that if you watch a movie 100 or so times and use one of those speedy rewinders you can ruin a VHS tape in no time. I believe I was about 8 when it first aired and everyone I knew watched this thing live and on tape, plus we knew about every line. When my copies of this and "The Final Battle" got destroyed from abuse, my parents asked my Uncle to throw his copy away as opposed to giving it to me.This is one of my all time favorite movies along with the follow-up and series. It inspired more sci-fi after it then people will admit to. And although like I said before it looks really dated now days, it was still one of the most popular mini-series of all time. It deserves more credit then people give it. For those who haven't seen it, watch it for the fun story. For those who have seen it, don't hold the effects against it. It is 20 years old now and even ROTJ looks severely dated at this point. Not to mention that The ships in ID4 look like they were digitally removed from this movie and layered into that movie.

John Murray V:The Final Battle is a worthy follow-up.Singer and Grant lead the large cast once again with standout performancesand are joined by a well-cast Michael Ironside who plays Ham Tyler as the ultimate tough guy with a 'tude.I forgot to mention Jane Badler in my review of the first mini,something I deeply regret.In both minis as Diana,Badler is one of the all-time great sci-fi villainesses.She commands every scenes she's in and her presence is felt when she's not.Having Bad in her last name doesn't hurt either.In terms of pure meanness she blows away Dynasty's Alexis in the Super Bitch sweepstakes.It's a lot of fun,filled with suspense and shocks,and great at the climax where we get to enjoy watching Singer,Grant,Ironside,et al kick some Visitor ass. 9 out of 10!