Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

MartinHafer For some reason, IMDb does not list the estimated cost to make this film--something that they almost always give for each film. However, it doesn't take a genius to see that this film was done on the cheap--sort of like an Ed Wood or Roger Corman flick. You've only got a very small number of actors fighting for the Germans and Americans--even though it's supposed to be WWII (and this was a relatively large tiff). The acting is also only fair and the film didn't seem to go anywhere despite an interesting idea. Here's the idea--American and German soldiers are killing each other when, out of the blue, an alien lands! Now the idea of aliens disrupting WWII is a great idea and the writer Harry Turtledove did a wonderful series of alternative histories based on the premise. But in Turtledove's case, there are LOTS of aliens and lots of action, whereas in "Zone Troopers" they obviously had no budget, so you only get the bare minimum of everything. An interesting idea but nothing more.

James Bourke This movie was a very fine example of when Empire pictures delivered the goods, they really did so by the bucket load! With a crackerjack scenario, one helluva cast of Empire regulars and an overwhelming charm that just made this movie one of the best entries in the canon of Empire Pictures body of work.When it came to realising the perfect off the wall fantasy pitch Messrs Bilson and De Meo really knew their collective stuff, having already penned the ultra cool and one of my all time favourite Empire movies 'Trancers'.With this movie, they take the well worn path of the war movie and infuse it with a comic book touch! Rather than bore anyone with the retelling of the storyline, let's just say this, Tim Thomerson as the cast iron and seriously indestructible Sarge cuts the mustard, whilst Biff Manard and Art LaFleur give able assistance.As with most Empire productions, the budget was minimal, but having filmed the movie in Italy, the exteriors and the actions surrounding the characters more than pick up the slack in terms of money spent on the production, that being said who needs money when you've got imagination, and the creative team behind this classic fantasy tale threw everything they had right at it.Back when this movie first hit the video shelves, I used to make a point of hiring it out every week, like I did with nearly every other Charles Band/Empire production, and truth to tell, I never tired of watching them, because they shaped my taste in movies and to this day I will always pick a small low budget movie such as 'Zone Troopers' over any big budget movie any day.Without hesitation this movie gets 10/10

jonandshellie An interesting flick from the 1980's that I am sorry to say I only watched for the first time today. I distinctly remember the cover art and recall seeing the VHS case several times while scanning the titles at my local rental stores over the years. I just never took the time to rent the film; always choosing some other flick - some good (Critters, Fright Night, Return of the Living Dead), and some not so good (Creepshow 2, Terrorvision, Spookies).A unique sequence of events led to me watching this film. A violent electrical storm hit early this morning and I was awoken to the sound of our dogs barking their heads off. I found myself unable to fall back asleep afterward so I decided to watch a bit of TV. I started scanning the guide and I happened to run across "Zone Troopers" on a local station and decided to finally watch it, and boy was I surprised. The movie was actually entertaining and I felt kinda bad for not giving it a chance years ago. Although the story is as far fetched as they come and the believability factor scores an 0.01 out of 100, I still found myself entertained and quite amused. 'Zone Troopers' is a solid 1980's Sci-Fi offering and is definitely worth the 1 and 1/2 hours it takes to watch it.

Coventry When watching certain movies, you just know from the very first minute that you're about to have a great time. Zone Troopers is like that…the film opens with the credits while a golden oldie song is playing (I believe it's called ‘In the Mood'…) and the right light-hearted atmosphere is set immediately. Of course, I can't give too much praising and recommendation, but I certainly enjoyed my viewing. It reminded me about the silly and funny quickies from the 60's. Like Roger Corman used to make ‘em! (Little Shop of Horrors, The Raven). It's a pleasant mixture of comedy, war and Sci-Fi, but comedy definitely gets the overhand. Four surviving members of a platoon in WWII are stuck behind German enemy lines and they discover a crashed space ship. They rescue the funny looking alien from Nazi-experiments and continue their battle along with the invaders. The script is filled with hilarious sequences and one-liners. The absolute highlight is Art LaFleur hitting Hitler himself in the face after nearly being recovered from a beating he took himself!! Furthermore, the make-up and visual effects are really cheesy and silly but that only makes the whole thing even funnier. The aliens (their origin is never revealed, but they're considered to be Martians) look like an inferior breeding of Ewoks and they make adorable yummy-noises. Zone Troopers surely gets my recommendation if you're looking for 90 minutes of pure, brainless fun. It's a nice (and even necessary change) from all those so-called Sci-Fi classics that take themselves way too serious anyway.