Bugs (2003)

The Worst Film Ever

Dreadfully Boring

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

"Bugs" is a by-the-book but still ultimately fun creature feature.**SPOILERS**Following a gruesome murder, Agent Matt Pollack, (Antonio Sabato Jr.) is called in to help solve the mystery. That the incident happens in an underground subway tunnel manages to upset businessman Victor Petronovich, (Karl Pruner) who plans to take investors down the tunnel. When news of the death reaches Dr. Emily Foster, (Angie Everhart) she deduces that the death is the result of an insect. Not knowing what's going on, the train departs down the tunnel with guests when they are suddenly cut off from radio contact. Desperate to get to the bottom of the situation, the two are dispatched down the tunnel to see what's going on. Finding the passengers on the train mutilated, they go deeper into the tunnel to find what's going on. As they get to it's deepest point, they find that the tunnel is home to a prehistoric race of giant insects that have come up to the surface due to the construction. Realizing a way to defeat them, they find a way to trap them inside once and for all.The Good News: This here wasn't all that bad. The biggest factor for the film is it's incredible action sequences. This one is pretty much filled with plenty of scenes that are flat-out exciting. The greatest ones are the first confrontation in the darkened room which is soon revealed as the nest and it just becomes an all-out slaughter as blood and severed insect limbs fly everywhere, and the fight at the power station where the film turns into a dead-rip of another famous battle scene that here comes across as being nicely injected into the film rather than because of what it is. There's several great battle scenes at the end in the storage facilities that keep the interest going. There's much more in the film alone those lines, and this one keeps the interest going with a very high action quota in the film with all the confrontations. The creatures in the film are also quite interesting. Going from a really creepy insectoid appearance, which is one of the best designs ever for these kinds of creatures, and then changing over into a completely different style that spends a large amount of time in the film with a great look as well. These look great, and that they're not as prominent as others would be expecting. There's even a really suspenseful scene from it as it hovers above the trapped characters that is wonderfully handled. The high body count from the film is also really nice, which helps as well. The many confrontations provide plenty of brutality, as there's one sequence in particular where the creatures slaughter an entire train full of people that is simply incredible. This here is a lot better than it should be.The Bad News: There isn't that much wrong with this one. One of the biggest problems is that there's way too much clichéd stuff in the film. This here plays the typical bugs-attack-from-underground style quite expertly, from the overall way they're introduced and set-up to the squad of soldiers tagging along with a resourceful female amidst the group, the sleaze-ball owner of the facility trying to buy his way out and the last minute perseverance of the heroes with a last-ditch plan that just might work. Even the main tunnel sequence at the power station contains several riffs that are quite familiar with just about every single watcher of these kinds of films. These make up quite an ample amount of time and are therefore the most obvious flaws about the film, other than the quite maddening CGI used in many scenes. It's thankfully not that obtrusive, but it is noticeable, and along with the frequent clichés, this one comes down slightly.The Final Verdict: While featuring nearly every clichéd trick in the book, this is still a pretty good creature feature. It's a great feature for those who love the fast-paced films or think the cheese is a great idea, while those that aren't and find the clichés too much won't think much of this one.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language

Most of SCI-FI channels movies are throwaway affairs, but Bugs is a large step above. Sure, the acting and writing are marginal, but who watches horror films for that??? All you want to know is: are there good special effects? (yes) is there a good amount of gore? (yes) and is there a good amount of action? (yes) The plot never gets bogged down with stupid character development or love stories and jumps into the action quickly, rarely stopping, and is frankly as satisfying as big budget, small minded feature films like Mimic, especially since you're not paying for it. A solid Saturday afternoon diversion. Much better than SCI-FI's similar films about giant killer snakes/spiders/cats/frogs/marmots.

Mostly bad acting, mostly bad CGI effects, and a trite plot that's been done to death combine to make a movie that was almost unbearable for me even as background noise while I worked on the computer.Construction of a new subway line breaches the lair of a hive of previously unknown species, i.e. giant - you guessed it - bugs. If you've seen any of the awful to great movies that employ this plot device, then you have little reason to give this movie a glance other than the different actors and a few gore effects that are done reasonably well. Some scenes will leave you scratching your head, though.At one point people in a train car are ripped apart by sometimes invisible creatures who's partial absence must be due to not having enough budget to finish all the CGI shots. In another scene, someone makes an heroic stance only to be killed by a falling section of chain-link fence.2/10 for better-than-average gore effects but not much else.

Don't dismiss this one out of hand. Sure, it's not top drawer in the giant-insect-threat-to-humanity genre. But let's not be unfair, considering the slot it's aiming for. I don't think you should judge a film of this type as if it could make it as a first-run film in movie theaters. This is a TV Sci-Fi channel entertainment. I thought the effects were pretty darn good, and the first 15 to 20 minutes set up the movie with surprising style. When the subway car that had all the rich dignitaries rolls into the station after suffering a major attack--that's a great scene with real visual flair. Folks, what do we really want in one of these? A lot of giant insects, a troop of rough and ready combat types that all get picked off over time without doing really, really stupid things, the tiresome polluter-real estate tycoon-arrogant scientist getting his just deserts at the end, and a couple brave and true folk surviving. Give this one a chance!