US Delta Force members stumble through woods in Chechnya looking to claim a mad scientist for the USA before the Russians can acquire him as well as to search for biological weapons said mad scientist might have built. These weapons turn out to be a swarm of killer bats, improved to become something more like air piranhas. Shooting and dying ensues.
Jamie Dixon's sort of sequel to the classic (or "classic" if you are boring) Lou Diamond Phillips vehicle Bats is much less fun than the original. While I approve of the decision to not make the same film again, I find the direction the film takes neither effective nor interesting. Yes, I know, certain parts of the American public just love to wallow in the glories of their so-called War on Terror but if you feel the need to let your jingoism hang out, you really should attempt to do it in an even vaguely interesting manner. Too bad the "shoot the brown people" parts of the film are so indifferently choreographed and blandly shot.
Human Harvest also takes some really curious missteps cheapos like it usually don't take, like never building up any of its bad guys to amount to anything of interest. Look, if you want to entertain an audience with this sort of film, you can't have a mad scientist and not have him hold a long, crazy speech the first time he's on screen. It is usually also quite a bit more exciting when at least one or two of the shooting gallery bad guys on the lower ranks are introduced with one or two vile characteristics apart from having the wrong skin colour. It not only makes a film more entertaining, it also protects your film from me rolling my eyes in annoyance at it.
Then, last but not least, there's the little problem that watching people with automatic weapons fighting a bat swarm is just not very interesting or fun to watch. Frankly, it's just boring, and the way Dixon films the already boring non-happenings just lacks even the tiniest bit of imagination. In fact, when watching any part of Human Harvest, it's difficult to imagine anyone involved in its production was even trying.
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