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Highly Overrated But Still Good

A Masterpiece!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Released to TV in 2007, "Bats: Human Harvest" chronicles events after info is uncovered in an Alqueda camp in Iraq on the location of an important weapons specialist, American Dr. Walsh (Tomas Arana). It turns out the doctor has found an alternative funding source and sets up a new research facility deep in the mysterious Belzan forest in Chechnya, Russia, where he is developing weapons and selling them to Chechnyan rebels. A Delta team is sent on a covert mission to retrieve the doctor and his technology before the Russians find him and his lab. What the team soon discovers is that the doctor's latest weapon is a flock of large carnivorous bats that have been genetically altered to desire human flesh. The Delta team includes characters played by David Chokachi, Michael Jace and Melissa De Sousa with help by a Russian biyatch played by Pollyanna McIntosh.This is a sequel-in-name-only to 1999's "Bats," which was a conventional nature-runs-amok flick about government-funded mutated bats that escape and harass the citizens of a West Texas town. You have to give credit to "Bats: Human Harvest" for trying something different. Practically the entire movie takes place in or near the supposedly cursed Russian forest with the various militaristic groups fighting each other and the mutated bats. So there's a lot of action, albeit in a comic booky manner a la "Rambo: First Blood Part II." Speaking of the bats, they're more menacing here and there are some close-ups, but they're still a relatively weak "monster." Thankfully, the movie is well made for what it is, a made-for-TV creature feature, and there are plenty of stunning visuals in the forest, the bats, etc. And the soundtrack rocks. Unfortunately, the babe factor is almost zero. Don't get me wrong, De Sousa is an exotic curvy beauty, but she's clothed in military fatigues the entire flick. As for McIntosh, she's definitely an interesting character, but she lacks sex appeal (for me, anyway). Lastly, whereas there's a lot of action and cool visuals the story generally fails to pull the viewer into the events. That said, I DID care when a certain character buys the farm. The film runs 87 minutes and was shot in Sofia, Bulgaria.GRADE: C

Sent to investigate a colleague's disappearance, a team of soldiers along the Russian forest finds the area overrun by genetically-altered bats created as a biological weapon and try to get out alive.On the whole, this is much better than expected and is overall quite fun. One of the best elements about this one is that the films beginnings as an Action film work incredibly well in placing rather impressive action scenes in the film. the first ambush in the forest is one of these great scenes with a lot going on to take control of the bats as they're valiantly fighting the creatures swarming all over the area, making for an impressive sequence. Likewise, the take-over of the bunker and the later ambush in the woods help keep the action going with the fire-fights, explosions and creature attacks to work in a rather impressive amount of action. Aside from the fine action pieces, there's some rather good times here with the film making the most of the bats as the central villains as the swarm here is just big enough to do some real damage as this is gory enough to matter and the special effects used for them are actually very well done with the CGI swarms getting good definition by letting each creature be spotted and the close-ups for the individuals being kept to a minimum so that the focus remains on the group in action. There are a few flaws here, mainly in the rather flimsy story about the purpose behind the mission to get the scientist. It's all quite haphazard as it was done in just a few brief segments that don't make a lot of sense. Otherwise, the bat attacks comprise so few moments of screen time that it's bound to be somewhat disappointing with that factor keeping the creatures to a few select scenes, but this isn't enough of a flaw to really hold back the rather important factors here.Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.

I started to watch this flick thinking it was the Bats movie shot in 99 which is known for being bad but at least entertaining. Within the first minutes I realized a.this is not it and b.this is still bad but not entertaining at least a little. It is such a small budget that you would think some college dropouts shot it within a weekend, while they are terribly intoxicated. There is no plot to think of, no characters. Okay, you can say in a movie called bats:human harvest, I should be mad to look for engaging story or characters but the main character is so full of clichés that you can guess they were trying to establish him as one. He is this loose cannon who clearly endangers his and the teammates lives to get the job done. Now I am no soldier but I can say this kind of behavior could get you jail time, not a slap on the wrist like what he gets. Anyway, the team is dropped in a jungle full of Russian spetsnaz, chechen militia and of course, giant mutated flesh eating bats because, why not. The main enemy is the doctor who modified the bats and was using them as a bio-weapon. Long story short we get lots of scenes of bad cgi flocking on people, plush bats being thrown at characters and some bad Russian accents. It is 90 minute bore and no memorable scenes to even make fun of. Pass this on, watch Troll 2 or something.

Bats: Human Harvest is not a good or great movie, but I can think of far worse ways to waste my time. I did like the setting, not quite exotic but atmospheric enough, the photography is not too slipshod and the editing and music were decent. The effects and acting were uneven but by no means across-the-board-distractingly-bad. Some of the effects do look artificial, but the bats are ferocious enough. In terms of acting, there are some who do put effort into their roles, but also others who look as though they are just reading lines. The real problems though were with the characters, story and especially the script. The characters are stereotypical with not much development going on. The story is not exactly dull, but it is never exactly exciting either, and holds few surprises too. The script is the worst offender, often cheesy and stilted than not. All in all, one of the movies that falls into the some good/some bad category. 5/10 Bethany Cox