We have always had questions about space and what is really out there. Are we alone as a living species or are there other species out there that we don´t know about? Are there planets that actually have water and perhaps living organisms in the water that we have never heard about? In the future there might be some questions answered if we are able to travel longer distances in the universe, so until then we can only do research and see if we can learn something new. But there are people out there who believe we have been visited by visitors or should we say extra terrestrials, who have travelled to Earth to learn about humans. Some even say they have been here for a very long time, and have more knowledge about us than we know. Do i personally believe in all of this? No, i think most things can be explained by science. Do i believe we are alone in the universe? I honestly don´t believe we are completely alone, since there are probably many planets we don´t know about that needs to be investigated. There might be some kind of lifeform out there and i hope that before i pass away i get to see a discovery that they make, no matter what planet it is. Some of you might have read about alien abductions or seen documentaries about it on TV. One of the most famous cases when it comes to alien abductions has to be the story of American forestry worker Travis Walton, who on November 7, 1975, was abducted by aliens in the Apache-Sitegraves National Forests. Travis was missing for 5 days and 6 hours until reappeared by the side of the road near Heber, Arizona. Do i believe Travis was abducted for real? Personally i don´t believe this happened in real life, but it is an interesting case and i have listened to several inteviews with Travis Walton. Of course i can´t say that he lied because i can´t prove that, so i know i could be wrong. I am planning to read his book The Walton Experience at some point, just to dig into his story a bit deeper. In 1993 a film based on the case of Travis Walton was released in cinemas worldwide called Fire In The Sky from director Robert Lieberman. I remember when i saw this film 30 years ago and was hooked up by the fascinating story. This year Fire In The Sky turned 30 years old so i decided to revisit the film and see how i feel about Fire In The Sky after so many years. Is this film a sci fi classic or have Fire In The Sky aged a lot more than i expected over these years?
November 7, 1975 in Snowflake, Arizona, logger Travis Walton ( D.B. Sweeney ) and his co workers - Mike Rodgers ( Robert Patrick ), Allan Dallis ( Craig Sheffer ), David Whitlock ( Peter Berg ), Greg Hayes ( Henry Thomas ) and Bobby Coggdill ( Bradley Gregg ) - head to work in the White Mountains. Driving home to work, the workers notice a big red light spreading over the forest wondering if there might be a forest fire. Travis really want to see what is going on so they get closer to the location where the red light is seen. It turns out that there is no forest fire, but an unindentified flying object in the sky causing this light. Travis gets out to look closer while the other ones stay in the car, telling him to get back into the car. Suddenly a bright light hits Travis and throw him away in the air, landing on another location and seems dead. The work team panic and drive off. Mike decides to drop the men off on the road and go back and look for Travis, but can not be found. They head to the local pub where Mike calls the police to report on what happened that night, and Lt. Frank Watters ( James Garner ) takes on the case of the disappearance of Travis Walton. At first they believe that the work team might have murdered him, but as the investigation goes on, Lt. Frank Watters begin to believe that they actually might be telling the truth.
Alien abductions have always been a difficult subject to bring into a feature film, simply because there are so many witnesses and so many cases to choose between. Some cases are not as interesting as others, so to be able to make a film about one case it has to be an interesting one. In the case of Fire In The Sky i have to say that they have done a really god job making this film look good, and most of all the cast in this film is perfectly chosen. It is not often you see so many characters on screen that feel so natural in their performances for their characters, and this is one of the reasons why this film is quite different from most sci fi films. But before we dig into the characters let us talk about what i really appreciate about Fire In The Sky. First of all they took this case very seriously when they made this film, and that actually makes the film even more interesting surrounding the mystery of Travis Walton. We find out details about him as a person, and especially why he had such a strong relationship between him and his brother Mike. The cinematography by Bill Pope ( who also did the cinematography for the Sam Raimi cult classic film Army Of Darkness ) looks really good and i feel that he knew how this film needed to look to capture the right tone of the film. One of the most effective scenes in this film has to be when Travis is lying inside what seems to be some kind of examination room. The aliens in the examination scenes are not only creepy, but will make you doubt ever going to surgery again. The characters and the chemistry that they have in Fire In The Sky, clearly makes a big impact on the story. You have especially a really good performance from Robert Patrick ( who most of you know from Terminator 2 - Judgement Day ) as Mike Rodgers. There is one specific scene where Robert perhaps give his best acting performance ever, when he confronts the small town in church as he and his men have lied about Travis disappeared. Craig Sheffer as bad boy Allan Dallis is another strong performance and you really dislike this asshole, but i have to say im impressed how well Craig did his character development. D.B. Sweeney who plays the main character Travis Walton feels like a great match and you feel really sorry for him, after everything he had to go through. Director Robert Lieberman doesn´t focus too much about the abduction itself but actually tries to tell a very seriously dramatic story as well. I think that was the best choice he could have done, since this gives the film a completely different depth. Fire In The Sky is still to this day one of the best alien abduction films ever made, and i highly recommend you pick it up on Blu Ray from Shout! Factory or the distribution company Imprint. A film definetely worth owning in your physical film collection.
Rating: DDDD
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