Where to start, the premis is a good one and as others have said it could be a story to go places, but the acting, oh the acting.Somewhere there is a 1st Grade Nativity missing it's cast, really it was awful.I have a feeling this will become a cult classic

Terrible acting, even worse dialog, but the worst is the special effects. They're special all right. Remember "Hardware Wars" special effects? They're stellar compared to the effects in this movie.

Sci-Fi Thriller "Astro", From Writer/Director Asif Akbar is a pretty cool approach about the extraterrestrial going's on at Rosewell! An overnight billionaire Mr. Biggs ( Brilliantly played by Marshall Hilton) goes exploring the universe and comes home with an Extraterrestrial. This is not your lovable ET but a prisoner being experimented on. A veteran Jack (Gary Daniels) from a special force unit is living the quiet life with his daughter Laura (Courtney Akbar) in the dessert. He spends his days riding horses and shooting bows for target practice. They seem happy, but are still mourning the death of her mother (Dominique Swain) and his wife from a bout with cancer. Biggs who is an old friend of Jack, invite him and his Daughter to his estate to discuss a business proposal. Promises of a vacation and a job excites the daughter, but Jack is weary. After an attack on his house from some assassins, he places his daughter in a safe place and takes the offer from his old friend. What he finds out is that this job is nothing that he expected! Turns out that he will be experimented on because of similar DNA's! What started out as a promising proposal soon goes south and quickly things are revealed about what is planned for Jack. Everyone involved even the scientists see there is an evil behind Mr. Biggs experiments and could lead to the end of the world as we know it! There is enough story here to please the most die hard sci fi fan. This is no goofy alien from space take over and let's kills them. But an original approach at the sci-fi genre. It's a salute to the great sci-fi flicks of the 70's and 80's, This movie features and outstanding cast including the hard working Michael Pare. But the mad Billionaire played wickedly by Marshal Hilton stands outs. His deliverance and emotion that he puts into his character has You mesmerized. He has away that even when he does not talk, he says so much with his body movement and more importantly his facial expressions. So that and along with the pretty cool FX and a convincing Alien make this a cool watch. Not a fake CGI alien but a real live convincing Alien. You have pretty cool Alien laboratory scenes, spaceships in space, action scenes. This has it all. I would love to see the story continue an hope to see a sequel and further the adventures of the characters. There could be so much more to be told! Sci fi is a tough subject that cover, but when it is done rite it can be so enjoyable. Director Asif Akbar tackled a tremendous project for a low budget movie and came out creating a really enjoyable movie! I had the pleasure of talking to the Director Asif Akbar briefly about this movie and he has told me this and I quote from the director himself! " I'm not trying to compete with the avengers but have tried to pay homage to many of the great sci-fi/action/horror films we all grew up watching in the 70's,80's and 90's. My intention was not to make it so Fx heavy, but to create human characters that people could relate to in our contemporary society. Over 70% of our world's population believe in the extraterrestrial and paranormal activities, I hope this may shed some light on those believers in an entertaining way."Well my friend you have achieved that! It's available now through Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the U.S. and Canada then following into other foreign countries shortly after in the summer! On DVD and on Demand!The film's cast includes Gary Daniels, Marshal Hilton, Courtney Akbar, Max Wasa, Louis Mandylor, and Michael Paré.

I wrote this while watching the film. The dialogue seemed a little too natural with blandness and obvious errors that people have when speaking without thinking. Some of the technical jargon could have used a little more work on consistency. The hand held camera work is reasonably good without the extreme shakiness that made Bourne Ultimatum so nauseating to watch. Action sequences weren't too bad but could have been more fluid. The short pauses during action scenes would have benefited by replacing them with slow motion. This movie started with a good story line and ended abruptly without completing the story. I don't know what the budget for this was, but it must have been very low. If your prospective is of a group of inexperienced students first attempt at making a movie, then it was a decent attempt. I don't expect this movie to leave the 1 to 5 dollar discount video bin at your local department store.