Sometimes I enjoy a low budget science fiction film like this, mindless fun. Interesting that Chakotay from Star Trek Voyager is in this film, it took me a minute to figure out it was him as he looks a little older and has gained some weight. There is a really cute news crew camera lady that gets killed off in the film, could not find her name in the cast list. I read the main review but disagree as this is not a big budget film and I don't expect to great special affects and great acting, but I enjoy seeing minor B level actors sometimes. I saw the film today in Thailand on my cable TV Syfy Universal Channel. So if you just want to relax and watch a fun film and see some rookie actors with some seasoned B level actors, this is worth a look.

The plot of FIRE SERPENT is somewhat intriguing - alien creatures emerge from the Sun and attack Earth . You could easily see this plot being used by a Hollywood studio where a couple of A list actors and actresses battle demonic creatures from Hell with the future of civilization at stake . Certainly it sounds like a very easy to market . Sadly the pitch was made to the sci-fi channel and not a major Hollywood executive From the outset we're shown that there's aliens involved but the characters don't realise this which means the narrative is very sluggish . If you're writing a script make sure the audience are as knowledgeable characters in the story or don't construct the story as a mystery . because it quickly becomes tedious when the characters are trying to unravel the causes of mysterious fire deaths while the audience knows whats happening The writers also fail to keep things tightly plotted with a few too many characters and subplots . There's some callous FBI spooks on the case along with a TV crew , not to mention the religious fanatic and a friendly sheriff . There's plot conveniences of the fire monster burning down a house but no one being around to see it . Why did the monster burn down the house ? Ask the writers because there's on screen explanation as to why That said the film could have been saved somewhat if they been impressive production values . A story like this would have greatly benefited from a big budget that would have included atmospheric night sequences . Sadly however it's made for the Sci-Fi channel which means all the sequences are shot in daylight and all the special effects are very obviously created with CGI

A couple of campers, remembering Smokey the Bear's admonition that "only you can prevent forest fires" dutifully attempt to put out their campfire with water, only to be possessed/roasted by some angry fire entity (which occasionally growls or roars) that doesn't like water much. From there it torches or possesses anybody it can find, but it's out in the wilderness, so there aren't too many victims available. It's a smart fire creature, though, so it plots and executes a plan to...uhh, do something nasty, apparently.Guess what? A government conspiracy, led by a lunatic who spouts off out-of-context biblical scriptures about fires, is trying to use the thing to wipe out people he doesn't like. Can you say "two-cliches-for-the-price-of-one?" Can you further believe this nut job with his "burning desire" is named (ready?) Cooke? Egad. His able assistant, unaware of his intentions, helps a firefighter find a way to extinguish the menace, with the predictable results as to who's going to end up french-fried and who survives. Theories about the invader abound: not only is it accused of apocalyptic tendencies, but apparently it came from solar flares. Because of these disjointed and impossible to reconcile backgrounds, plot holes proliferate faster than the charred bodies of victims. For example, why didn't these pyrotechnic wraiths sizzle the whole planet long ago? The acting actually rises above the script and breathes some life into the characters' back stories and motivations. Special effects get a split-decision: some are impressive and interesting, others are just fake looking and cheap. Overall: watchable. However, nobody involved need write an Oscar acceptance speech.

My expectations of this movie were agonizingly low, based on 1) the fact that it's a Sci-Fi Channel Original, and 2) according to the trailers, Captain Kirk had something to do with it. (Though I'm not sure exactly what. All the trailer said was, "From the mind of William Shatner." Does that mean they brainwashed him into writing a screenplay, or did he dial up Sci-Fi Channel corporate offices one day and say, "Hi, William Shatner calling. I think you should do a movie about a sun flare that shoots its way to earth and stalks people like a giant snake? Now get to work. Good-bye.") In reality, the movie wasn't as horrible as I suspected. It definitely sucks, but it sucks in such a way that you're kind of laughing yourself through it and waiting for the next scene to ridicule. The opening scene flashes back to 1966, when the Fire Serpent first came down to Minnesota as a spark that ambushed and killed a young female firefighter who was putting out a brush fire with her boyfriend Dutch. Instead of spending the next 40 years terrorizing the world, the Fire Serpent apparently hibernates until this past Saturday night, when some firefighter named Jake (played by Nicholas Brendon) sees the Fire Serpent do the exact same thing to his rookie friend. Brendon runs into Dutch, who tries to explain that this fire wasn't really a fire, it was a living, snake-like monster. Brendan thinks Dutch is on drugs and tells him to go pound sand. Right here, I wanted to slap Brendon upside the head. The last time I saw Brendon in a movie, he spent two hours getting chased all over a secluded island by a killer pinata in "Demon Island," so he should know that if giant pinatas can come to life, so can fire. In the meantime, Sci-Fi Original veteran actor Robert Beltran spends most of his time in a power struggle with a young actress who has a nice figure (can't remember her name but she played Evelyn in last season's "24") about who has jurisdiction over forest fires in Minnesota. The movie leaves you hanging with unanswered questions. For example, why did the Fire Serpent kill a young lady in 1966, take a 40-year hiatus and then re-emerge in the present day to continue it's killing spree? If the Fire Serpent is such a bad-a**, why is there only a cast of a half-dozen people in this whole movie (You'd think the Fire Serpent's reign of terror would've attracted more attention)? Why bother writing the nosy, investigative reporter and her photog into the film when they get killed 20 minutes into the movie? The special effects don't draw you in either, they're horrible and the creature looks like it was drawn by orange crayon. But the movie is just entertaining enough, even if in a laughable way, to get you to keep watching until the end. I give it a 4 out of 10, only because it's better than that "Pumpkinhead" drivel Sci-Fi Channel wheeled out two weeks ago and I gave that movie a 3.