Phase IV

1974 science fiction ant movie

Rating: 14/20

Plot: Somebody who enjoyed Them! decided that the whole thing would have been better if the menacing ants were just normal-sized itty-bitty guys and then made a movie about that.

I watched this because it was the only (sadly) shot Saul Bass had as a full-length-feature-film director, and I just had to see what the greatest title sequence designer ever--at least, I don't think I need an "arguably" in there--did. His graphic design career is probably more important and impressive than 90% of the directors out there, so although I didn't have high expectations for this, I did have some expectations. The pacing just feels off, and the storytelling is weak although the twist at the end works well enough. I did also watch an alternate ending on Youtube, an ending that was a lot more visually daring and experimental. It sort of clashed with the tone of the rest of the film, but it still rocked, all psychedelic fuzz and visual trickery. Nigel Davenport and Michael Murphy are the scientific guys, and they're both fine even though the characters aren't all that interesting. It's really the ants and the effects that steal the show. I wasn't sure sometimes if I was watching stop-animation, footage of actual ants like in Microcosmos or something, or a combination of both. So many ants! There's some surreal imagery that I liked--beakers breaking in slow motion, these weird pillars the ants decided to build for some reason, shots of the scientists' domed lab in the middle of nowhere, an ant walking down a coil. It's cool stuff. There's also a great ant fight scene with these incredible camera movements that reminded me of the Quay Brothers stop-motion shorts. I also liked a creative use of time-lapse stuff. Ants are probably the least menacing antagonist you could have in a movie not named Them! or featuring Indiana Jones and some Russians, but their modus operandi is a neat twist on the insect villain genre.