Evolution [Blu-ray]

Director: Ivan Reitman Ivan Reitman

Overview

The spirit of the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984) is intentionally recalled with this effects-heavy sci-fi comedy from the same director, Ivan Reitman, co-starring Dan Aykroyd and debuting on the 17th anniversary of the earlier film's release. When a meteor bearing single-celled organisms crashes to the Earth, the life forms are initially confined to a cave. Before long the creatures are evolving at an exponentially rapid rate, resulting in fearsome aliens running amok and possibly spelling mankind's doom, or at least the end of man's domination over life on Earth. Investigating the phenomenon is a community college professor, Ira Kane (David Duchovny), his geologist friend Harry Block (Orlando Jones), wannabe fireman Wayne Green (Seann William Scott), and government scientist Allison Reed (Julianne Moore). Evolution also stars Ted Levine, Ethan Suplee, and Katharine Towne.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/23/2021
UPC:	0191329207802
Original Release:	2001
Source:	Paramount
Language:	English
Time:	1:41:00
Sales rank:	11,865

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

David Duchovny	Ira
Julianne Moore	Allison
Orlando Jones	Harry
Seann William Scott	Wayne
Ted Levine	Gen. Woodman
Ethan Suplee	Deke
Michael Bower	Danny,Actor
Dan Aykroyd	Gov. Lewis
Katharine Towne	Nadine
Gregory Itzin	Cartwright
Ashley Clark	Lt. Cryer
Pat Kilbane	Officer Johnson
Ty Burrell	Flemming
Michelle Wolff	Carla
Sarah Silverman	Denise
Richard Moll	Fire Training Inspector
Michael McGrady	Fireman
Steven Gilborn	Judge Guilder
Wayne Duvall	Dr. Paulson
Michael Chapman	Sheriff Long
Kyle Gass	Officer Drake
Lucas Dudley	Sgt. Toms
Steven Pierce	Sgt. Larson
Wendy Braud	Nurse Tate
Jennifer Savidge	Claire
Jerry Trainor	Tommy
Stephanie Hodge	Jill Mason
Kristen Meadows	Patty
Winifred Freedman	Debbi
Miriam Flynn	Grace
Mary Pat Gleason	Customer
Tony Mirzoian	Husband
Morgan Nagler	Dressing Room Shoplifter
Andrew Bowen	Road Worker
Steve Kehela	Reporter
Lee Garlington	Reporter
Joshua Ackerman	Student
Kenny Blank	Student
John Cho	Student
Tressa Pope	Student
Adrienne Smith	Student
Chris Wylde	Student
Marty Belafsky	Military Policeman
Lee Weaver	Military Policeman
Tom Davis	Governor's Aide
Gary Kent	Governor's Aide
Timothy R. Layton	Guard Gate Soldier
Angelo Vacco	Officer Thompson
Tom Woodruff Jr.	Lead Primate Creature
Michelle Wolf	Actor
Jim Brockhohn	Actor
Erin Carufel	Actor
Diondre Cheatam	Actor
Annie Coffey	Actor
Johnny Drocco	Actor
Wendy Braun	Nurse Tate
John Powell	Composer

Technical Credits

David Diamond

David Weissman

Don Jakoby

Ivan Reitman	Director,Producer
Jeff Apple	Executive Producer,Producer
Howard Berger	Special Effects
Alec Gillis	Special Effects
Robert Kurtzman	Special Effects
Joe Medjuck	Producer,Director
Greg Nicotero	Special Effects
Tom Pollack	Executive Producer
Thomas Robinson Harper	Stunts
Margery Simkin	Casting
Phil Tippett	Special Effects
Bruno Van Zeebroeck	Special Effects
Tom Woodruff Jr.	Special Effects
David Diamond	Screenwriter
David Weissman	Screenwriter
Don Jakoby	Screenwriter,Producer
Tom Pollock	Producer,Executive Producer
David Rodgers	Producer,Executive Producer
William Aldridge	Special Effects
Brian Bennett	Stunts
Christopher Assells	Sound Effects
Sheldon Kahn	Producer
Ken Schwenker	Producer
Ronell Venter	Producer
Lance Gilmer	Special Effects
Elia P. Popov	Special Effects
Paul Deason	Producer
Daniel Goldberg	Director,Producer
William Kaplan	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Borrowing heavily from Men in Black and his own Ghostbusters, Ivan Reitman directs the kind of jokey special effects movie in which characters swap wisecracks while getting sprayed with alien goo. Agreeable but instantly forgettable, Evolution treats the possible extinction of humankind as if it were auditions for amateur night at the local comedy club, and the silliness infests the movie even more than the rapidly mutating alien organism infests the Arizona desert. As the two community college science professors who discover the life form, David Duchovny (never more loose and self-satisfied) and crowd-pleaser Orlando Jones alternate uncomfortably between learned reasoning and frat boy razzing. As if any more comic relief were necessary, typecast moron Seann William Scott (Dude, Where's My Car?) is on board to reach a few extra demographics. Julianne Moore shows her softer side as a simpatico government agent who is also a huge klutz. The aliens are a hybrid of typical space alien stuff and dinosaurs, looking good if not actually groundbreaking. A winged creature that's obviously a pterodactyl stand-in carries a young girl through a mall without leaving a scratch -- part of an overall trend to stay light, rather than showing any of the real carnage that might accompany a situation like this. However, since it was released in the era of Tom Green and the Farrelly brothers, there's a fair amount of rectal humor -- both human and alien -- to fill the gross-out quota. Positioned to be a summer blockbuster hit, Evolution shows the strain of trying to be everything to everyone, but it's also difficult to imagine leaving the theater without wearing a goofy grin.