Ben 10: Alien Swarm
| Ben 10: Alien Swarm | |
|---|---|
 Promotional logo for the film. |
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| Directed by | Alex Winter |
| Produced by | Alex Winter Gideon Amir |
| Written by | John Turman James Krieg |
| Based on | Ben 10: Alien Force by Man Of Action |
| Starring | Ryan Kelley Galadriel Stineman Nathan Keyes Alyssa Diaz Barry Corbin Herbert Siguenza Dee Bradley Baker Alex Winter Wendy Cutler |
| Music by | Michael Wandmacher |
| Cinematography | Anghel Decca |
| Editing by | Scott Richter |
| Budget | $40 million |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | Cartoon Network |
| Release date | November 25, 2009 |
| Running time | 69 minutes |
| Preceded by | Ben 10: Race Against Time |
Ben 10: Alien Swarm (also called Ben 10: The Movie in some cases) is a 2009 Canadian Science fiction live-action film that premiered on Cartoon Network on November 25, 2009, based on the animated series Ben 10: Alien Force. It is the sequel to the 2007 live-action film Ben 10: Race Against Time. The film was confirmed to be executive produced and directed by Alex Winter once again and written by John Turman and James Krieg. The cast were revealed throughout the Ben 10 Week towards the end of March 2009 in special commercials.[1][2] A teaser was shown during the premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc six days after the U.S. TV premiere of the film. The film also received a limited theatrical release in Australia. It takes place between the second and third seasons of Ben 10: Alien Force.
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Plot [edit]
The film opens as Ben, Gwen, and Kevin are negotiating with a group of black market dealers, who are attempting to sell them alien nanochips. One of them reveals herself to be Elena, a childhood friend of Ben and Gwen and a fellow Plumber's kid. Elena explains that she had set up the negotiations to lure Ben out into the open, and explains that her father has been abducted and that she needs their help to find him.
Just as Ben agrees to help her, the chips suddenly spring to life, controlled by a man hiding in the rafters. Kevin sees it as a double cross, though Elena insists that she is not responsible. While the dealers escape, Ben transforms into Big Chill and drives off the intruder. Elena escapes in the confusion, further justifying Kevin's suspicions. Though Gwen quickly sides with Kevin, Ben is not as easily convinced.
Arriving at their headquarters underneath the Bellwood auto repair shop, the trio, along with Grandpa Max, study the chips, learning that they are Techno-organic material|a hybrid of organic and technological components. Elena, having followed the trio, breaks in; Max orders her to leave, explaining that Elena's father, Victor Validus, was an apprentice of his who was dishonorably discharged after stealing the original chips. Ben refuses to believe that Elena is like her father, and breaks ranks with his grandfather and teammates to help her.
While Max is away, Gwen and Kevin hack into the computer files relating to Victor Validus and discover a video of Max interrogating Victor, in which Victor insists that "the Hive", the hive mind intelligence behind the chips, is coming to take over the planet. Realizing that Max's anger towards Victor's betrayal may be clouding his judgment, Gwen and Kevin decide to aid Ben as well.
Meanwhile, Ben and Elena arrive at Victor's old laboratory. It has been cleared out by the Hive, but they left Ship-It order slips behind. Other discarded files indicate that Victor was studying and upgrading the chips, and a picture shows Elena is close to the person controlling them. A mob under the control of the chips attack Ben and Elena, forcing them to retreat. They head to the Ship-It building to investigate further, though Ben is now somewhat suspicious of Elena himself, having found an order slip made out for that day, when Elena claimed that Victor had already been missing for weeks.
Gwen and Kevin, having reached the building first, are too late to stop the distribution of the chips. Instead, they are met by one of the Ship-It employees, who is also under the chips' control. He has a chip swarm attack Gwen and Kevin, which eventually wreck Kevin's car (a modified Dodge Challenger) after a lengthy chase. Ben, overhearing the commotion and following them, uses Humongousaur (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) to defeat the swarm, completely demolishing Kevin's car in the process.
By the time they return to headquarters, the chips have spread across the globe, and number in the millions. The group deduces that there must be a Queen (voiced by Wendy Cutler) controlling the Hive, and by destroying her they will likely destroy the chips as well. During their search for the queen, however, one of the chips takes over Max. Pulling together, the group notices an anomaly in the chip distribution; while world population centers are all infected, the relatively remote Barren Rock, Missouri, has the highest concentration. The town is home to the central headquarters of Ship-It. With Kevin's car out of commission, Kevin reveals that he has built a black and green car for Ben (a heavily modified Mazda RX-8), called DX Mark 10 (confirmed by Bandai and Dwayne McDuffie) as a "late birthday present."
Infiltrating the factory, the group discovers that the Queen infected Elena's father and his body is being used to mass produce the chips; when questioned, Elena admits that she knew her father was the Queen's host all along, but didn't tell them because she feared they wouldn't believe her just as the Plumbers didn't believe Victor. Gwen and Kevin reluctantly suggest killing Victor to stop the Hive, but Ben and Elena refuse to consider it. Ben uses the Omnitrix to transform into a new alien that he calls "Nanomech" (voiced by Alex Winter) which was created by scanning the DNA of the chips. He enters Victor's brain and battles the queen while Gwen, Kevin, and Elena fight the drones. After a grueling battle, Nanomech electrocutes the Queen, and all of the other chips, freeing everybody from their control.
In the aftermath, Max, after personally apologizing to Victor, decides to retire and leave his position as leader to Ben, but Ben refuses to allow him to do so. The film ends as Ben, Gwen, Kevin, and Elena drive home.
Cast [edit]
- Ryan Jonathan Kelley as Ben Tennyson
- Galadriel Stineman as Gwen Tennyson
- Nathan Keyes as Kevin Levin
- Alyssa Diaz as Elena Validus
- Barry Corbin as Max Tennyson
- Herbert Siguenza as Victor Validus
Voice cast [edit]
- Dee Bradley Baker as Big Chill and Humungousaur
- Alex Winter as Nanomech
- Wendy Cutler as The Queen
Home media [edit]
The DVD of the film was released on December 1, 2009.[3]
Reception [edit]
The film received mixed reviews from viewers, criticism on its dark storyline and the transformations going too fast.[citation needed]
Sequels [edit]
In the animated series Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, it got 2 episodes released as sequels to Alien Swarm, entitled "Revenge of the Swarm" and "The Perfect Girlfriend".
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Cartoon Network Ben 10: Alien Swarm official US site
- Cartoon Network Ben 10: Alien Swarm official AU site
- Ben 10: Alien Swarm at the Internet Movie Database
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