V: THE FINAL BATTLE (1984)

The distress signal sent into outer space at the end of the first film is forgotten (although that would have been really cool), instead the human Resistance attack a human meat processing plant and fail miserably.  They limp back to their base to lick their wounds.  They regroup and keep attacking the Visitors over and over.  At the same time, the Visitors keep trying to destroy the Resistance.  It's a lot of fun to watch.  I loved the battle at the water facility.   

You also got ol' girl from the first film who is still pregnant with the Visitor baby; some mercenaries join the Resistance; the Resistance kidnaps Freddy Krueger; the Resistance leader is kidnapped by Diana; Diana shooting a Bible with a laser; a priest fires an Uzi; the Beastmaster slides down the hood of a spaceship and racks himself on a Visitor's face; hot air balloons; that one cave that's been in like a thousand movies; some crazy ass lizard babies; lots of explosions; a giant snake and much more.  Including a young girl who starts sparking like a TWILIGHT vampire in the sun.  It was really bizarre and unexpected.

Originally shown over three nights on NBC from May 6th to the 8th, 1984, V: THE FINAL BATTLE is over four hour long, but it flies by!  I've seen it multiple times and it's still highly entertaining.  Solid acting, fast pace, good special effects, great story.

I think both of the original V films are awesome!

Part 1 - V (1983)

V (1983)

"You always said it couldn't happen here. Then one day we woke up and we were living in a Fascist state."

Originally broadcast as a two-night event (May 1st & 2nd, 1983) on NBC, V tells the story of how suddenly 50 massive spaceships show up and start hovering above major cities all around the Earth.  Who are these aliens?  What do they look like?  Are they friendly?  Are they here to kill us?  Are they here to pitch the idea for a crossover movie called STOMP THE YARD VS. TREMORS?  Nobody knows!  Eventually, they reveal themselves (they look just like humans) and their intentions (they simply what to trade knowledge in exchange for some common chemicals and minerals).  Everybody lives happily ever after.  The End.

Or maybe not.  It turns out that after acting like they come in peace and weaseling their way onto our good side, the visitors are actually here for sinister reasons.  Duh!  And, of course, by the time anybody begins to suspect that these pushy visitors are actually evil they've already taken over everything: the military, the police, the media, factories, etc.  They even have their own youth organization full of snitches.  So now it's up to random groups of freedom fighters to save humanity.  Sadly, the main events in V only take place around Los Angeles and the rest of the world is unaccounted for.

Yeah, the story is preposterous, too vague and nowhere near as dark as I would like, but V is still a very entertaining three hours.  If you've never seen it and have even just the slightest interest in 1980's culture, then you should check it out.  Good acting by a strong cast, dated special effects that somehow still hold up, compelling story, Freddy Krueger as an alien, quick pace and that scene.  You know the one.

Part 2 - V: The Final Battle (1984)

Freddy Krueger is an alien?!

Is that a member of the film crew off to the left?