A busload full of Autons, alien robots that should have been destroyed
years ago, has gone missing, and Professor Lockwood (Michael Wade) is in
the center of attention concerning this since he has ordered the Autons to
be moved. Problem is, he is also the leading expert on how to fight the
Autons ... So UNIT, the UNO sub-section to deal with alien invasions,
teams him up with psychic NAtasha Alexander (Jo Castleton), and their
relationship is rocky to begin with because Lockwood doesn't like to work
with other people who might know something that he doesn't (and psychics
do that), and it's getting even more strained when he finds out she's
actually here to monitor him. On the other hand, she can't make head or
tails of him, because she knows he's no traitor to the human race, but
also knows he has come into contact with the Nestene Intelligence that
controls the Autons, but doesn't know if the intelligence has taken over
part of his brain - in other words, whether he is friend or enemy. As
uneven as their relationship might be, Natasha and Lockwood are still able
to track the Autons down to Sentinel Island, where they have taken over
the villagers via the church. Lockwood and Natasha are soon off to the
island with a small platoon of soldiers armed with some anti-Auton
weaponry, but as fate has it, they are cut off from their armed
companions, brought to church and about to be brainwashed (as were the
villagers), but eventually, this is cut short when villager Daron (Warren
Howard), a simpleton who has invited the Autons to the island in the first
place, becomes jealous of the place the newcomers are to get in Auton the
hierarchy and destroys the Nestene's containment orb - which causes it to
grow to full size and grow tentacles, and destroy the church in the
process, before it gets in touch with Lockwood's brain, and the Nestene
intelligence and the scientist seem to fight on a mental stage, before the
alien is shot down by the army. Humanity has won another victory ... but
then again, we don't really know who has won the battle of minds, and it's
quite unclear if Lockwood is still Lockwood or already taken over by the
Nestene intelligence. Low budget alien invasion flick that's
directed in a rather old-fashioned way, so much so that it seems to have
been made decades before 1998, its actual production date - but that's not
necessarily a bad thing, because as a result the film relies less on
CGI-effects and flashy editing and more on a story that is actually
allowed to develop at its own speed ... and several ideas in this movie
are actually quite original, especially the alien taking residence in a
church and using it to get power over people. Granted, Auton 2:
Sentinel might not be the most exciting piece of science fiction ever
seen, but it's pretty interesting nevertheless.
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