Fire in the Sky
(1993) 109 Min.
Rated: PG-13
Country: USA
Director: Robert Lieberman
Starring: D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer, James Garner
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★★☆☆
After a day’s work, a truck full of loggers encounter a UFO and one of them is abducted.
Synopsis:
On November 5, 1975 in Snowflake, Arizona, logger Travis Walton (Sweeney), and his co-workers—Mike Rogers (Patrick), Allan Dallas (Sheffer), David Whitlock, Greg Hayes and Bobby Cogdill —head to work in the White Mountains.
During the night their truck is seen racing down out of the forest at full speed. They stop at a bar to call the cops.
They tell their story of as they were driving home that night they saw red fill the sky. Thinking it was a forest fire they drove closer. Instead they saw a saucer-shaped flying object. Travis Walton got out of the truck and walked toward it. A beam of bright white light struck him and he fell to the ground. The rest of the group thinks that Travis is dead and they drive off. Mike, however, decides to go back with his truck. As he revisits the spot Travis is gone as is the UFO.
Lieutenant Frank Watters (Garner) doesn’t believe their story and suspects them of murder.
There is a huge search of the area where they logged but no trace of Travis is found. Mike and the loggers face accusations of murder as well as mistrust among the other Snowflake residents. The men are offered to take a lie detector test. After the test, Allan’s results came out as inconclusive and they are asked to re-take the test. The men refuse. It seems though that the rest of the men were telling the truth.
About five days after the incident, Mike gets a phone call from someone claiming to be Travis. Mike gathers the other loggers and they take a trip to meet Travis. He is found alone and naked at a fuel station. Travis is quiet and easily scared. He is taken to a hospital.
While Travis is in the hospital, Mike visits him secretly. He tells Travis that they thought he was dead and drove away in fright. Travis gets angry at Mike for leaving him. Mike, in turn, becomes angry with Travis for getting out of the truck to look closer at the UFO.
During a welcome home party, Travis gets scared and climbs under a table. The memories that he forgot about come flooding back and he has vivid flashbacks.
Travis remembers being placed into a pod covered by a membrane which he breaks through. He floats and falls into another pod with a half decomposed human corpse.
He floats down to room full of “grey”-like aliens but on closer inspection he realizes that they are spacesuits. One alien,however, captures him and he is dragged down long tunnels and placed on an examination table. Large thin aliens with small black eyes and slit-mouths hold him down.
A long membrane is placed over his body and cut so that his mouth and eye are uncovered. Tubes are stuffed down his mouth and he is pricked and prodded with cold needles as he yells helplessly.
Travis is in a therapist’s office and Lieutenant Watters is also listening in. Watters does not believe the UFO and alien story and feels like one day they will reveal the truth, but he leaves the town as the mystery is “unsolved” for now.
Two and a half years pass and Travis is a father now. He decides one day to see Mike who is now divorced and moved away from the town. Neither man has spoken to the other, but Travis takes Mike on a drive to the spot of the abduction. Both men discuss how hard it is to sleep at night after their experiences and both forgive each other for the events that happened. They make amends and drive off together.
The credits inform that men retook a polygraph test and they all passed.
Review:
For the most part this story plays out somewhat like a mystery and character study. There’s the backdrop of a sleepy town which is suddenly thrust into the spotlight once the loggers encounter a UFO and Travis goes missing. With the suspicion of murder frequently whispered among the townsfolk we do get to watch as the loggers slowly become outcasts.
Much of the film also focuses on Mike who was Travis’ best friend and whose marriage crumbles as the pressure of the ordeal takes its toll. Robert Patrick plays the part of Mike well.
James Garner is pretty flawless as as the lieutenant who refuses to believe the UFO story and skulks around town waiting to pop up at a moment’s notice and arrest the men for the murder of Travis.
The movie slows down in pacing in the middle and it’s really the first scenes and the scenes towards the end where the UFO and aliens are featured. To be honest, they’re the most memorable and they’re the draw of the title. The alien abduction and examination sequences are probably some of the most unsettling things on film. They aren’t overly gruesome or gory, but the concept of helplessness while being forcefully probed and injected is frightening for most viewers.
I was a bit disappointed to know that the movie depicts the abduction and events in the UFO differently from Travis Walton’s writings and descriptions, so I’ll still categorize it as partially based on true events but otherwise sci-fi.
The film is certainly watchable though the most memorable scenes are few and far apart. It’s recommended for anyone interested in disconcerting alien abduction tale, but don’t rely on the sparse scenes to keep you fully horrified or even engaged for the duration of the film.