Year 5, Day 176 - 6/25/13 - Movie #1,468
BEFORE: Another film with humans visiting another planet. I had the linking all worked out, but what was it? Was it the fact that Willem Dafoe from "John Carter" was also in "Platoon" with Keith David (last seen in "Always") ? Maybe not, but let's run with it.
THE PLOT: A group of marooned space travelers struggle for survival on a seemingly lifeless sun-scorched world.
BEFORE: Another film with humans visiting another planet. I had the linking all worked out, but what was it? Was it the fact that Willem Dafoe from "John Carter" was also in "Platoon" with Keith David (last seen in "Always") ? Maybe not, but let's run with it.
THE PLOT: A group of marooned space travelers struggle for survival on a seemingly lifeless sun-scorched world.
AFTER: There have been other films like this before - ones that depict future space travel, where the people are put in suspended animation so they can reach another planet. Presumably humans have spread out into the galaxy, and naturally we'd want to send our best, brightest and most capable people out to populate other planets. You know, like scientists, statesmen, and murderers. Wait, what? Why is there a murderer on board, are they going to drop him off at the prison planet, or are they just trying to get him off of Earth?
Of course, if the spaceship makes it to its destination and gets the dangerous criminal into his cell, that wouldn't make for a very exciting or interesting film. So you can bet that something's going to go wrong - the ship is forced to land on an uncharted desert-type planet, where the day lasts forever because the planet has three suns. I'd like to see some paperwork on how this works - I've heard of binary systems, but never a trinary. Is that even a word?
They find the remains of a settlement, or perhaps another crashed ship, but no people. Uh-oh. And no bodies either, so figure that one out. Almost too conveniently, the settlement has a little model of the planetary system, and it proves that there is a massive eclipse every 22 - what? Every 22 months, every 22 years, every 22 days? They didn't really spell this out very well. But I guess all you need to know is that the darkness is coming, and bad things come out of the desert hidey-holes at night.
Ah, so we're doing a riff on "Alien", where humans need to outsmart creepy nasties, or else end up as food. At least they give the characters a choice about whether to be more afraid of the devil outside, or the devil in their midst. It's also worth wondering who's got the edge - a tough human or a bunch of tough aliens. This is the film that established Vin Diesel as an action hero, so you place your bets where you want.
This one moves at a brisk pace, the reversals keep coming, even though that often comes at the expense of explaining exactly what's taking place. But we're not here to get into the science of it all, we're here to fight some aliens and blow stuff up. Right?
Of course, if the spaceship makes it to its destination and gets the dangerous criminal into his cell, that wouldn't make for a very exciting or interesting film. So you can bet that something's going to go wrong - the ship is forced to land on an uncharted desert-type planet, where the day lasts forever because the planet has three suns. I'd like to see some paperwork on how this works - I've heard of binary systems, but never a trinary. Is that even a word?
They find the remains of a settlement, or perhaps another crashed ship, but no people. Uh-oh. And no bodies either, so figure that one out. Almost too conveniently, the settlement has a little model of the planetary system, and it proves that there is a massive eclipse every 22 - what? Every 22 months, every 22 years, every 22 days? They didn't really spell this out very well. But I guess all you need to know is that the darkness is coming, and bad things come out of the desert hidey-holes at night.
Ah, so we're doing a riff on "Alien", where humans need to outsmart creepy nasties, or else end up as food. At least they give the characters a choice about whether to be more afraid of the devil outside, or the devil in their midst. It's also worth wondering who's got the edge - a tough human or a bunch of tough aliens. This is the film that established Vin Diesel as an action hero, so you place your bets where you want.
This one moves at a brisk pace, the reversals keep coming, even though that often comes at the expense of explaining exactly what's taking place. But we're not here to get into the science of it all, we're here to fight some aliens and blow stuff up. Right?
Also
starring Vin Diesel (last heard in "The Iron Giant"), Radha Mitchell (last seen in "Man on Fire"), Cole Hauser (last seen in "The Break-Up"), Claudia Black (last seen in "Queen of the Damned"), Rhiana Griffith.
RATING: 5 out of 10 micro-meteors
No comments:
Post a Comment