Premise - God, where to start. It's the year 3000 and man has been
enslaved by aliens that wear platforms. Only the comedy stylings off Bill
Hick's ghost can save humanity. Ok, that's not right. Hell, it would have
been a lot better though.
Yikes. I knew this was going to be bad, but jeez. I am actually stunned
at the badness of this movie. John Travolta must have been smoking some
pretty strong weed to think this picture was a good idea.
The
acting is universally terrible. Travolta is especially bad. However what
do you expect from a man behind a mountain of latex. Wearing cheap contact
lenses, what look like nose plugs and the most ridiculous footwear in the
history of cinema (tm). Lord have mercy, what is Forest Whitaker doing in
this? I hope it was for the Michael Caine reason (needs a new
extension/house/whatever). Barry Pepper is the only one to survive this
film with any ounce of credibility. But only because he isn't awful, just
bad.
I think that the director must have one leg shorter than the
other. The whole film seems to be shot sloping either to the left or
right. It is VERY annoying. The sfx are awful. Another example using CGI,
not because it would suit the situation. But because they can. Any number
of fx in this movie could have been better using practical photography,
but "everyone else is using CGI so why can't we?" seems to be the order of
the day.
Where the film really falls down though is the what they
laughingly refer to as the script. I know it's a sci-fi film, but come on.
Near Neanderthal men becoming skilled Harrier Jump-Jet pilots in a matter
of days and destroying life long alien pilots? Sheer lunacy!!! The story
just doesn't hold any water, constantly I was laughing out loud at it's
ridiculousness.
This film is nonsense, but it's worth seeing. If
only to say that you've seen one of (if not the) worst films ever made. In
the same way that Ed Wood films are bad so is this film. In years to come
I can see this becoming a cult classic. People will go to midnight
screenings dressed up like the aliens. It will be kitsch, like Showgirls
and The Rocky Horror Picture Show are now.
