Saturn-City

There's no point whining about what 'Saturn 3' COULD have been with a script by Martin Amis, direction by Stanley Donen ('Bedazzled'), and the star power of Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel. It is what it is, and that is, despite the impressive production values, basically a throw back to a fifties b-grade monster movie. Hector is still one of the scariest movie robots of all time, even if the idea of a sex-crazed machine is a trifle ludicrous and reminiscent of all those horny BEMs on pulp magazine covers and silly flicks like 'The Brain From Planet Arous'. Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas ('Spartacus') must have been in his early 60s when this was made but still exudes charisma and virility. 1970s sex symbol Farrah Fawcett ('Logan's Run') is less convincing as his love interest and is, let's face it, little more than eye candy. Keitel must have been wondering just how he ended up in this silliness so soon after his excellent work in 'Blue Collar' and 'Fingers', but he is creepy enough, though apparently dubbed. I also got a kick out of the very brief cameo by Ed Bishop, star of 1970s cult classic SF series 'UFO'. All in all, an unambitious but generally effective thriller, which has a few dull spots but enough scares to make it some cheesy fun. Just don't expect too much and you will enjoy it all the more.

The talent working on this film should have meant the end product was a lot more coherent than it actually was.John Barry who was involved with a story credit but was production designer for Star Wars and Superman must have had a big hand in the set design for this film as it looks incredible.The sets are so good they are a character in themselves and lend effectively to creating a sense of isolation.The sets remind me of Alien,yes they are that good which would be testament to the brilliance of Barry.Its a shame then that the rest of the film is rarther poor.It shows glimpses of promise but seems to falter just as its picking up.An expressionless Harvey Kietel seems dubbed and gave a physically hollow performance alongside an energetic Kirk Douglas and an airhead Farrah Fawcett.The visual effects are actually OK but the film seems to be missing big chunks and i get the feeling there's a version out there on the cutting room floor that is actually a lot better than what we have here.This film could probably be remade quite successfully,it has a great premise and is lacking a quality director to see it through. 6/10

In the future, Earth is overcrowded and the population relies on distant bases to be fed. In the Saturn 3 station, Major Adam (Kirk Douglas) and the scientist Alex (Farrah Fawcett), who is also his lover and has never been on Earth, have been researching hydroponics for three years in the base alone with their dog Sally.

Meanwhile, the psychotic Captain Benson (Harvey Keitel) fails the mental test required to travel to Saturn 3 and kills his replacement, Captain James, taking his place in the mission of assembling and programming the Demi-God series robot Hector to replace one of the scientists in Saturn 3.

On the arrival, the mentally disturbed Captain Benson becomes sexually obsessed for Alex. Then he uses an interface to link his brain to program Hector, but incapable to control his emotions, he transfers his homicidal tendency and insanity to Hector. Now Major Adam and Alex are trapped in the station with a dangerous psychopath robot.

"Saturn 3" is an underrated sci-fi cult from the 80's with a dark story that has not aged. The plot is very simple but creepy and the cast is very well selected: Kirk Douglas very mature but still handsome, convincing that Major Adam is capable to seduce Alex. The underrated actress Farrah Fawcett in the top of her beauty and showing parts of her body, seducing not only the psychopath Captain Benson but ( I believe) most of the male viewers. And Harvey Keitel is perfect as a mentally unstable man with sex drive on Alex. The non-commercial conclusion is also excellent and perfect for the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Missão Saturno 3" ("Mission Saturn 3")

This movie is about a couple that lives on this outpost in space. They are lovers and their world is carefree and simple. That is until a criminal comes and builds a robot that goes insane. The problem with this movie is that there just isn't enough cast here to make this movie as cool as it should have been. The robot needed people to kill, but there were only three people around so it didn't really get to flex its muscle. On the plus side Kirk Douglas is good, and so is Harvey Kietal as the criminal. Fawcett isn't great, but she does ok. The plot should have included more though as a lot of this movie goes unexplained, like Kietal's character motivations, or why didn't anyone warn Kirk and Farrah that a criminal was out there. In the end this movie has its moments, but tends to become a bit tedious.

I first watched Saturn 3 with my father when I was about 12 years old and I remembered liking it and being creeped out by it as a kid. So I revisited the film again last night. Even though it has been over 15 years since I first saw this film, I still really enjoyed it. I was very surprised to see so many negative comments here on IMDb. All in all, the film is a little dated, but it still contains some very striking visuals and original ideas. The sets used for this film were extremely well detailed and thought out, as were the costumes and props. "Hector" is perhaps one of the coolest looking cyborg/robot characters ever conceived. The scene where he is first "booted up" and filled with "cyber-blood" is just vivid and stunning. After watching this film, it was also *quite* obvious that this movie influenced some of the more modern science fiction masterpieces like Robocop, the (1st) Matrix and James Cameron's Aliens. Several of the reviews harshly criticized the acting and the story, but I however found no problems in this department. Nowadays we seldom see good films with a small cast and a simple story. Not every movie has to be as advanced and as complex as films like Minority Report. And I am sorry, but Mark Hamill and Keanu Reeves can't hold a candle to Kirk Douglas and Harvey Keitel when it comes to acting. I think people are trying to compare this film to all the super budget modern sci-fi movies. Or perhaps this movie is regarded as "crap" by many because they think Star Wars is the end all, be all sci-fi movie of all time, which in my opinion, Star Wars is MUCH more cheesy and way too light-hearted to take seriously. If you like serious, dark sci-fi flicks, be sure to check this one out. Don't listen to all those Star Wars nerds who crap on this film. Judge it for yourself. 7/10