Stranded - Operation Weltraum

Director Fred Olen Ray seems to pride himself in churning out the dumbest, most boring B-movies in history, and in that respect STRANDED is another string to his bow. It's about a crew of international astronauts who are stranded aboard a damaged space station, and the rescue crew's efforts to save them. Plus, there's action back on Earth, as some heroic types pursue some dastardly Russians who are withholding information crucial to the rescue attempt.

As with a number of Olen Ray films, STRANDED seems primarily to be a celebration of stock footage. Almost every time you see a space shuttle or an outer space shot, it's likely to be stock footage. The dialogue scenes are dull and the whole film feels as lifeless and weightless as a body floating in outer space; certainly for a film whose main aim is to thrill the audience, it fails spectacularly. Even a few familiar faces like those of Ice-T, action man Michael Dudikoff, Art Hindle (THE BROOD), and Andrew Stevens (THE FURY) fail to make an impression.

Poorly acted, poorly written and poorly directed. Special effects are cheap. Best performance is by Yvette Napir, but that's not saying much. Story is a confusing mess about corporate greed leading to sabotage of a space station and an attempt to rescue those stranded aboard.

There is little suspense and even less action. There's one car chase that's not bad, but the rest of the movie is simply a waste of everyone's time.

I really should have learned more about this movie before renting it. It was one of those movies where you keep watching it figuring it's got to get better. Then, when it ends, you feel stupid for having wasted precious time in your life that you can never get back. Ice-T did his bad guy thing and, well, that was the highlight of the evening. The pictures of the shuttle looks like it was done with a little toy inside of a box and the spacewalking scenes were funny because you could see the strings attached to the space suits. The script was lacking and the car chase scene with the guy bleeding and going unconscious was incredible because he drove better than I could have on one of my best days. All in all, I have seen worse but this sure isn't one I'd recommend or want to remember.

If you can survive the first 20 minutes you better check for a pulse. This turkey was released at my video parlor under "Black Horizon", I spent $2 on the rental... I am kicking myself now. The movie was so bad I shut it off and I am tempted to run it through a microwave to protect others. It has bad acting, the space station scenes are shot in a gravity environment (might as well be on Earth). The characters are so paper thin you could give a rip if they die. Dialog... what dialog. Action... no action. Space aliens... Ice T? Watch out for this movie don't rent it, don't watch it, don't even look at it on the shelf. You might get a good nights sleep if like sleeping in front of your TV.

Admittedly, you can put a model airplane against a black background and call it sci-fi, and thats enough to get me interested, so if you are like that, Black Horizon will at least get you interested before you watch it. The best part of the movie is when they rehash some actual footage of a shuttle launch.

The movie plays like the Naked Gun series, spoofing cop dramas with bad clichés and bad acting. Unfortunately, i don't think they meant to be funny, the actors really are made of cardboard, the dialog really does suck, so well just have to laugh at them, and not with them.

On a side note, it is rare to see a movie that takes place half in outer space, half on earth, and doesn't mix in the expected extraterrestrials and supernatural events. I really do ache for more realistic drama based on our space endeavors.