Fatal Conflict

Borrows scenes from "5th Passenger". I saw this on Vudu, the Walmart streaming site. For the free movies, they probably get them in bulk from some provider. Many of them were made by the same source; who have overlap in the editing/splicing process. It gets five stars, because it did keep my attention. Some of the Vudu offerings are movies which are like trying to walk a dog; who doesn't want to go in that direction. You end up dragging the dog by the neck; and nobody has fun. Some movies are like that.

This is one of those SF movies that continues Hollywood's decades-long tradition of making fools of themselves in the SF genre. It's the story of Kari Wuhrer, sexy as always, who's a secret govt. agent blah blah blah. It opens with tasty footage of scantily clad women in metal chastity belts and collar and gag sets and skimpy T-shirts working on emeralds, which was obviously borrowed from an earlier Simandl flick, "Sleeping Dogs." It's by far the best thing in the movie, and Simandl did in fact make some subsequent movies that use them much more effectively, i.e. Rage of the Innocents.

The plot about the spaceship crashing into Los Angeles, which takes up the bulk of the movie, is really dull. It mostly involves people arguing, running, hitting each other and shooting each other, for no apparent reason. There are some delightful MST3K bits, like the official butt inspector and the shot of the Argos Women's Prison Colony dated 2029. Apparently, we will have interstellar colonies within thirty years, and the first thing we will build on them will be women's prisons! This is definitely a movie to mock as you watch it.

This movie follows the exploits of two villains, a brother-sister team, who get busted for running an emerald mine, and then take over a spaceship and try to crash it into Los Angeles. They are chased by Kari Wuhrer, sexy female commando of the future. Overall, the senselessness of the plot is overwhelming. Why don't the powers that be send a commando team to retake the ship that's headed for Los Angeles? In a conversation, the head bad guy is even told that if a commando team was sent in, he'd be dead. And why is Wuhrer sent in under "deep cover"? Are they trying to keep it a secret that they're trying to save LA? And those are only two of the more glaring mess-ups. There are literally dozens.

As far as the characters, Wuhrer isn't much of a commando. She's easily disarmed by the captain of the spaceship. But she does run around in a wet T-shirt quite a bit, so I guess... The bad guys? The guy looks like a chubby lounge singer from the '70s; every time I saw him I imagined him wearing a tux and crooning out a version of "Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree". And his sister, though very cute and certainly talented at filling out a tight T-shirt, is way, way too nice to be a villain.

But the movie realizes its shortcomings and makes up for them with liberal amounts of pretty girls in sexy outfits (though no actual nudity). The special effects aren't too bad, and overall the action does move the film along nicely. If you're willing to overlook the numerous shortcomings in the plot, it manages to entertain. I'd recommend it only for those who are fans of this type of film (like me).

Now that I've watched this on video I have a vague sense that I may have seen it in a theater. If it was ever in a theater. In any case,it is a sad effort and not even outstandingly bad enough to etch itself into the memory. Plot: girl in the future who has a Past can redeem herself with whatever government there is (embodied in a single official known as the Governor) by stopping an outlaw space craft that is hurtling down to destroy Los Angeles. She's intrepid; she's resourceful; she has martial arts moves. She finds chemistry with the captive commander of the destruction-bent craft. And it appears that all along the descending menace could just be taken out with missiles. Go figure. It is sad to see Jennifer Rubin here as a villain kinkily bonded to her brother. Silliest scene is probably the one with the female prisoner coming on to the suspected lesbian prison guard. See this while trapped at home waiting for a repairman.

The plot is as silly as it is funny: a band of bad guys, war-type like, strong and stupid as hell, commanded by an incredibly childish leader, and his pathetic sister (a sorry-I-have-gain-a-little-weight Jennifer Rubin), are captured by some kind of future police, (actually they are saving the sole survivors of a massacre set by Kari Wuhrer), and sent toward the nearest planet prision available.

Blaming a small meteorite (as some of the most unbeliavable stupid argument I've heard in a movie) the prisioners get free and take over the ship and set them to crash into L.A. Then there is no other option than to send Kari to the rescue: Relatives of the bad guys, we're sorry to inform you that a gorgeous little woman is about to terminate a full-armed, fierce (but stupid, nevertheless) bunch of baddies.

Ceirtanly the acting is lame, and the sets are extremely simple. (That's the advantage of simulating a space ship) A reasonable dialogue is almost non-existent, and the fights are boring.

On the other hand, some visual effects are nice. You get to see the typical women prision where every inmate is scantily clad. Kari Wuhrer looks beautiful, as always. And there is a fight scene between Kari and a big guy in a water tank which I found very exciting (perhaps the only one in the movie).

So, if you like Kari, or if you are a teenager with nothing else to do in the afternoon, or if you are into powerful, ruthless, terminator-like heroines, well, then rent it, but do it at your own risk. Otherwise, read a book.