Star Raiders: The Adventures of Saber Raine

Casper Van Dien and Cynthia Rothrock used to be people... and now they are reduced to this kind of barely student film fluff. The Special effects look like something a Nerd would produce to get his work rejected by the Asylum. The acting is sub-standard. The only thing to speak for it is that the creature effects are kind of good.

The movie had a very dense plot for a movie that was hard to follow, but it involves a bad guy who wants to conquer the galaxy. Most of the film is the actors walking around a forest pretending it's an alien planet. The sets are cheap as well.

I'm not sure why I expected anything different. The opening moments of the film, showing exterior shots of vessels and a battle, suggest computer-generated imagery of quality hovering somewhere between modern first-tier videogames and second-tier genre pictures - unremarkable, but fine, though the sheer abundance of the CGI is unfortunate. Shortly after we see computer-generated interiors, and visual effects, and they are an eyesore. Set design and decoration at large, and costume design, range from spartan, to questionable, to suitable - or, in some rare instances, all the way to enticing. Hair and makeup work follows a like pattern, though the more ambitious that the creature design for an alien race aims to be, the more dubious it looks in realization. The plot is fairly straightforward, bland, and common genre fare, while dialogue is too often downright tiresome and overblown. Characters fulfill certain archetypes and don't necessarily possess much of a spark otherwise - the protagonist is effectively a more heroic Han Solo, and the divisions between two chief figures frankly reflect antiquated sexist tropes. Scene writing is perhaps mostly best described as serviceable.

'Star raiders: The adventures of Saber Raine' is nothing if not low-grade entertainment, and no one who chances upon it even from a distance could ever confuse it as anything else. In fairness, however, there is also no intent here except to be a fun sci-fi romp, a saga in the spirit of but a few steps down from 'Star Wars' - only, just how much fun it actually provides, to those involved or to viewers, is up for debate. It's difficult to tell just what is shaping the acting here: it could be the proliferate CGI backgrounds, green screen creations that hinder honest reactions; somewhat indulgent and surely uncomfortable prosthetics, forcing the players to chew scenery to compensate; the restraining guiding hand of Mark Steven Grove's direction, prioritizing conveyance of the narrative and execution of each scene over their impact; a genuine lack of skill, making convincing performances the exception rather than the rule; or maybe a combination of all these factors. I don't think the acting is bad across the board; I detect glimmers of meaningful sincerity and effort in the contributions of some, and especial weakness in those of others. Yet the overall effect is undeniable.

It rather seems to me that the screenplay was rushed. There are actually some good ideas here, and beyond that, some scenes are actually done very well, on paper and on film. Yet in addition to being unexceptional, the fundamental storytelling feels loose, and unbothered. Nothing was going to change the core nature of 'Star raiders,' but if the writing were tightened and approached with more care to even a small extent, the picture would have greatly benefited. As it stands, there are no surprises, and only passing enjoyment. There are a lot worse movies out there one could suffer through - I've seen too many of them - and there's just enough value here to make it a mild good time for a lazy afternoon. Still, I can't particularly begrudge anyone who thinks more poorly of this, and I wonder if I'm not being too generous as it is. Recommendable mostly for fans of the cast, or diehard sci-fi buffs, 'The adventures of Saber Raine' is okay - but keep your expectations in check.

I guess everyone who took a quick look at the cast was wondering: "Wow, really, THAT Casper Van Dien? The guy from Starship Troopers and Sleepy Hollow?" And yes, this is the only reason why I sat down at a friend of mine who collects trash movies. And it didn't take long and I got this weird "Command & Conquer 1 Cinematic" feeling. It's been 20 years ago that Titanic actually looked kind of realistic and Starship Troopers set the benchmark for action packed CGI. And here we are in the year 2017 and are being served with visuals that could have been done by a group of self taught high-schoolers. But that's only the first thing you notice - after this is goes on and on. This story. Sorry, I am usually a guy who tries to value even smallest mercies but no, no mercy here. This story is recycled, rehashed and wrecked - you are pulling your hair out because you just know everything ahead.

The camera, the sound effects, the dialogues, the music, the costumes, the locations (this was probably shot in a forest nearby), the whole way people encounter and talk to each other, it's all so unbelievably lame - i wonder what some of the actors thought when they read the script. In fact a few actors try so hard to make this work you can immediately tell the quality of someones talent. Even with bad camera, clumsy dialogue and cheesy costumes some prove that even in worst conditions they can at least deliver a believable performance - and that goes to some actors, and the actors only.

When you see some student movies coming out of some film or media universities you'd be surprised what the next generation has to offer. Even they would laugh about this embarrassing excuse for a movie. I'm so sorry, I just couldn't be nice this time. This is an insult to movie lovers - and yes, I'm also the kind of guy who also "gets" and laughs about Kung Pow - Enter The Fist.

Badly directed, badly cast. Well lit and nicely shot, but it's DOA. The less said about the writing, the better. I like science fiction, and can overlook a lot, but this movie is a disaster.

I did not expect much when I started watching this one and it did not fail to deliver the not much. A film obviously trying to capitalize on the success of the more recent Star Wars films, but you know, with a lower budget so we get 75% of the movie set on a planet that looks a lot like some woods on Earth and not remotely resembling an alien world. We also get Casper Van Dien in the lead so not much else to say other than it is not very good and for a movie called Star Raiders it is very unclear who the star raiders are as no one raids a single star!

The story, well, Casper is Saber Raine and he stops people killing an alien at the beginning of the film and it is eye rolling the whole story with that so lets continue with the real story of a brother and sister kidnapped! They are being held captive by a Darth Vader like enemy who shows he has the ability to choke the two siblings and really does nothing sinister beyond that and does not even participate in any of the final action scenes. Well this trio of heroes lands on a planet and enlists Saber Raine's help, but they do not really need it too much as they are already on the planet that the siblings are on, how convenient and it saves on budget!

The film tries to do an interesting twist, but it is not all that interesting, because, you know...the movie isn't very good. The weapons frequently hit people and do nothing to them. I kept expecting fat dude with half sunglasses to die as he gets hit dead on three or four time, but doesn't faze him a bit! The villain is still trucking and he lost the top part of his head so maybe their race is just really tough?

The film is just not good and at the end you can tell they clearly expect to have a sequel as there is not too much that gets wrapped up at the end. Not sure if they are going to make this sequel or not, from what I see here at IMDB no sequel has yet materialized. With films like these though, i always wonder how they get made in the first place. I know people do go fund mes, but I just cannot see people donating to have crappy movies made, but not to people who actually need help.