Vvardenfell_Man

The first act of this film is very strong. Special credit to the scenic and lighting design on the set of the airship Albatross, where gels are used to great effect to simulate the ship's motion in the sky and the effect of stained-glass windows set (improbably) into the Captain's cabin. Unfortunately it gets dull quickly: we as an audience are asked to sympathize with the most boring fishes-out-of-water imaginable against the charismatic Captain of the Albatross (who is more recognizably a hero to modern eyes than the people fighting to uphold a Victorian-era global balance of power against the progress of industry). 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a much better film, but this is fun.

This movie starts out strong. The first 20 minutes are excellent in terms of set design. There are some decent effects that lure the viewer in, an intriguing find in outer space that promises to be enough to move the plot along, even a zombie robot thing that builds itself out of junk and spare human body parts--all in the first 20 minutes! Unfortunately, this promising start is followed by 15 minutes of banal dialogue (in a hospital, in a bar, on the moon...), tiny sets, and bad miniature effects. Of course, before we start on the bad miniatures, we briefly show a painting of the lunar surface--not a matte painting, just a painting. It would have been so much cooler if they'd used a matte painting there instead of presumably spending the entire effects budget on the open sequence.

This movie is just awful. It's laughable premise becomes unbearable by the end of the long runtime. It's like Final Destination if bees were responsible for every death and nothing visually interesting ever happened. Every time a character says "bees" it's hard not to laugh out loud. Why its belabored concept needs to be stretched out for so long is beyond me. It's like a failed homage to the structure of a '50s B-movie with the visual style of '70s thrillers. It all sucks.

Also unsettling is the use of the term "African" throughout the film and their "invasion" of the United States. Not only is the metaphor belabored, it's also implicitly (explicitly?) racist. Great job, everyone!