Wing Commander

I finally gave into my curiosity and rented "Wing Commander" last night... and I found myself kinda... you know... liking it.

It is NOT great cinema or great science fiction -- everyone likes to climb all over this movie for scientific errors and not being close enough to the Wing Commander games. Well, scientific inaccuracies don't bug me (I'm an English major!), and I never played the Wing Commander game. Maybe that's the secret to enjoying this movie -- if you take it completely on its (meager) merits, it's not all that bad. It's nowhere near as good as classics like "Star Wars" or even somewhat similar films like "The Last Starfighter" or "Starship Troopers," but it entertained me. I dunno, sometimes you don't need your horizons challenged, you just want to sit back and watch aliens get blow'd up real good, you know?

I consider this a guilty pleasure.

The film has been critically panned and it bombed at the cinemas. But it's actually a pretty good film. Yes it isn't technically the best, nor is it scientifically plausible. And for devotees of the games it kinda screws with history, but for all that it is a good ride. You watch it and appreciate it. Saffron Burrows is great. David Warner and David Suchet excel in their (small) roles. It's a shame John Rhys-Davis and Mark Hamill don't reprise their roles, but their replacements do well enough.

You get caught up in the story, and the visual effects are fantastic, aided by good acting with the actors working well together.

So overall I would recommend this film. Don't expect it to be fantastic, but just enjoy it. It's a fun film and a worthy addition to Wing Commander lore.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The graphics weren't up to say Episode1 standards, but were convincing enough (and I loved the raspy engine noise for the Rapiers). The acting was what I've come to expect from these younger American actors (as in good).

I'd say from an objective view point it's a good film. A bit lacking in certain areas, but certainly enjoyable.

I say "objective" simply because I have never been exposed to the hugely popular game series, so I was seeing this as a film, not as a spin off (in which case I'm sure it would come across worse, simply because when you're used to one set of actors portraying your favourite characters a new team will never fit the bill).

Overall not a bad way to spend my Wednesday evening.

In the 27th century Earth is at war with the Kilrathi Empire. During an attack on an Earth space base, the Kilrathi capture a Navcom unit that will allow their ships to jump directly to Earth and attack before defences can be prepared. Earth turns to Starship Tiger Claw and it's small crew of fighters to stop the assault and ensure that the Kilrathi cannot attack Earth unannounced.

I haven't played the game, seen the game or even know anything about the game – so I'm relatively open and had no images of what the film `should' look like. I've read other reviews and have noticed many focus on the factual errors (like the anti-gravity bulldozers) and the spaceship design. Yes, these were poor things but they are not the only reason why this wasn't very good.

The `plot' seemed to require a history with the game – it was full of nonsense about pilgrims, wars etc, little of which was explained and made me feel like it was my fault for not knowing! Secondly the film felt like a game at parts. I mean that we had some action scenes then we had shots of Admirals talking that felt like it was an interlude between missions on a game. It certainly didn't feel like a scene in a movie.

The effects are a little daft but the WW2 designs are actually quite cool despite being totally impractical and unlikely. The space battles lack tension and simply aren't exciting in the least. The plot clichés are all over the place , ranging from loser come good to a poor love interest aspect.

Prinze Jr should not be allowed to make films if this is all the screen presence he can muster up. He is as vacuous as the space around him and it's hard to care for him. However he shines when beside Burrows who brings a new definition to the word `wooden'. I hate Lillard but at least he brings some energy to the film – he's still irritating but at least he's trying hard! Prochnow is actually alright and rises above the material. The WW2 theme continues in the mainly British cast. This is a little weird because the leads are mostly Yanks. It's also worrying to see actors like Suchet, Warner and several others hawking their wares in this sort of film. The support cast is deep in familiar faces from British TV and film – including the lead of Young Americans and Don Gilet. The only actress that really caught my eye was Ginny Holder who played a sexy love interest as Rosie. But she's black, and a side kick of sorts, and a love interest – so how long do we think that she'll survive?

Overall who cares about the WW2 design or the fact that the ship design is silly or that factual errors are all over the place. These are not reasons the film is bad – no. The poor acting, poor plot and dull `action' scenes that lack tension – these are the things that make this film bad and well worth avoiding apart from the pretty Holder.

People are way too hard on this movie. The acting is better than average and action is awesome. This alone makes up for the weak plot and so so special effects. And it moves at such a pace that it is impossible to be bored unlike Star Wars Episode 1 where I sat through that entire pod race scene wondering when it was going to end. I'm not saying that this is better than Star Wars but I could watch this movie over and over which is something I couldn't say for Star Wars. (***/****)