Ghost Planet

First off, I'm writing this without reading any of the other reviews. This is what it comes down to. It's a pretty decent movie, even though shot low budget. It's another of the newer computer generated background films. Usually I detest those, but this is a little more. I find it pretty refreshing to see a movie with nobody I recognize in it. So no preconceived notiond about expectations. The "effects" are better than average for a low budget film, and they've used a few models, notably the land vehicles, but they're still pretty decent. And... a fairly good story/ plot, too. I watched almost the whole thing in one setting... but had to leave. Yet I was drawn back because I really wanted to see the ending. Again, not a "great" movie, but certainly watchable. I enjoyed it. Usually I turn these low budget things off after maybe 15 minutes. Perhaps I should have given it a 6..

Let's start with the the special effects, these are cross between Jerry Anderson's, UFO and Babylon 5. You can really tell that it is mainly CGI green screen and very little in terms of physical sets. When they do use physical sets you can see things like the car switches and even recycle symbols and the bottom of walls. So don't expect Star wars effects but they are OK. The acting is pretty wooden, but the actors try their best and keep the story moving forward at quite a nice pace. It is watchable for the 90 minutes it lasts. I think they could have made more of the girls story line which added a nice twist.

Obviously the amount of budget they had to make this movie was pretty small but they made the best of it and I definitely think it is worth a watch.

Ghost Planet felt like a mixture between Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Robert Rodriguez's Sin City, with a touch of George Lucas's Star Wars prequels for good measure. Writer/director, Philip Cook, did a great job of bringing a larger than life story to the screen with a modest budget. Though the visual effects were done on a budget they did a great job of bringing this new Sci-Fi world to life. At times I felt like I was watching a speeder chase in Star Wars Attack of the Clones, other times it was like watching a bar scene from Sin City, or even yet the scale and look of the world felt like that of Blade Runner. You can tell that Phillip Cook is a lover of classic Sci-Fi Films like these. And you can't help but smile at the nods to those worlds.

From a technical stand point the film looked good. The use of green screen to expand the scope of the worlds took a bit to get used to, but once you did it really helped tell the story Cook was going for. I also really loved the use of miniatures for all the vehicles on the Ghost Planet. Super fun touch that gave it a sense of retro realism!

If you are in the mood for a fun indie sci-fi adventure, give Ghost Planet a try!

I thought this would be a bit like an old school space film like the Blake's 7 TV series but the story of 3 siblings on a space scavenger hunt to get the big payoff type adventure works well with a neat twist in the ending. The cgi is impressive for an indie film and I totally loved the use of miniature models and pyro for some scenes. The sets and costumes are impressive when you consider how many were required in addition to the cgi backdrops which must have be a huge task! The film also has a certain Luc Besson 5th Element style vibe in the music and background city scenes which is nice (I'm sure I saw a certain Bruce Willis taxi in there too!!). Overall a very watchable film even for a non sci fi fan.

This movie is obviously made with very limited resources, including dialogue, acting, CGI.

The pacing is well, and the story itself not uninteresting. The characters, hmmm, ok, they have little more depth than in a soap opera of the 80s.

The acting seems wooden sometimes, but I blame this, as always, 70% on the director. He may have a good eye for scenery and filming, but actors leading skills should improve.

And there are the Effects. I often wonder why (even cheap) productions of today can barely match "Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning" from 2005, made by a sole artist with his home PC (ok, it took him 7 years).

All in all, five stars seem sufficient for me, since the movie has many aspects of a professional production and did good enough to entertain me.