Retrograde

Dolph Lundgren vehicles have hit DVD every spring for the last few years. Apparently they have done well enough that some studio finally snagged this sci-fi time travel flick that has been sitting on the shelf since completion in 2003. John Foster (Lundgren) pilots a space craft from 2204 back to the 21rst century with the crew's mission to stop scientists from discovering plague carrying meteorites in Antarctica. Naturally, there are traitors on board who want to alter the future for their own personal gains and it is up to Dolph to stop them. This is pretty bad, thanks mostly to the flat direction by Christopher Kulikowski. The guy has no concept on how to stage or film a fight scene. And who casts martial artist Gary Daniels and doesn't give him a big fight scene? Even more disappointing when you see former PM Entertainment exec Joseph Merhi is a producer on this. The acting is uniformly bad with Joe Sagal (as a rich dude funding the scientific expedition) and Ken Samuels (as the boat captain) being the stand outs. Seriously, how do guys this bad get cast and maintain some semblance of a career? One has to wonder if working with such a poor director is what finally made Dolph decide to step behind the camera (his directorial debut was the film made right after this). He has directed 4 films since RETROGRADE and the three I've seen have been infinitely more entertaining than this.

I am a "Dolph completist" like another reviewer put so eloquently, yet this movie has left a bitter aftertaste. It could have been so much more, the story had potential to make the ultimate "The Thing"- meets-"X files" crossover, laden with spooky claustrophobia and an intriguing time-travel tale.

Alas, none of that has come about. The director is partly to blame for his total failure to bring focus and atmosphere to the story. Viewers are left less than ensnared. But what I found most appalling was the ACTING ! It's incredible how most of the cast just stands there, glazed over, rattling off their lines. How hard can it be to get a little immersed in the role ?

Dolph himself is enough of a professional to put in his routine quality, even when he finds himself in what looks like a high school project. I also enjoyed Jamie Treacher, who makes the most of his "pothead" part. And there's David Jean Thomas who manages to bring a natural performance as Doc. But the rest of the cast should be forced to attend drama school !

I thought that this movie had something going for it, because not only did it have Dolph Lundgren (one of my favorite B movie actors) in it, but that one of the producers was Joseph Merhi, who made some great B action movies in the 1990s. Unfortunately, I thought the end results were a big let down. Partly because of an inadequate budget, most of the movie looks really cheap, with interiors that were obviously not shot on a real ship, and exteriors that look nothing like the real Antarctic. An additional problem is that director Christopher Kulikowski directs the various going ons with a lack of conviction. The action scenes are sluggish and badly choreographed, and there is a curious matter-of-fact feeling to many scenes despite the plot of the movie centering around the fate of the human race! Even if you are desperate and it's a slow night does not make this movie worth watching.

A note to Joseph Merhi: Reunite with your old producer partner Richard Pepin and get back to making those great action movies you guys once made!

"Retrograde" aka "Time Travelers" is a typical B movie, I had low expectations, but in the end it wasn't too bad. Dolph Lundgren plays a guy from the year 2200 who travels back to our time to avoid the discovery of an alien virus who killed most of mankind till 2200. The meteor which brought the virus to Earth was discovered by the crew of a ship near Antarctica. Now there's no denying we have loads of rubbish in this movie: they are searching for microorganisms in a lab that isn't sterile at all, the spaceship can also travel through time just like that, day and night near the South Pole last 12 hours each, and the hero's enemies don't really make sense when they try and stop him on his mission. However, he is in an interesting situation as he tries to protect the ship's crew, but on the other hand can't tell them he's from the future, so they only know he must be hiding something from them. Lots of fighting going on which one expects in a Dolph movie, and then there's the hostile environment and the nasty virus - a scratch could kill you. So... it isn't "The Thing", but I've seen worse.

I'm not sure, if I can write a review of this movie. But still I'll try. First: I watched about 30 minutes of it. I couldn't watch any longer. Second: it's terrible. For everyone who's gonna see it anyway, I must say: The movie has very low-budget special effects & very bad acting (just awful). When I say very low-budget I mean VERY-VERY cheap. I've seen video games with better computer graphics. The acting… I'm not sure anymore, if this is the guy who acted in Universal Soldier or Punisher. This is not even acting. It's like a school performance… And I'm not talking about such things like fights or shootings in this movie… - no comments. There is scene in Retrograde where all characters in a spaceship fell on the floor because of the spaceship's twisting... In space!!!! Just think about it… So that's what I can say about first 30 minutes of this film. You may consider it as review of Retrograde's first 30 minutes. 1 of 10.