Battle Planet

Battle Planet is not a great movie, but I have seen much worse as well. It does have a lot of problems, such as the wooden acting though Zack Ward was at least engaging, the hackneyed dialogue where nothing feels that natural and the clichéd and not very interesting or well-developed characters. I also had mixed feelings on the story, it did hold my attention and was reasonably paced with a decent idea and some nice back story elements, but some of it was silly and suspend-disbelief-inducing. On the other hand, it doesn't look too bad. True, not exactly well-made but much better than many other low-budget movies I've seen recently. The aliens were bizarre but not cheap in look, the plannetry scenery is surprisingly great, the make-up is consistent enough and the effects while not award-worthy are a step-up from other low-budget movies seen recently.

All in all, there is not much outstanding but I did sort of enjoy it and can name much worse movies even without having to look through old notebooks and my past reviews for reference. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This is a steaming pile of crap. I would find it incredible that the "director" was given the money to make a infomercial, much less a feature.

Like all fans of science fiction I have been suckered into watching some awful film and television--especially on the "SciFi" Chanel!--but this is a new low.

The fact that a hack with gullible dentist friends is able to get funding doesn't mean that he should make a movie--step aside and let someone with talent and a true love of the genre have a chance, produce if you must.

We must stop supporting this sort insulting product. Maybe there should be an organized campaign against the SciFi Chanel, I don't know, but I for one am vowing right now to never watch another one of these straight to SciFi productions again.

And finally: there wasn't even a single "battle" on the planet! Aaaargh! I think I just popped a vein in my head.

Seriously, who writes this stuff? Even worse, is the actors pool so shallow that they can't find a reasonably workable cast? The space sequences were passable; certainly no worse than what I could put together on a Mac. The dialogue was painful; obviously written by a freshman during his Movie Theory 101 class. But the portion that caused the most pain was the acting. They scraped together a couple of B/C list actors for the main characters, the female lead wearing enough heavy makeup and costume that you couldn't tell who she was. Neither of them were horrible, and they did the best they could with the laughable story and dialogue. The main character was forced to perform nearly the entire movie inside of a fishbowl. You'll see what I mean. Oh, but the supporting cast...it actually made me wince to listen to them. I've seen and heard local theater actors with better delivery. Bottom line: If there is NOTHING else on it will pass the time, assuming you have a crossword or magazine handy to fill in the blank spots, which will be most of the time. You've been warned. Good luck.

I have to say, that I find this movie interesting.

Good Science Fiction tells stories that are difficult to tell in traditional drama or action venues; the story in this film does that.

Understanding a bit of the history of this movie, such as that the original title was "The Suit", should give the viewers a better understanding of the story then the one that was chosen by the SciFi Channel (SyFy). SyFy presumably felt that they needed a "SciFi" title to sell the movie, and no doubt put the pressure on.

The story isn't about a planet with lots of battles, but rather the story of a guy who is encased in what is a protective space suit. But the suit is actually a character in the movie. And the real question is, whom is it really protecting?

Since more difficult and subtle plot points are not the forte of the typical SyFy "made for TV movie", this much more nuanced story isn't your typical SyFy fair.

Given budget constraints, the art is quite good and original.

The acting is mixed, with some good performances. There are inherent difficulties in a film where one of the major characters acts inside of space suit, and another major character is an alien in full prosthetic makeup. But they manage to build a believable relationship by the end.

So while this film is not perfect, it has its moments, and its twists. It should keep many Science Fiction fans happy. But if you are looking for elaborate space fighting sequences, or broad fantasy themes, you may not like it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't at least give it a try. It might surprise you.

This film wasn't that bad, except that a lot of the "plot twists" were kind of predictable.

It's a future time, where Earth has joined an alliance with an bunch of aliens called the Pavonians, against another bunch called the Aquarians who live in fishbowls. So far, this is kind of standard Sci-Fi boilerplate.

Our hero is sent out in a prototype battlesuit to capture an unnamed war criminal. He encounters an alien general of the Pavonians, who is really hot despite the alien makeup. Except he is being set up to test human endurance, not to actually complete any mission. There are machinations that are about as shallow as you can get.

Acting is sub-par, the special effects look like they were worked up on someone's home computer. Still, I give this movie credit for being other than the typical Sci-Fi Channel template of "Monster on the loose".

The dialog was kind of shallow, and the actors all looked like they were recruited from a film-school class. Huge holes in the plot logic. (Did this alliance really keep its senior commanders on this ship,waiting for reports?)

Mediocre, at best. But I've seen millions spent on worse films.