Ghost Planet

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!

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' is an indie sci-fi film that takes you through space on a journey that you are not entirely sure where it is headed at first. The dialogue and interactions between the characters as they decide the pros and cons of this technology keeps the story engaging. It makes you think about the cost of pursuing something unknown and new and whether or not it is worth it with everything on the line. Aside from the low budget with the effects and some source-y lighting along with everything in the focal plane being in focus on certain shots, the story is pretty compelling and if you like sci-fi, this might be up your alley.

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.

Ghost Planet is a bonkers, out of this world (no pun intended) movie. It's fun.

With limited resources Philip J. Cook and his team have made a fun, popcorn movie.

There's a blade runner-esq city car chase, bubblegum, cool heads-up-displays and grande visual effects.

The film explores space exploration, androids, future cities and lost civilisations.

For a low budget independent movie, the film aims really high with the visual effects. I think the matching of the lighting with the background green screen could have been better to make the world more convincing but that said its a really amazing effort.

The performances of note include actors, Ulysses E. Campbell and Georgia Anastasia

If you want something that is fun, enjoyable and appealing check out Ghost Planet.