Solar Crisis

Well, Solar Crisis really isn't all that bad. It has the look and feel of an "A" movie that didn't quite make it. It's also a little too long for what it has to offer. Ninety minutes as opposed to one hundred fifteen minutes would have given it more movement, and impact. Yet whenever we get the opportunity to see Charlton Heston, Jack Palance, and Peter Boyle in the same film, there is going to be some fun. I like the premise of the film, and much of its execution. Though it never comes together in a compelling package, it is definitely a film that a Sci Fi fan should see at least once. I think the climax is moving, and very well done.

There is a healthy dose of Japanese mindset behind the scenes, that seems to create some differences of perception of what works in science fiction. The Japanese have an intriguing cultural perception of reality, and I love many of their films. But that sagacity does not seem to extend fully into "space" films. I don't think they have never quite exceeded their heritage of gimmicky, "comic book" science fiction movies.

Solar Crisis has excellent actors, sustained suspense,lots of drama, and reasonable action. But it tries to be too much, too broad, and just never quite reaches its goal.

Alright first off: this is not a great film, it is not even a particularly good film, but I have seen many that were much worse. I am curious as to who the director was who ducked out on this one and turned it over to Alan Smithee (for those not in the know: Alan Smithee is a name that the DGA assigns to films who's directors do not want to admit a connection to for some reason, artistic of otherwise.)

Some of the performances were a little flat, although Jack Palance was as eccentrically off beat as usual. That alone always gives any film a one point boost. Peter Boyle was just as underplayed a villain as usual, not getting his hands dirty. But there was a lot of real tension in the film. In anyone was over the top it was Dorian Harewood, and I suspect that was because of bad direction. I suspect with a better director, budget and script this could have been a much better film. I still enjoyed it though. Just one of my little quirks I guess.

This movie is self-contradicting. It takes an absurd plot and tries to pass it off as good science fiction. Yet not all parts of the film were so totally "out there" as to make it unwatchable as a whole. A great chase scene in the desert is an example of this. Add to this an element of sabotage, and the film is saved from itself.

The year is 2050, and the sun is threatening a "megalo flare" that will destroy the earth if it reaches us. Now, flares happen all the time on the sun. You only have to look at close-up photos of the sun to know this. Most last several hours and shoot 100,000 miles off the solar surface in an arc that's really quite impressive to see. But a flare that shoots out and spans the 93 million miles between Earth and sun? Not only that, but to find the earth in its orbit around the sun and strike right there? That's a little too convenient, at least for the plot's sake. Let's face it. If there were no emergency, there'd be no need for the mission to avert it.

The plot to save Earth is to send a talking anti-matter bomb into the sun and make the flare point somewhere else. And here's where the plot thickens, so to speak. Forget for a moment that it's over a million degrees in the corona, the part of the sun you can see in a total eclipse. It's going to get hot as you approach the sun. Yet the mission proceeds as if they have some super cooling process that will save them. And don't get me started on the bomb itself. Anti-matter is unstable by nature. So you're going to put enough of it to theoretically disrupt the sun's energy flow, all the while knowing that the sun itself is enough vaporize anything solid that approaches it? That's a suicide mission in itself.

As if all this weren't enough, now you have a saboteur on board that threatens the mission at various stages. A corporation on Earth doesn't believe the flare will happen, and is buying up resources while cheap and the scare lasts. So you have that element of competition. Will the mission succeed or won't it? Will the Helios (the vessel) escape the sun's gravitational pull and be able to return home?

Solar Crisis is fun to watch, if you can get past the absurdity. Just don't take it seriously, or you'll get burned.

Solar Crisis (1990)

** (out of 4)

Somehow this mix of the sci-fi and disaster genres got a pretty big cast to sign on. Set in 2050, the Earth is about to be burned down due to a giant solar flare from the sun. A group of astronauts must try to drop a bomb of these flares so that they will shoot off in another direction but there are people on Earth who want to stop them for their own wicked plans. Believe it or not, somehow this film managed to get a $55 million dollar budget but then it barely got a theatrical release here in America. Tim Matheson, Charlton Heston, Jack Palance, Peter Boyle and cult favorite Michael Berryman all signed onto appear in this film and I think it's rather funny that the producers would spend so much money and not get much in return. The film isn't nearly as bad as many people make it out to be but it's best one comes into it as a "B" movie and not expecting some sort of "A" level Hollywood film. The movie has a rather confusing plot that at times doesn't make too much sense. I think the biggest problem is that there's probably a lot of stuff from novel that didn't make it into the film. The American version runs six-minutes shorter than the Japanese one and it was disowned by the real director (Richard C. Sarafian) so this has a Alan Smithee credit. Another problem with the film is that the special effects just aren't that believable. This is especially true when it comes to the stuff in outer space but also on Earth when we see what's basically the world in chaos as everyone is waiting for their death. What does keep the film somewhat entertaining are the actor. I've always been a fan of Matheson and he manages to keep one entertained here as the leader of the spaceship. Heston, playing his father, gives that tough guy approach to the character and we get to see him beat up a couple people, which is always good. Palance plays a guy who basically walks around like a bum and once again the actor is so over-the-top that you can't help but enjoy the performance. Boyle doesn't have much to do but it's still nice seeing him. Annabel Schofield is good in her supporting bit. SOLAR CRISIS is a rather weird film because you wonder why a "B" movie has such a high budget but at the same time you realize that the material needed an even higher one to really do the story any justice. I will say that this film shares a lot of similarities with Michael Bay's Armageddon and I do wonder if some of the stuff here was borrowed for it.

Here's the set up. Earth is going to be half fried by a giant flare the sun is getting ready to shoot off. A ship is sent to drop a bomb on the sun to make the flare go off away from Earth.

Not a bad premise, and the film has a lot going for it. But...

The problem is with a subplot. Half the population is in danger of being fried to death, and someone on Earth wants the mission to fail.

Why?

Otherwise there are great special effects, a few tense scenes with real conflict. If they had edited out that sub plot, it would be a much better film.

Still recommended for science fiction / space buffs. Worth a look.