Piège dans l'espace

Olivier Gruner has two requirements for a classic rogue cop: his woman belongs to another man, and he has a dead daughter. For punishment, he's sent back to Earth on a slow boat carrying $40 million. Pirates board the ship to steal the dough, leaving Olivier to fight the bad guys with lots of flying effects and pretty sparks. What I like about Gruner is that he really doesn't take himself seriously, almost in the Jackie Chan mode (don't misunderstand, he doesn't have half the skills, but he does have fun). A cast full of folks who went on to bigger and better things -- including Alicia Coppola from "Bull" and Jorja Fox from "ER" and "CSI" -- rounds out the stereotyped cast. I caught it on cable and enjoyed it.

This film is bearable but that's about it, similar to a good TV ep of "Space: Above and Beyond". It's a step up from the sci-fi gagger "Escape Velocity", which had even less action and more cliches. FF through all scenes of him with his girl friend, it's banal drivel, and that part isn't even tied up at the end. And forget the plot holes too. -Bob

As many others have already noted, the best thing about "Velocity Trap" is the quality of the special effects. They are very impressive, and they belie the film's low budget. Other than that, the film starts out as extremely confusing and baffling (I couldn't tell what was going on during the first 20 minutes), then elevates itself to the level of "passable". Olivier Gruner is wooden, but at least he shows a sense of humor about himself. (**)

Velocity Trap is one of those movies that is neither terrible or great. In fact my thoughts were mixed here, meaning that there were good things and also bad things. Starting with the good things, Velocity Trap does look good. The special effects are really quite decent, the movie is well shot and the galactic settings and ship are more than convincing as well. There is some solid action, efficiently choreographed, spiritedly performed and decently shot, that ensures that Velocity Trap doesn't get tedious. The music score is memorable and atmospheric enough to not get generic and overbearing. The acting is also better than average, okay Olivier Gruner often looks as though he's in tears, but Alicia Coppola and Jorja Fox are very appealing and Ken Orlandt is surprisingly good. However, here come the debits. The cardboard stereotypes that we have for characters are not really interesting or developed enough to make you root for them, but the actors do deserve credit by all means for trying to give some credibility to them. There is some wit in the dialogue, but there are one too many times where it's all clichéd, stilted and somewhat soppy. But the biggest problem was the story, which, while not dull, suffered from having interesting ideas that were never developed sufficiently, and I'll be honest there were one too many times when I was confused in alternative to enthralled. While the action parts were great, but the thriller ones were lacking in suspense and originality. The Sci-Fi elements looked good and had some good ideas going for them, but not enough time is spent to explore them well enough. In conclusion, looks good with solid action and better than average acting, but a ridiculous story sinks it. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Raymond Stokes is the only cop in the colony who cannot be bought - and that costs him dearly: He is separated from his lover and placed aboard a freighter. The separation dialogue, by the way, is only bearable on Fast Forward.

Penal duty: For 9 months, the ship will travel through space, in order to bring 40 billion dollars in used notes to Earth. But - how original and innovative a plot element! - pirates arrive to try and steal the money. They have not counted on finding - you guessed it - Stokes.

Well: Actors that are at best mediocre, trying hard to produce dialogue that will lend credibility to plot holes the size of a galaxy. Some of it's fun though - the occasional action sequence and ship effects aren't half bad.