Piège dans l'espace

Weak story, weak writing and poor acting. The only good thing I can say about this film is that it had mediocre special effects.

Being a fan of the b movie sci fi flicks, and a fan of Oliver Gruner's work, I decided to check out Velocity Trap. What I got was in somewhat incoherent mess with a film, with a very bizarre premise. There is a patch of outer space that human's have to be asleep to travel in, yet a group of human thieves are going to high jack the ship while it's in that space, while human security guard Gruner protects the cargo. Huh? Gruner is framed in a implausible set up, and has to guard the ship's cargo as punishment. The job is considered a step down from his former position of glory. Did I mention he was set up by his own boss so that his boss could have Gruner's wife? Oaky, that we can let slide. There are some very weak, and rather unexplainable character turns, and for someone reason, the writers tried to throw a curve with every turn, and they fail badly. They hurt the film by outsmarting themselves, as they try to take a plot that should only be used on Star Trek TV show, or any other sci fi show like Andromada. The special effects are somewhat decent, and the acting is passable. There was so much that could have been done, and sadly, this film is more of an example of what could have been, versus an example of quality sci fi. Check out only if you are a fellow Oliver Gruner fan. Other then that, you won't miss much by missing the movie.

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

Don't get me wrong, this is a bad, bad movie, but there are some redeeming qualities. Funny on purpose is the Carmen montage. Funny by accident is the anti-chemistry between Jorja Fox and Ken Olandt, as well as the prop gun that falls apart during a battle (Gruner carries on like nothing happened).

I was able to watch it all the way through. In the category of "scifi movies you've never heard of", that's not too shabby.

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.