Stranded

If you can survive the first 20 minutes you better check for a pulse. This turkey was released at my video parlor under "Black Horizon", I spent $2 on the rental... I am kicking myself now. The movie was so bad I shut it off and I am tempted to run it through a microwave to protect others. It has bad acting, the space station scenes are shot in a gravity environment (might as well be on Earth). The characters are so paper thin you could give a rip if they die. Dialog... what dialog. Action... no action. Space aliens... Ice T? Watch out for this movie don't rent it, don't watch it, don't even look at it on the shelf. You might get a good nights sleep if like sleeping in front of your TV.

I borrowed this movie from my local library and thought it would be entertaining, particularly because it had an attractive cover and talked about people being stranded in mars. I was really very disappointed to note that it was the most unwatchable, disgusting movie ever. Screenplay is disgraceful, no emotion, no intelligent dialogues, the actors have no character, the captain of the ship doesn't even seem to be in command. Each character seems disjointed in the movie, each character seems to be acting in a high school play rather than in a professional movie! The story is just plain unbelievable too, and there are no reasons given as to why the movie moves the way it does. The cover talked about being stranded in mars and how they were rescued, but there was nothing about the rescue part..they just remain on mars the whole time. Most unbelievable was the fact that while more than one member is shown to die from lack of oxygen, towards the end, everyone in the spaces ship just open the doors and go out and seems to miraculously live. Everything seems to unreal...just too much a waste of time and money and effort. If I find any of the cast around, I'll really want to beat them up for taking up such assignments! YUCK!

I read an article recently about damage done to the Hubble telescope by space debris. Perhaps it was a DVD of this bobbins? It tells us the dreary, rehashed, story of a crew who are stranded aboard a damaged space station. An hastily convened rescue team from planet Earth is soon being assembled - but are those pesky Russians really working from the game plan? The acting is pretty diabolical, the pace likewise - and what dialogue there is, well that's the usual gung-ho sort of stuff you might expect but hope not to get. Indeed, there is very little here to cause you to raise your eyes to the screen from whatever else you might choose to do whilst watching it. The effects are adequate, and there is usually something blowing up or spinning out of control - but for the most part it's just a really poorly devised and executed sci-fi adventure that isn't remotely exciting.

Director Fred Olen Ray seems to pride himself in churning out the dumbest, most boring B-movies in history, and in that respect STRANDED is another string to his bow. It's about a crew of international astronauts who are stranded aboard a damaged space station, and the rescue crew's efforts to save them. Plus, there's action back on Earth, as some heroic types pursue some dastardly Russians who are withholding information crucial to the rescue attempt.

As with a number of Olen Ray films, STRANDED seems primarily to be a celebration of stock footage. Almost every time you see a space shuttle or an outer space shot, it's likely to be stock footage. The dialogue scenes are dull and the whole film feels as lifeless and weightless as a body floating in outer space; certainly for a film whose main aim is to thrill the audience, it fails spectacularly. Even a few familiar faces like those of Ice-T, action man Michael Dudikoff, Art Hindle (THE BROOD), and Andrew Stevens (THE FURY) fail to make an impression.

Poorly acted, poorly written and poorly directed. Special effects are cheap. Best performance is by Yvette Napir, but that's not saying much. Story is a confusing mess about corporate greed leading to sabotage of a space station and an attempt to rescue those stranded aboard.

There is little suspense and even less action. There's one car chase that's not bad, but the rest of the movie is simply a waste of everyone's time.