Mission 88

The good news: You don't have to pause the film for restroom breaks. The bad news: For the first 90 minutes you'll be praying for a weak bladder. The really bad news: Too much repetition.

The good news: The art direction. It's apparent that either a lot of attention was paid to make things look realistic as far as aerospace and science equipment. The bad news: The plot. Is there one? The really bad news: Too much repetition.

The good news: The cinematography. The bad news: Watching characters ponder things isn't very entertaining. The really bad news: Too much repetition.

The good news: The acting is good. The bad news: There isn't much acting. The really bad news: Too much repetition.

The good news: In one scene Casper Van Dien plays against type, 180 degrees out, and he nails it. The bad news: That was the only entertaining part of the film. The really bad news: Too much repetition.

The good news: It's only two hours long. The bad news: The ending. HUH? The ending was a bit abrupt and The really bad news: Too much repetition.

The good news: The movie ended. The bad news: The movie started. The really bad news: Too much repetition.

So much talent was wasted.

While very slow, this is a intricate and subtle look at isolation and depression. Both charters are payed well but while interesting, the investment one puts into finishing the film is not rewarded. While similar to Interstellar this film has more in common with Moon where a isolated human being wrestles with their own daemons on a shoestring budget.

Many reviews claim it's boring or dull, I can only assume these people have never read a book. Mission 88 is as slow as Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C Clarke, bizarre like Feersum Endjinn by Iain M Banks and as poignant as Misspent Youth by Peter F Hamilton.

I thought the plot of this film sounded intriguing and was looking forward to a cerebral sci-fi. Unfortunately, it was incredibly dull and slow.

2 men are tasked with flying a spaceship to the 'edge of the universe'. There is no explanation of how this is possible, and forget explaining the trivialities like how they have gravity on the small rather dated looking vehicle with 'egg-box' walls, levers, green screen text terminals and flashing light boxes...

The film left me feeling like I missed the point, if there was one.

Watch the TV series Red Dwarf for a pair of similar characters in space as you'll get a lot of humour and actually far more interesting sci-fi.

This is a weird film. It would probably make a better play. The space mission depicted is entirely unrealistic and the story told is revealed in a non-linear, disjointed way. So if you get past that description, and you aren't looking for something along the lines of 'Gravity' or 'Sunshine' it's not so bad.

But. It's kinda slow. It takes a while to work out what really is going on and what the film is interested in. The space aspect of it really is incidental, the film 'Moon' might be a reasonable comparison (another film that would probably work well as a play...) The final scenes are devastating if you've stuck with it. It's well-acted, I thought, with a peculiar retro-future feel that some people may find appealing. I nearly gave up on it about twenty minutes in but ultimately I'm glad I didn't.

"Isra 88" is about Lt. Col. Harold Richards (Casper Van Dien) and Dr. Abe Anderson (Sean Maher), who are sent into space on a mission to reach the edge of the universe. In their ship, that looks like a soup bowl, they hurtle through the black until there are no more stars to see.

This film was a huge let down. I had hopes that having Rico from 'Starship Troopers' and Simon Tamm from 'Firefly' would make for a decent watch, but this is a very long, very slow build to a unsatisfying ending. There are periods in the film that attempt to be humorous, but its pained and only adds to the surreal confusion of why the script is written like this. There is also a terrible CGI element with honeybees throughout that makes it even more ridiculous.

I played this at 1.5x speed and still thought it was too long. Avoid at all costs.