Film Review: SPACEHUNTER: ADVENTURES IN THE FORBIDDEN ZONE (1983)

Director: Lamont Johnson
Writers (story): Stewart Harding, Jean LaFleur
Writers (screenplay): David Preston, Edith Rey, Daniel Goldberg, Len Blum
Running time: 90 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): PG

Genre: Adventure/Sci-Fi
USA Release date: 20^th May 1983

Watched on Sky+ Sunday 24^th June 2012.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Riding on the back of the success of the Star Wars movies came a batch of low-budget space adventures, most of which should never have been made (IMO). Amongst this batch of (quite bad) movies was, what I consider, a little gem. No, it’s no masterpiece I admit, but from the first time I saw it I was hooked. I will tell you more after this very brief summary.

After an accident aboard a star liner, an escape pod lands on a planet plagued by disease and mutation. The occupants of the pod, three beautiful women command a very high price to the person that can bring them back to civilisation. Enter Wolff, a loner and a bit of a rogue; he is collecting garbage when he and his companion, Chalmers (an android) receive the message. Landing on the planet the soon run into trouble and lose track of the girls as they are taken by men who work for Overdog, the ruler of this planet. Chalmers is damaged and can no longer function so Wolff is on his own. That is until he runs into Niki, a teenage girl who offers to track him to Overdog. He reluctantly agrees and the pair set off on a journey that will bring them into contact with many perils along the way. I don’t want to say too much more… I’m sure there’s someone else out there that will love this film as much as I do and I don’t want to spoil it for them.

The effects are not great, it must be said, but given the budget and the fact it was made in 3D; I’ll forgive that. What it has in its favour is a half decent story and a cast that actually (for me anyway) make it work. I must say I love the performance of the, quite young, Molly Ringwald as Niki; I thought she was great! I also thought Peter Strauss did a decent job as Wolff; yes, he borrows heavily from Harrison Ford as Haan Solo, but (again) I can forgive that. Other noteworthy performances came from; Ernie Hudson as Washington, Andrea Marcovicci as Chalmers and Michael Ironside as Overdog.

A film that is not available on DVD here in the UK (much to my dismay), I catch it almost every time it makes it to the TV screens. As I’ve already said, the production is not the best, but (for me) the story and the performances hold it together. Yes, it does try a little too hard in places and some of the dialogue is a little strange, but I’d still rather watch this than ‘The Phantom Menace’ any day! If you haven’t seen it I urge you to give it a go… If you have (& didn’t like it)… Give it another chance, it grows on you!... RECOMMENDED.

My score: 8.0/10

IMDb Score: 4.8/10 (based on 2,419 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0086346/

MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 20/100 (based on 5 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 24/100 ‘Want to See’ (based on 2,988 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spacehunter_adventures_in_the_forbidden_zone/

If you’re crazy enough… You can find me on Facebook at:
http://facebook.com/andy.steel3

FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Chalmers: Okay, what did you do to this?
Wolff: Emergency repair procedure number one.
Chalmers: You kicked it?

Wolff: [Having just kicked and further broken an already malfunctioning comms computer] The communicator is out again.
Chalmers: That's because we need a new auto-correlation spectometer... not to mention a new drive systems regulator, a freon activator and, of course, a complete scan systems overhaul.
Wolff: [Looks Chalmers over with a lustful gaze] I'm still glad I bought you the nightshirt instead!

Wolff: What the hell are you?
Niki: What do you think I am, you scrawny earthbag? I'm a woman!

Chemist: Are they missing any limbs? I hate it when they have missing limbs.

Niki: Us loners got to stick together.

LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Trailer:

Film Review: THE MACHINIST (2004)

Director: Brad Anderson
Running time: 101 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller
UK release date 18th March 2005

Watched on Sky+ Tuesday 8th February 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

I first saw this film several years ago and I remember being amazed by the performance of Christian Bale. He is so thin it’s almost unbelievable that he is able to perform. The film deals with the tricks the mind can play on you and the consequences thereof. But more of that later, here’s a brief summary first (summary haters please help Miller fix that machine over there while I write the next paragraph).

Trevor Reznik has not slept in over a year; he hardly eats and leaves lots of post-it notes all over his apartment to remind him to do things. He works, as the title suggests, as a machinist in a factory where he is just about tolerated by his workmates. He visits a hooker, Stevie, who he confides in and she, looking for a way out of the business, has some affection for him too. Late at night he goes to the airport where he has coffee and has conversations with the waitress, Marie. One day a mysterious stranger turns up at work, a man who calls himself Ivan. And whilst helping Miller fix a machine Trevor gets distracted by Ivan and causes an accident. This eventually leads to his dismissal as he becomes more and more paranoid about Ivan. As he sinks deeper into his paranoia he begins to hallucinate more and more and the line between hallucinations and reality becomes blurred. What is at the root of all this? Well, a resolution is found in the film… but you’re crazy if you think I’m gonna tell you here.

This is a really dark gritty film, very well made with a really great soundtrack that fits the mood perfectly. It almost has the air of film noir about it, or maybe that’s just the mood set by the musical score. A really great performance from Christian Bale as Trevor Reznik, how he got so thin I’ll never know. Also worth an honourable mention are; Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stevie, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón as Marie, John Sharian as Ivan and Michael Ironside as Miller.

I love films that make you think, and this one certainly does that. Yes, at times it does get a little ponderous, but I can forgive that because it does all tie up in the end. So, over all, a well made, dark mystery thriller with a great score and a brilliant performance from Christian Bale… Very highly recommended.

My score: 8.6/10

LINKS:
(RT = Rotten Tomatoes)
IMDb Page: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0361862/
RT Page: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/machinist/
Trailer: http://uk.imdb.com/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/LINK/video/screenplay/vi2062942489/