Wing Commander (1999)

Nice effects though.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I admit to never having played the "Wing Commander" games. I might have, but I'm probably just thinking about another video game with live-action cutscenes. The only reason I'm not giving this a lower score is because I'm not a fan of the series. This must have hit a lot harder with those poor guys. The movie tells the story about people in space fighting aliens and that's about it. It was directed by Chris Roberts which changed a lot from the game even though Chris Roberts MADE the game.The worst character is this Maniac guy as he's so obnoxious and probably has the worst acting of anyone there. It's mostly just nothing but people sitting around and talking and even the battle scenes are incredibly dull. It doesn't help that the CGI looks fake. I wasn't able to follow the plot well simply because I was so uninvested I didn't really try. From what I heard, when Chris Roberts first saw the finished film, he actually CRIED. The aliens look like green bipedal tigers. *1/2

This is a truly amazing film. Not amazing to watch, but amazing to contemplate from a distance. That this film was ever produced in the first place is astounding: it is based on a series of flight-simulator computer games, and even directed by the man who created those games; at times watching the movie is like watching over someone else's shoulder as they play a video game. It features an outstanding cast of European character actors: Tcheky Karyo, Jurgen Prochnow, David Suchet, Hugh Quarshie, and David Warner. Along for the ride are two bright young stars of the late-90's, Matthew Lillard and Freddie Prinze, Jr, and seldom has there been a pair of actors so misplaced.The movie sets its cast adrift in a banal script about the conflict between a generically futuristic human military and a race of anonymously aggressive aliens. Neither side of this conflict receives any sort of background, but the humans are dressed up like Soviet sailors and fly space fighter-jets that look like MiG-21's, so we can safely assume that they represent the eventual victory of Marxism-Leninism over the decadence of Western Capitalism. The aliens look like armored cats, perhaps symbolic of Wall Street "fat cats". These deceitful petty-bourgeoisie kick off the plot by attacking a human base, much as the imperialist Japanese did in 1941.What follows is a remake of the 1944 wartime propaganda film "Wing and a Prayer", as the heroes' spaceship fights its way across enemy space to bring vital information to the human space-navy in time for the space-battle of Midway. Meanwhile Lillard and Prinze Jr. engage in a forgettable human-interest story aboard the ship, romancing fellows pilots Ginnie Holder and Saffron Burrows (both of whom are better actors and more sympathetic characters), and combating the inexplicable prejudice of executive officer Prochnow and others, none of which adds up to much. Lillard and Prinze spit out their dialogue as if they might choke on it otherwise; Lillard's rubbery features and Prinze's blank face provide an interesting contrast that helpfully distracts from their lack of talent.I won't spoil the movie by telling you the good guys win in the end. It's obviously that kind of movie, and the outcome preordained, even though the film never presents its audience with a reason to care. The setting is vague, the action obscure, the characters walking clichés; the only thing passing for entertainment value is the enthusiastic performances offered by the supporting cast. From conception to execution the entire effort defies belief.

In the distant future, humanity is threatened by enemy aliens called the Kilrathi who have stolen a device that allows them to travel through worm holes in space, allowing them the chance launch a deadly surprise attack on planet Earth any time soon. A fighter squadron are the last hope. Two young bucks called Maverick and Maniac, along with female wing commander Angel lead the fight-back.Wing Commander is one of that unloved subset of movies that was based around a video game. I think it's only fair to say that this has rarely proved to be a winning idea. I personally haven't even heard of the game Wing Commander but suspect that it had little in the way of narrative impetus for a movie plot-line to easily be constructed around. In effect, this feels like a space adventure based around the plot of an old World War II fighter pilot yarn. It has the clichéd characters and basic idea that could just as easily be used for a film of that type. This one is typical of many sci-fi space adventures of the late 90's in that it is completely bland with workmanlike special effects and almost nothing to differentiate it from the crowd. The action scenes are quite tedious to be honest and the screenplay is highly mediocre. The film is not helped very much by having Freddie Prinze Jr and Matthew Lillard star as the two central heroes; they seriously fail to convince in these roles and are far too light-weight. There is a decent international cast of respected actors in many of the periphery roles but each and every one of the parts they play are what I would term 'exposition characters', i.e. people who turn up to say something bland but plot-forwarding (sort of like actors in a TV hospital soap opera). Finally, we have very poorly defined and ridiculous looking aliens (who look like comedy cats). They are hardly on screen at all in any case, so much so that it is hard really caring much about them.I wouldn't say this film is really terrible exactly but it is an extremely underwhelming experience. You really need to be a fairly forgiving sci-fi nut to get too much out of this one I reckon.

As a fan of the Wing Commander franchise I watched this I thought nothing was worse then Wing Commander: Prophecy, unfortunately when I watched this I'll admit one thing: I was proved wrong! As I watched this I wonder 'Is this REALLY Wing Commander?' I beheld crap special effects were complete and utter crud! I understand the budget situation but shows like Blake's 7 and Doctor Who did FAR better on their own shoestring budgets then this! Also the Kilrathi were hardly shown and when they were, they were unconvincing unlike tiger-like warrior species I remembered.Also the storyline was complete and total rubbish especially compared to the games and how space travel was presented in them! The ship designs were a disgrace and the Tiger's Claw didn't look like a carrier at all and the fighter craft were not very well designed and there was no light fighter or medium fighter or heavy fighter or bomber distinction that really defined the games! Because in the future that's how things will work! Because in space combat there will be fighter craft warfare as well as ship to ship battles.Also I hated the touch of how they make it like modern jet fighters taking off while its obvious in the future and in space that's totally unbelievable.Also I did not care much for the Pilgrim back-story let alone Blair being part one maybe its just me. Plus Blair and Maniac being friends from the beginning made no sense.Kevin Droney's screenplay was complete and utter rubbish in short. Also how Chris Roberts approved it let alone be part of it I don't know but I imagine he was probably embarrassed by how the movie based on the classic franchise he created turned out and I doubt he would have been happy with Prophecy either.Maybe Chris Roberts may well revive the franchise perhaps even manage to redeem himself in the respect of the Wing Commander franchise with either a movie or TV series or even a game reboot or he might give his blessings for someone else to do it, perhaps with him acting as some consultant or whatever or partner.Only time will tell. Otherwise this movie is a total disgrace to a classic series!