Stranded (2013)

Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The first must-see film of the year.

The sets on display here (thankfully can only be seen at the beginning of the movie for a short period of time) are so bad, that you'd wish they'd have used a Lego set. Pretty sure that would've added more realism to the whole thing. Realism and being serious though being things that destroy this movie faster than an Ant's sneeze would take to destroy the "set". Just slightly faster though.While the interior is somewhat OK (compared to the exterior you could say a Quantum leap), this is not all that is wrong with the movie. There is also the plot. The thin thread that is holding together all the "action" and "excitement" you're about to witness. Slater obviously needs money and you do wonder (or I do), if that is still the same actor who I cherished from movies such as "True Romance". If the movie would just try to relish on how messed up it is and go for the "let's make fun of ourselves", it might have been somewhat entertaining. Unfortunately the only thing you might feel, is sorry for the actors ... Stay clear, for your own good

The Christian Slater sci-fi horror chiller "Stranded" amounts to an uninspired, low-budget, imitation of two classics: Ridley Scott's "Alien" and Howard Hawks' "The Thing from Another World." Despite better than average production values, a sturdy cast, and a twist ending, "Stranded" will leave you feeling stranded. "Battlefield Earth" director Roger Christian fails to generate a modicum of suspense or paranoia in this tedious tale of terror in space. Thrills and chills are conspicuous by their absence here and nothing leaps out at us. Good horror movies require at least five scary scenes as well as scenes where you think something hideous is going to happen. You have no reason to break a sweat or glance away when things become too intense. A freak meteor shower devastates a lunar mining base, and Colonel Gerard Brauchman (Christian Slater) and his crew of three, two guys and one gal, find themselves contending with a murderous alien life-form. No, this homicidal intruder isn't a monster with bug eyes and tentacles. The alien spore enters our heroine and she becomes pregnant in no time at all. Dr. Krauss has warned everybody that under the conditions they are having at the bio-dome, each of them could easily end up hallucinating or behaving in a bizarre manner. Our heroes venture outside and bring back samples of the meteor. They isolate the alien spore on the rock and things are never the same afterward. The resourceful alien replicates one of the crew after it leaves Ava's womb and does many dastardly deeds. Squeamish spectators who hate the sight of blood should prepare themselves for occasional displays of gore. Colin Hubick conjures up some effective visual effects when one of the crew undergoes a transformation into an alien. Christian and co-scenarist Christian Piers Betley dutifully maintain all the clichés, but "Stranded" suffers from an absence of atmosphere. Confined primarily to the command center, laboratories, and sleeping accommodations of the mining base, the setting never seems claustrophobic enough with humans trapped inside of it and battling for their survival. The meteor shower knocks out some functions at the Moon Base Bio-Dome so our heroes are isolated. While she is performing an analysis of a meteor fragment, Ava Cameron (Amy Matysio of "Just Friends") cuts her finger on a shattered test tube. Such is her fear that she has screwed up badly that Ava doesn't inform either Colonel Brauchman or the camp doctor, Dr. Lance Krauss (Brendan Fehr of "Final Destination"), about her injury. Eventually, Ava gets so sick and Dr. Krauss puts her in the medical bay while Brauchman urges him to slap her in quarantine. Brauchman, it turns out, is a stickler for following the rules. About an hour into this opus, Dr. Krauss presents the Colonel with a score card. They know they have an alien prowling their premises and one man is dead. Predictably, our heroes have a difficult time contacting Earth and sending out a distress signal. The miniature work is sub-standard, and "Stranded" doesn't move quickly in spite of its 88-minute running time. Nothing about the dialogue is quotable, and the characters are all one-dimensional. Believe me, you've seen "Stranded" before when it was a better movie such as "Alien" or "The Thing from Another World."

I just watched STRANDED and its Bonus Features. I thought it was alright. It could have been more fun and suspenseful, but the concept is pretty good - meteor shower destroys much of a moon base's functionality and communications, leaving 4 astronauts stranded.The ensemble is pretty good and each character is different from one another. The actors do a decent job with the material and props they have to work with. One example is how they talk into a communicator/holographic recorder, which is actually an auto-folding book light!!! You know it's a book light, but the actors keep a straight face, anyway. Same with some of the dialogue and character motivations (or lack thereof).The writing and direction is pretty dodgy (from good to lame), but not unexpected from the man who brought you BATTLEFIELD EARTH! For example: There is an Earth-bound scene that could have had some real potential, but shooting it in daylight reveals a recovery team to be only one Hummer and 4 guys! Smoke and flashlights would have worked wonders - you could have used the same 4 guys, and made them look like a whole squad.What really stood out for me was the use of miniatures over computer graphics. After reading about how cheap and awful this movie was supposed to be, I was pleasantly surprised with the look of the moon base, drilling machines, escape pod, and another ship that looked very good, in a Nostromo-type of landing. There is some CG, but it is appropriately used for heads up displays and holographs.There are some creepy moments, involving contagion, a birth and clone replication. Some of the makeup effects are nice and gooey! Nothing mind-blowing, but I was happy to see some competent makeup effects. In other words, this isn't a SyFy computer FX fiasco, so points for that! To sum this up, the mainstream audience probably won't like this, but it's a potentially guilty pleasure for sci-fi/horror geeks, like myself. Just don't expect too much.

I am a filmmaker and try to be as objective as possible. Understanding that many films have limitations, I try to see beyond the finances and look for other qualities such as performance, story, direction, and execution.Well, I looked for nearly an hour and found myself, after the first 3 minutes, wishing that a piece of the space shuttle would re-enter the atmosphere, crash through my roof, and hit me in the head.The most exciting moment of this viewing experience was when I finally decided to hit the stop button on my DVD player. The folks that made this fiasco should seriously consider Truckmasters or barber college.