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Category Archives: Sci-Fi Movies
Robocop: A Fable of Humanity Corrupted, Commoditized, and Restored
Robocop is a tale of corruption and dehumanization. The film examines what it means to suck the humanity out of something, replace it with a mix of technology and greed, and witness the grim results when what’s left takes hold. It is an action-packed polemic against prioritizing private profits above the public good, escalation above restraint, and lead and steel above flesh and blood.
But as I discussed on The Serial Fanaticist Podcast, it’s also a paean to the resilience of the human soul, unquenched and undeterred by whatever self-serving, nest-feathering malevolence may have been permeating corporate boardrooms in the 1980s. OCP, an evil company that wants to replace regular cops with robotic enforcers, tries to erase the identity of the man who has become its latest product, so that he‘ll be a better tool and a better soldier. And yet, the man’s connections, to his partner and his family, reawaken and sustain him despite the company’s concerted efforts to stamp both out.
Posted in Classic Films, Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Tagged 1980s Movies, Action Movies, Film Reviews, Paul Verhoeven, Peter Weller, Robocop
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Dark City Offers a Solid Rendition of the Usual Green Grime Tropes
Note: This review pertains to the director’s cut of Dark City and contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the film.
What is it about the 1990s that gave us so many films like this one? Whether it’s Dark City, or City of Lost Children, or even The Matrix (which I bet had the word “city” in the title at first), the decade was awash in reality-questioning, green-tinted stories about chosen one saviors breaking through confusing and oppressive systems. As I discussed on The Serial Fanaticist podcast, each of these movies offers the same sense of grime-ridden trippiness, the same sort of heady themes wrapped in a quasi-blockbuster package, and the same type of dreamlike, steampunk-meets-futurism aesthetic.
Posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Tagged 1990s films, Dark City, Film Reviews, Noir, Rufus Sewell, Science Fiction
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Is Both Too Much and Not Enough
[CAUTION: This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker]
The Rise of Skywalker never stops. From minute one, it is utterly relentless, bringing back major characters, leaping across time and space, and blowing through plot point after plot point at breakneck speed. Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy recently speculated that if director J.J. Abrams had known he would be spearheading this final installment back when he originally signed on for The Force Awakens, he would have saddled up and directed the whole damn trilogy. The Rise of Skywalker bears that out, if only because it feels like Abrams tried to cram two movies into one here.
Attack of the Clones Is Like its Protagonist: Rife with Potential But Deeply Flawed
The strange thing about Attack of the Clones is that there’s the ghost of a better movie within it. Its script is atrocious, and the visuals all but sink the film as its scenes grow progressively uglier. But buried within that mess is a noble effort to cultivate the root causes of Anakin’s turn, a solid mystery adventure for “Obi Wan Kenobi: Space Detective”, and even a minor bit of political intrigue. Its weaknesses far outnumber its strengths, but the best thing you can say about Episode II is that in different hands, or under different circumstances, it could have been great.
The Simplicity of Predator Is a Blessing and a Curse
There’s a refreshing simplicity to the plot of Predator. You can boil it down to “Alien hunter picks off mercenaries in the jungle.” Technically, there’s a little more to it than that, with the mildest of ruses and a minor mission misdirect to contend with, but the gist of the film fits into an eight-word description. That seems remarkable right now in an age where every blockbuster and explosion-fest needs to have some convoluted conspiracy, twist upon twist, and a grand mystery to keep the audience interested. Predator, by contrast, banks on the basics of its premise to carry the day.
That’s a good thing, because there ain’t much of a story otherwise. As I discussed on The Serial Fanaticist Podcast, Predator offers the wisp of a theme about the military-industrial complex seeing its soldiers as interchangeable parts, while the men themselves view one another as human beings. It gradually parcels out the inevitable deaths of everyone besides its major star (and its token female character) to fill the gaps between explosions and alien encounters. And it teases the appearance of the titular antagonist nigh-perfectly, letting the audience get glimpses of the creature and his work bit by bit before he fully emerges.
Posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Tagged 1980s Movies, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Film Reviews, John McTiernan, Predator
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The Matrix Was Prescient About the Online World, But Also the Real World
There’s a tension at the heart of The Matrix. The film frames its machine-forged digital ecosystem as a prison, as a lie intended to keep humanity docile. It’s the work of an authority that means to tame us. But the Matrix itself is also a world of unlimited possibility, one where you can look cooler than the real world would ever allow, do what no flesh-and-blood human ever could, and see and feel and experience things that simply aren’t possible outside of this virtual space. The film quickly establishes a tug-of-war between the true but meager subsistence the real world offers and the blinding but comforting falsehood of the world made out of ones and zeroes.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Captures the Spirit of the Franchise as Captain Kirk Learns to Lose
Star Trek: The Motion Picture might represent the spirit of Star Trek, with its story of seeking out new life and new civilizations, and its heady science fiction rooted in the space between the personal and the unfathomable. But as I discussed on the We Love to Watch podcast, if The Motion Picture captures Star Trek’s spirit, then The Wrath of Khan captures the franchise’s character. The second theatrical Star Trek film conveys the way these friends and allies bounce off one another, the franchise’s Wagon Train to the Stars adventurism, and the larger-than-life personalities that give color to its futuristic world.
Posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Tagged 1980s Movies, Captain Kirk, Film Reviews, Spock, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Original Series
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The Star Wars Holiday Special Should Never Be Forgotten
While the debates among the Star Wars faithful rage on — about how each film should be ranked, which events are canon, or who shot whom and when — one simple truth remains. However high its highs, however great its triumphs, a franchise as long-lived and wide-ranging as Star Wars will inevitably produce a serious amount of utter crap.
Posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Tagged George Lucas, Holiday Season, Movie Reviews, Star Wars
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Solo: A Star Wars Story Is a Blast as an Adventure Flick, and a Chore as a Character Study
Solo has the scruffy confidence to be its own film. Of the ten Star Wars movies released so far, it’s the only one that doesn’t directly tie into the events of the main saga. That alone makes it interesting and laudable as the first real silver screen step of Star Wars ceasing to be a series and starting to be a “cinematic universe.”
Posted in Movies, Sci-Fi Movies
Tagged Film Reviews, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, Ron Howard, Star Wars, Star Wars Anthology Films
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Star Wars: The Last Jedi Is About Making Mistakes, But the Trip to the Casino Planet Isn’t One of Them
Even viewers who loved The Last Jedi tend to point to its trip to Canto Bight — the luxurious planet full of well-heeled gamblers and wealthy libertines — as a misstep. It’s been decried as pointless, indulgent, and ultimately inessential to the other major events of Episode VIII.
But while not the strongest element of The Last Jedi, that sojourn to the casino planet is vital to Finn’s arc, to the animating ideas at the center of the film, and to the movie’s parting shot, in a way that fully justifies its inclusion in the movie, even one already pushing a 2 ½ hour runtime.
