Lame Film Can't Live Up To "Episode 1" Preview

by Jason R. Hewlett

In the immortal words of Monty Python: "Now for something completely different." What you get here is a case of a preview far outshining the film it preceded. The film: "Wing Commander," based on the best selling video game about an intergalactic war. The preview: for the much anticipated "Star Wars: Episode1 The Phantom Menace...also about an intergalactic war. Two similar concept ideas. The movie: 90 minutes in length. The preview: 2 minutes 30 seconds. The movie: a big waste of time. The preview: worth the price of admission alone! Yes, I'm reviewing a movie in comparison with a preview here and there is no contest...the preview wins!

"Wing Commander" is another case of taking a video game and translating it to a feature film. I've yet to see one that translates well. To be sure the concept of "Wing Commander" had feature film written all over it: a major battle for survival in the outer space of the future. Mankind is at war with a race called the Kilrathi but that's about all the sense I could muster out of Chris Roberts' and Kevin Droney's thin as balsawood script. Roberts, who also directs, created the video game as well so maybe he thought everyone who would see the movie would have also played the game but that's a big error on his part. A movie should stand alone and not hedge its' success on other source material. Never mind the fact that the film looks cheap (it was made for a mere $26 million) and has the pacing of a dead cat. 90 minutes feels like six hours of pure hell. The battle scenes, what few we get, are so quick and unexciting that we feel really ripped off. The ads promise us that "...All hell is going to break lose" but I feel like suing for false advertising. Instead we get a cure for insomnia.

On the other hand, the "Episode 1" preview movies like lightning. We see dazzling lightsaber duels and laser battles that take your breath away. Not to mention the fact that the plot of the film is perfectly clear: young Annakin Skywalker comes under the tutelage of a young Obi Wan Kenobi and Liam Neeson's Jedi Master is time to face a threat from the dreaded Sith Lords. You get more story and bang for your buck from a 2 minute 30 second trailer than you do from a full length film...that says something. Seeing the preview made me feel like that seven year old kid who witnessed the original "Star Wars" movie eons ago and I wanted more, more, MORE!

The performances in "Wing Commander" aren't bad to be honest. It's a cast of 90210 type in the form of Freddie Prinze Jr. (much better suited to his previous film "She's All That"), Matthew Lillard (also from "She's All That" and much better suited to his part as the psycho in "Scream"), and Saffron Burrows...who I'd never seen before. Too bad they get stuck playing noncharacters who could have been cut and pasted with all the other noncharacters and no one would have been the wiser. Heck, why go on? "Wing Commander" is just shoddy, maddening film making of the highest order. If some guy who designed a video game could get the chance to make a feature film than I guess anyone can and that alone explains why the quality of the studio blockbuster is quickly declining. For another example...see "Spawn"...or "Virus," two cases where visual effects guys got to make feature films which also blew chunks big time. Give us back our veteran directors!!!

There's no point in commenting on the performances in the "Episode 1" preview. We see the likes of excellent performers such as Ewen McGreggor, Liam Neeson, Samuel L. Jackson and we know they'll be good. Besides, it's a "Star Wars" movie...it doesn't really matter. Who ever starred in it would suite the characters. George Lucas knows how to make a movie...unlike Chris Roberts...who should stick with video games.

Okay, in short: "Wing Commander" bad...real, real bad. "Episode 1" preview good...real, real good! Movie makers good...real, real good. Wannabe movie makers....go to film school!!!!!!!!

"Wing Commander": 1 out of 10!

"Episode 1" preview: 10 out of 10!