I was attracted to this movie for a number of things. First, it LOOKS GREAT. Second, Ol' Moses Himself (Charlton Heston) was in it, and third, the female lead, "Alex" (Annabel Schofield) is SO damned beautiful, or was at least in this film.
When the film begins, a number of things are taken for granted: The SUN is about to shoot off a 6th-Extinction type Solar Flare, A Mission is in effect to try to fix it, and and there are Corporate Republican-Types who, just like today, insist that nothing is happening at all with the environment.
Scientists all around the world had agreed that The End was Near, except for the one scientist hired by the Corporation "IXL" to "disprove" the 6th-Extinction "theory". The Problem is, it is not a theory, it's a fact, even IXL's own scientist changes his mind, and tells the Owner of IXL "Teague" (Peter Boyle) that he has to in fact agree that this thing is happening, and the current space mission to drop a talking antimatter BOMB (played by Paul Williams as "Freddy" - Shades of Dark Star?) - is actually necessary. But as the world is falling apart economically and socially, Teague has bought up - All the food, all the electronics, and anything that would become of value once the "crisis" is over, be does not believe that the end of the crisis would also mean the end of the world.
The next thing we see is IXL's hapless doctor dropped off in the "desert" - apparently the whole Midwest has changed into a new Sahara, and he is rescued by Michael Berryman of "The Hills have Eyes". Supplies are driven automatically in Robot "Trucks" owned by IXL, nobody really goes anywhere or does anything.
Meanwhile, Space Flight Command is a 3-Generational thing. Admiral "Skeet" Kelso (Heston) is the father of Captain Steve Kelso (Tim Matheson), who is in command of the spaceship "Helios" and the mission to bomb the sun. Steve's son is "Mike" ("Corky" Nemec from one season plus one episode of Stargate SG-1) and he has escaped from Military Academy because he is not sure if he believes the world is going to end.
So Mike is pursued by both Skeet and Teague, Teague wants to subvert the kid - If he CAN be subverted. But more than that Teague wants to know if his late doctor had told Mike about the impending plan to sabotage the mission.
But early on, it is shows that IXL has indeed infiltrated the mission has put in place a way to bring it down, we are not sure how.
This film has "Enhanced People" kind of like Replicants in Blade Runner - Alex is one, and Teague has his own Blonde Haired Nazi Killing Machine.
Alex is one of only two people who can fly the Bomb Carrying Pod into the Sun, and it is a one way trip.
When Mike escapes into the Desert, he is helped by a crazy guy named "Travis" played by Jack Palance, he keeps him safe from Teague and they both meet the Surviving Doctor in a water-serving Bar, when he is brought in by Berryman. But there is a nosy Waitress, who rifles through the doctor's pockets to steal his phone, and calls Teague on it to see if there is a reward or something, Teague's Nazi shows up and kills the Doctor.
Mike escapes in a desert-modded Jaguar, which is not fast enough to escape Teague's Hovercraft, which looks a bit like the flying Hunter- Killers from Terminator. But when Teague cannot make Mike side with him, he sends laughing boy to kill him. So it is back to the original plan - Use the SPY on "Helios", where crew-members are being killed in "accidents"- And each time, we see Alex grieving.
We understand when we see scenes of Teague's NaziBoy "Programming" Alex - She's the one who was doing it and didn't know. But what Teague never considered was that she had real feelings for the people who were being killed, and this revelation breaks Teague's hold on her.
I have never seen Annabel Schofield in any other film or TV show since, but she was absolutely perfect in this.
This whole movie seems to be some kind of Japanese production based on what must have been a popular Japanese Book, which may partially explain the film's dismal ratings. This was never really released in a Theatre in the US. Apparently, the Director "Alan Smithee" is a Alias used when a Director does not want to be associated with a film, the first one to use that name was Don Siegel. Used in this case by "Vanishing Point" director Richard C. Sarafian.
Actually, I enjoyed this when I first started seeing this on places like HBO late at night, then the Sci Fi Channel, this was one of their most often run Moovies. I can enjoy the WORK that was done to make some of the shots look good, and they do at that. I don't know what the beef was between Sarafian and the Film Company, but had the director been given more control, this could have been as profitable as Total Rekall and Starship Troopers.
The scenes of Spaceflight are amazingly good for Non CGI, the models are very 2001-ish, and there is some lost tongue-in-cheek humor, especially from Peter Boyle (Who was "Clyde Buckman" in "The X-Files").
When the film begins, a number of things are taken for granted: The SUN is about to shoot off a 6th-Extinction type Solar Flare, A Mission is in effect to try to fix it, and and there are Corporate Republican-Types who, just like today, insist that nothing is happening at all with the environment.
Scientists all around the world had agreed that The End was Near, except for the one scientist hired by the Corporation "IXL" to "disprove" the 6th-Extinction "theory". The Problem is, it is not a theory, it's a fact, even IXL's own scientist changes his mind, and tells the Owner of IXL "Teague" (Peter Boyle) that he has to in fact agree that this thing is happening, and the current space mission to drop a talking antimatter BOMB (played by Paul Williams as "Freddy" - Shades of Dark Star?) - is actually necessary. But as the world is falling apart economically and socially, Teague has bought up - All the food, all the electronics, and anything that would become of value once the "crisis" is over, be does not believe that the end of the crisis would also mean the end of the world.
The next thing we see is IXL's hapless doctor dropped off in the "desert" - apparently the whole Midwest has changed into a new Sahara, and he is rescued by Michael Berryman of "The Hills have Eyes". Supplies are driven automatically in Robot "Trucks" owned by IXL, nobody really goes anywhere or does anything.
Meanwhile, Space Flight Command is a 3-Generational thing. Admiral "Skeet" Kelso (Heston) is the father of Captain Steve Kelso (Tim Matheson), who is in command of the spaceship "Helios" and the mission to bomb the sun. Steve's son is "Mike" ("Corky" Nemec from one season plus one episode of Stargate SG-1) and he has escaped from Military Academy because he is not sure if he believes the world is going to end.
So Mike is pursued by both Skeet and Teague, Teague wants to subvert the kid - If he CAN be subverted. But more than that Teague wants to know if his late doctor had told Mike about the impending plan to sabotage the mission.
But early on, it is shows that IXL has indeed infiltrated the mission has put in place a way to bring it down, we are not sure how.
This film has "Enhanced People" kind of like Replicants in Blade Runner - Alex is one, and Teague has his own Blonde Haired Nazi Killing Machine.
Alex is one of only two people who can fly the Bomb Carrying Pod into the Sun, and it is a one way trip.
When Mike escapes into the Desert, he is helped by a crazy guy named "Travis" played by Jack Palance, he keeps him safe from Teague and they both meet the Surviving Doctor in a water-serving Bar, when he is brought in by Berryman. But there is a nosy Waitress, who rifles through the doctor's pockets to steal his phone, and calls Teague on it to see if there is a reward or something, Teague's Nazi shows up and kills the Doctor.
Mike escapes in a desert-modded Jaguar, which is not fast enough to escape Teague's Hovercraft, which looks a bit like the flying Hunter- Killers from Terminator. But when Teague cannot make Mike side with him, he sends laughing boy to kill him. So it is back to the original plan - Use the SPY on "Helios", where crew-members are being killed in "accidents"- And each time, we see Alex grieving.
We understand when we see scenes of Teague's NaziBoy "Programming" Alex - She's the one who was doing it and didn't know. But what Teague never considered was that she had real feelings for the people who were being killed, and this revelation breaks Teague's hold on her.
I have never seen Annabel Schofield in any other film or TV show since, but she was absolutely perfect in this.
This whole movie seems to be some kind of Japanese production based on what must have been a popular Japanese Book, which may partially explain the film's dismal ratings. This was never really released in a Theatre in the US. Apparently, the Director "Alan Smithee" is a Alias used when a Director does not want to be associated with a film, the first one to use that name was Don Siegel. Used in this case by "Vanishing Point" director Richard C. Sarafian.
Actually, I enjoyed this when I first started seeing this on places like HBO late at night, then the Sci Fi Channel, this was one of their most often run Moovies. I can enjoy the WORK that was done to make some of the shots look good, and they do at that. I don't know what the beef was between Sarafian and the Film Company, but had the director been given more control, this could have been as profitable as Total Rekall and Starship Troopers.
The scenes of Spaceflight are amazingly good for Non CGI, the models are very 2001-ish, and there is some lost tongue-in-cheek humor, especially from Peter Boyle (Who was "Clyde Buckman" in "The X-Files").