I'm not sure a lead actor has ever appeared so bored onscreen. In 2204, a plague has wiped out most of the planet's population. Foster (Dolph Lundgren) and his motley spaceship crew go back in time two hundred years to stop the plague. The disease came to Earth on a meteor that crashed in Antarctica, and it was being investigated by an ice cutter's crew, who brought it back to civilization (I think). Foster and the gang arrive in 2004, when Dalton (Joe Montana, not the football player) decides to take over the spaceship for vague reasons. The spaceship crash lands on the snowy tundra, and the ice cutter heads in the direction of the explosion. The ice cutter Nathaniel Parker has many expendable characters on it, including the captain (Ken Samuels), serious astrobiologist Renee (Silvia De Santis), pothead and lame comedy relief Mack (Jamie Treacher), and jerk Schrader (Joey Sagal), who reminds everyone he has hired the ship to prove that humanity originated in outer space- we never find out how a trip to Antarctica was going to prove his theory. The plague, which resembles grape jelly and can be passed by touch, begins infecting both the time travelers and the ice cutter's crew. It has differing gestation times depending on how important the character is to the plot, and eventually Foster and Dalton shoot it out on some cheap sets.
Thinking of Lundgren, with his Denis Leary haircut and Jurgen Prochnow cheeks, I am drowsy. My heavy lids and yawning are mirroring what I viewed. Lundgren is bored here. There is no other explanation for his half-hearted acting, fighting, and screen presence. Normally, he has some gravitas, but here he goes through the motions just enough not to get fired from the picture. The film was shot in Luxembourg and Italy, which make lousy substitutions for the South Pole. The computer generated effects are cheesy. The cast flounders under the terrible script. There is too much footage of people leaving the ice cutter to visit the spaceship crash site, and then walking back to either alert others, or send more people out to visit the spaceship crash site. Specifics are not found and plot points are not followed as we wonder about Renee and Foster's connection, Dalton's post-mutiny plans, and the fact that everyone who shoots at Lundgren is a lousy shot. In 2204, motorcycle racing attire is the fashion rage, and I was curious as to where Foster got his blonde highlights in the futuristic wasteland. Director Kulikowski tries, but the film starts abruptly, and then pulls the viewer along from one badly choreographed fight scene to another. Lundgren sleeps on his feet, the supporting cast looks completely lost- yelling their lines as if that might help the pacing, and as characters begin dying of the plague or stabbings and shootings, the film and Foster don't seem to care. I, too, didn't care about the proceedings. "Retrograde" isn't even bad-movie fun, but it is a learning opportunity. It shows the lengths one actor will go to in order to cash a paycheck. Thanks for the lesson, Dolph, you can go back to sleep now.
Thinking of Lundgren, with his Denis Leary haircut and Jurgen Prochnow cheeks, I am drowsy. My heavy lids and yawning are mirroring what I viewed. Lundgren is bored here. There is no other explanation for his half-hearted acting, fighting, and screen presence. Normally, he has some gravitas, but here he goes through the motions just enough not to get fired from the picture. The film was shot in Luxembourg and Italy, which make lousy substitutions for the South Pole. The computer generated effects are cheesy. The cast flounders under the terrible script. There is too much footage of people leaving the ice cutter to visit the spaceship crash site, and then walking back to either alert others, or send more people out to visit the spaceship crash site. Specifics are not found and plot points are not followed as we wonder about Renee and Foster's connection, Dalton's post-mutiny plans, and the fact that everyone who shoots at Lundgren is a lousy shot. In 2204, motorcycle racing attire is the fashion rage, and I was curious as to where Foster got his blonde highlights in the futuristic wasteland. Director Kulikowski tries, but the film starts abruptly, and then pulls the viewer along from one badly choreographed fight scene to another. Lundgren sleeps on his feet, the supporting cast looks completely lost- yelling their lines as if that might help the pacing, and as characters begin dying of the plague or stabbings and shootings, the film and Foster don't seem to care. I, too, didn't care about the proceedings. "Retrograde" isn't even bad-movie fun, but it is a learning opportunity. It shows the lengths one actor will go to in order to cash a paycheck. Thanks for the lesson, Dolph, you can go back to sleep now.