Reviews

One of the best films of the 80's that somehow showed up in the 90's. Cutthroat Island was a great movie at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a type of story and directing that was no longer popular in the mainstream and that was underscored by Movies at the time which were popular at the time like Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction, Pretty Woman, Silence of the Lambs, Forrest Gump and so on. Audiences had moved on to a certain dark, seriousness in their movie choices which promoted more original themes that were thought provoking. The story for Cutthroat Island wasn't that kind of movie- it focuses on suspension of disbelief to take the audience on a "what if" adventure of pirating through what seems like a child's view of pirating. The most original and genuine genius of the film is a female pirate with Geena Davis at the helm. Other than that, we know the story is about finding treasure, which is so fully played out by the 1990's that it has completely lost its luster. Audiences had just come off the last Indiana Jones movies about six years prior with their popularity still in VHS and DVD for years to come. I'm certain that Carolco thought this was the perfect movie to launch a series off the absence of their Jones movies, but audiences had moved on. This was part of the reason that new stories introduced in the 90's were doing so well...people wanted to watch something they hadn't seen before. And while it can be argued that a female pirate was a new idea, the story wasn't a NEW pirate story per se, it was the same wonderful swash-buckling storytelling we loved as kids. Essentially, the trend was over, and while the costumes, production sets and the ships were positively as awesome as the locations, it comes down to being a pirate story. That tongue in cheek, event driven action was played out before the mid 1990's and people were looking for some humanity in their stories. They wanted to see people eaten by dinosaurs, shot by bad guys, eaten by psychopaths and the underdogs get rich. Cutthroat Island was always destined to be a cult classic as it fits (out of time) and on the shelf with Jewel of the Nile, The Indiana Jones epic, The Goonies, Romancing the Stone, King Solomon's Mines and so on. For me, Cutthroat Island worked for me in the theater because I wasn't done with all the great movies that came out in the 80's and every time I watch a movie like Cutthroat Island it takes me back to that time when movies allowed your imagination to join the fun.

First off, I would most likely categorize this movie as more of a fantasy than a work of science fiction, and rightly so, because of its vehicle for time travel and setting. I watched this movie in the original Russian without sub-titles. I do not speak Russian, and I cannot say I am familiar with the country or its history. When I started to view it, I found the directing and cinematography to be interesting, so I continued, expecting to shut it off and go to bed. Instead, I was captivated by the story, and could tell from the acting and foreshadowing what the story was about, without understanding the language. In addition, I fully understood the concepts and experiences portrayed at the point of climax and the message the film intended. I enjoyed this film because of its elements, the love story intertwined with the wake up call to the younger generation known for forgetting the past, confounded with unexpected twists that led them on an adventure of inner growth and a closer examination of the meaning of life, nationality and sacrifice. I felt a greater interest in the Russian people after viewing this movie, and it left that kind of lump in my throat, wanting more, sad for their loss, and glad for what was gained. I did not expect such a melancholy feeling but I also felt after watching the movie that I needed it. I think this movie is a brilliant example of how a newer generation, regardless of culture, can romanticize the past even to the point of translating a gross, evil invader into something cool or popular without even realizing what it means. This is a great movie for young adults--thoughtful, yet entertaining, sending its message directly to your heart.

I would have liked to have given this a lengthy drawn out technical review like many other reviewers here did. I'm sure that would help me psychologically after what I just saw, but I must admit that I truly feel enlightened and more appreciative of other movies that I have severely criticized. This piece of trash goes above and beyond bad script, bad acting, bad props, bad directing, bad casting, bad editing, bad continuity, bad effects, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad...and the list goes on. If someone told me this was directed by a high school class, I would believe them. If someone told me this movie was meant to be an example of how NOT TO MAKE A MOVIE, I would believe them. I've seen amateur footage on YouTube more entertaining in spirit. It encompasses everything that you hate about the 80's, while still managing to incorporate everything that you would hate in a very low, rock bottom basement budget home movie. I simply couldn't believe that I was seeing Cameron Mitchell wearing a fake beard in this bit of eye dung, playing the cloned part of Lorene Greene from Battlestar Galactica. Clearly, this was the result of the following homework: watch Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. Believe in your hallucination that you are the guru of science fiction and know everything any 12 year old knows. Waste rolls of expensive professional film on worthless scenes that your talking dog dreams up. Viola! Space Mutiny is born! If I had a smart gun, I'd hunt down everyone involved and shoot them until they were intelligent enough understand what they've done. I had to ask myself the questions whether anyone involved in the film had even seen the movie? If they got paid? If they were they drugged? Or, did an entire group of actors lost a bet? I would only suggest watching this junk if you are a video masochist.

Remember great TV series such as Sea Hunt, Aquanauts and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea? You would think an interest in underwater fiction would be at the top of the list a lot sooner than 1993.

As such, Seaquest had a lot going for the show and its not surprising its fresh look at underwater fiction really jumped the mark for hype in its first season offerings. What slowed it down was a lot of background story and tedious placement setting up the show (much of this could have been cut out of the stories) with a lot less action than you might have expected usually mandated from other Sci-Fi series of the time (Star Trek TNG was wrapping up and Earth 2 was to debut on air a year later). And I think, for the most part, producers recognized this and went into to high gear to bump things up a notch.

But the show went too sci-fi hokey, even cheesy, departing from the beautiful world that season 1 had so intricately put into place. With new actors, a talking dolphin (Darwin), and annoying hardware, these new episodes reflected changes in acting vision, and clearly some actors are "remade" from what was previously intended in my opinion. In fact, by mid-season 2, episodes are so different, that one wonders if it is a spin off of the original Seaquest series. By now, with the show so poorly initiated and driving Roy Scheider to the brink of quitting (So how do you continue a show when the lead quits? Network execs make him do a few appearances in the next season so no one notices, right? Sort of, but lame, very lame) and thusly, season 3 could only offer a badly needed dose of action in the eyes of actors, audience and execs. But this is where I think things truly go awry, killing an otherwise good idea.

Instead bringing up the level of drama that challenges our fears and mystery of the sea to make it more exciting and invigorating, we only get a barrage of the supernatural ghost stories, fishermans' fantasies, space aliens and outright ridiculousness almost too much to bear. I could forgive a little fantasy here or there and even imagine it, but some of it is just shoot 'em up cartoonish crap that for the life of me seems as if it is full of scenes where costuming is focused on how good actors look in their suits rather than any hint of an entertaining story. Not fun.

Sadly, it's there. It's a show that coulda, woulda, shoulda but didn't.

I just finished watching this...and I will be honest...I'd seen a few minutes of it browsing a Digiview DVD compilation...I truly knew from just that few minutes this was probably a stinker, but I watched it because the actresses had tight uniforms. Yes, I know...that's terrible...but I couldn't help myself. Truly, the story was a wash out and watching the girls really was the motivation. I will say that actor, John Richardson was not as bad as everyone else. Too bad he didn't get a film role that he could shine. The ending of the movie is reminiscent of a twilight zone twist, which was a nice touch for those who suffer through it. Directing is almost as good as a high school film production, and a blind grandmother could have done much better cinematography. I read here that a reviewer wrote the special effects were as cruddy as 1950's sci-fi, and I say shame on you for saying that...they not nearly as good as Flash Gordon or War of the Worlds. On the other hand, they are as good as that stuff I just left in the toilet. But seriously, I can't even say that you have to see it to believe it, because in all fairness, you wouldn't believe it. Sadly, this film has been preserved electronically for all to see.

Some primary points to remember when watching a movie tied to a series of movies is that plot, time line, and characters must follow a specific path to rationalize the story as a whole. It is most difficult to create movies based on the vast epics of comic books and video games because readers and gamers have expectations that writers and directors usually cannot satisfy. To begin, movies are limited by time - most viewers will sit through an hour and a half or maybe 2 hours. Rarely can a director get away with over two hours, and only in exceptional instances can a movie be 3 hours or more. Hence, what AVP followed made it a prequel to answer the questions of the previous movie viewers and keep the story fresh. This perspective lent the story an environment of the present by the course of the previous movies, focusing on the back story of both aliens and predator. Anderson, O'Bannon, and Shusset did a fantastic job telling their story and the length of the movie is perfect to tell all about it.

These gentlemen were creative enough to establish rules that were re-reasoned and re-rationalized from the previous movies. It would not be sensible to make this work for all of the comics, books, video games and so forth ever based on AVP because it would be impossible to know all the rules and worlds that other authors created. Essentially, the stories of Alien and Predator have been "works in progress" for all areas. Anderson, O'Bannon and Shusset worked together on "their" original ideas, which makes it rather official in terms of what the story is meant to be for all monsters involved. When new subsequent writers some day take over, it will take a great feat of intellectual strength to rise to the challenge. Consider the hereditary story of Star Trek, where new series writers have delicately tip-toed around paradoxes eventually writing them out of existence and into a void where an explanation is presented in the creation of something entirely new in a completely different series or movie. In short, books and video games have to be ignored because their story lines are not suitable for consistency: the driving aspects of the film.

This is where AVP fits in. It is the creation of something to explain "some" of the story but not all. Well directed by Anderson, AVP viewers are presented with the "beginning" - the part where characters such as Woods and Weyland fit in - where aliens fit in and their unexpected origins - and what predators do and why they come to Earth in first place. This beginning is beautifully orchestrated with the unsuspecting humans destined by their own greed. The predators are more plentiful in this movie, which explains their 1 on 1 performance in previous movies. The aliens are solidified as the same nasty creatures they've always been, which is the focal point for loads of action leaving the aliens to do their dirty deeds.

Also, viewers should remember that stories and their rights are property that is purchased, collaborated, officiated, and storyboarded, re-worked, thrown out and redone from the beginning and over again before exposure ever hits the film. Many fans forget that the audiences who follow alien, predator, and AVP (not to mention the general public) are all different. Their knowledge and understanding of the characters must be reconciled by the film or the film will never make sense. This is much harder to do than just picking one of the comic book stories and going with it. Keep in mind, that stories which fare well in books or in games are not necessarily the stories that fare well in theaters. Essentially, actors tell the story, not scripts and milieu may not necessarily be created by the environment described in a video game. Screen plays must be written so that lighting, props, camera angle, special effects and locations can tell the story as well.

AVP is a perfect example of what blending story lines should do - it demonstrates commitment to the academy and to the work of the previous artists who produced both Alien and Predator with substantial energy. It is clear that this movie crew succeeded because everyone involved had the shear will and ability to make AVP the best movie possible. The "monster versus monster" storyline is tough to pull off for any production crew. Sure, we would all love to see King Kong vs. Godzilla which would be a lot easier to do than Star Wars vs. Star Trek, but that doesn't mean it should be done - nor does it mean that we can do it competently without considerable effort. A story really has to work or there is going to be trouble and a lot of expense down the road. AVP is the best monster vs. monster movie ever made - which is truly an understatement.

Some reviewers have suggested that this movie has tainted the entire vision of the AVP series' and all is lost. It's disappointing to think that anyone would suggest that we could not continue a story because a movie was made in one interpretation. I look forward to viewing the incarnations of every idea because it is fun! Some day there may be a new Brady Bunch series, a new and improved Lone Ranger, or a better Robocop. AVP is a great movie for anyone looking for an action and sci-fi flick and not because it follows story lines so well (which it does) but because it truly excels as a movie. Taking a strict interpretive view of what a story "has to be" is ridiculous not to mention stressful for viewers. I look forward to AVP-2 because let's face it - you can never get enough of that long scary tongue with teeth at the end

The premise of this movie is that a band of space pirates ends up stealing a kid by mistake. This group of "Space Raiders" is led by a man named Hawk, a once honorable soldier, -- or so the story goes, ironically, with Hawk struggling to look good in front of the kid and eventually promising to get the kid home rather than ransoming him. This story has a little bit of everything in it from the exciting action of Star Wars to the warmth and comfort of E.T. It's not technically the most SFX movie in Sci-fi, even for its time, but I would say to rival it against some of the earlier Seals and Croft TV series in the '70's that had that special inspiration of adventure and impossibility that kids love to contemplate. Think of that special after school movie and that's what I'm talking about. I give this film a high rating mostly because it is a movie for kids (the battle scenes are great and the cheesy effects make the gunfights practically non-violent). Younger kids can identify with the boy and preteens can identify with the speed of the story. Give it a try -- it's great family entertainment.

I wish I could give this series a good remark that would be uplifting to those die hard fans of obscurity. I simply can't. Many episodes were doomed with questionable writing that resembled something out of bad 1970's Flash Gordon knock off. There are many instances where you think that this series will be turned around with good ideas, but at best the writers were only able to depart from the 'science' of fiction and add a lot of stupidity in place of a solemn ending. This is a common mistake with SF series- not realizing that the viewers are smart enough to see through the holes. If the writer asks the audience to skip over a few things, that's left up to the imagination, such a request can be fine in an already 'hit' TV series. But even the jokes weren't that good. These were people of excellent talent, being asked to play pretend on a set that was faker than a spray painted box and the audience was asked to join in. No, this is not even of the same caliber or entertainment value as Irwin Allen's "Lost in Space"- I only hope that it paid well enough for the actors to be associated with it...