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Wing Commander

Wing Commander

List Price: $9.98
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What do you say when "awful" isn't enough?
Review: There is, in my opinion, such a thing as a good bad movie. What is a good bad movie? Well . . . you'll know it when you see it. It is a movie that you enjoy for all of the wrong reasons. After seeing "Wing Commander" I came to the conclusion that this is not a good movie. This is not even a good bad movie. This movie is just plain bad. Bad bad bad.

Based on the popular video game, "Wing Commander" is set in the future, when you'll be happy to know that mankind is battling a bunch of big cats in space (yes, cats). Our heroes are Maverick (teen hearthrob Freddie Prinze Jr), and Maniac (Matthew Lilliard, the weird guy from "Scream"), two fighter pilots assigned to the Tiger's Claw, which must go on a mission to save mankind from the cats attacking Earth. Or something like that. The plot doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and the clunky script doesn't make it much better.

The war movie cliches are recycled with relish here. I enjoyed "Starship Troopers" because it recognized and took the old war movie cliches and tried to put a new spin on them. (The melodramatic propaganda films throughout were rather entertaining.) I loathe "Wing Commander" because it takes the old cliches and adopts them as its own. Fellas, we've seen this done before. And we've seen it done better. Some "trust in yourself" scenes felt like they were lifted word-for-word from "Star Wars".

In one particularly silly scene right out of submarine movies, the crew of the Tiger's Claw hushes up as they listen (yes, listen- the enemy's sensor sounded suspiciously like a surmarine's sonar) to an enemy destroyer search for them. I leaned over to my friend and whispered: "Since sound can't travel in space, why in the hell are they whispering?" Good question, never answered.

And can't you just feel the passion of the actors? Actually I couldn't because I was too busy laughing at the bad dialogue. I could almost imagine the director and his team showing the finished product to a producer, passionately pitching their film as a "tragic war story" when the producer breaks them off: "You've just made a movie based on a computer game. It features cute actors fighting cats in space. Get a life."

The special effects were pretty disappointing too. Far from looking like space-aged fighter planes, the Rapiers looked like WWI biplanes. And don't get me started on how silly the uniforms looked either.

Acting? I felt sorry for Jürgen Prochnow. Talented actor, I've seen him in far better films ("Das Boat", "Air Force One") that this. His career will survive. I also think Freddie Prinze Jr's career can survive this movie. He has the talent to be a good actor.

Matthew Lillard's, on the other hand, I can only hope does not. He was perfect as one of the weirder kids in "Scream", totally wrong here as misfit "Maniac". Saffron Burrows is similarly terrible as Angel- somehow I don't think that even in the future fighter pilots will look like waifish models. The less said of Ginny Holder, the better.

Director Chris Roberts needs to go back to film school and start from scratch.

"Wing Commander is a good competitor for the title of "Worst Film I Ever Saw". (For the moment that honor still rests with "The Last Action Hero".) But it is pretty close. I enjoyed "Starship Troopers" for its fun. It was a bad movie, but it was really fun to watch because it felt like the cast and crew were having fun and not taking themselves too seriously. "Wing Commander" is a bad movie and a chore to sit through because the cast and crew were taking themselves so seriously and labor under the delusion that they are making an important movie. Lighten up fellas. It's only a movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: How I wasted 90 minutes of my life
Review: Why did I watch this movie through to the end? Well I bought and played the first 3 wing commander games and enjoyed them immensely. I felt I owed the memory of those games a full viewing, I was wrong. Apart from some occasional good special effects the story line was crass and the acting was dubious. The Kilrathi hardly featured and when they did they looked like something out of a bad 50's b-movie. They are supposed to be heartless, warrior cat like beings, but are about as scary as miss piggy.

Blair is half pilgrim on his mothers side. People generally don't like or trust pilgrims and bad mouth him and his father because of it. He is a rapier pilot and must be reasonably intelligent, and yet it took Paladin, another pilgrim, to tell him the most basic historic facts as to what a pilgrim actually is. I know the audience needs to be informed, but come on.....

Amazon only go as low as one star so I had to up my rating!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cast! Crew! and Compliment!
Review: Film: Wing Commander

starring: EVERYBODY!

I am overwhelmed by this Giant sleeping on our 'New Releases' video store sections!

This is what astronomers would call a "Sci-Fi Supercluster"! What the French would call a "Tour de Force!" What an American audience honed in would call "Star Wars for Grown Ups!" what musicians and the appreciators and lovers of music would call, "Music Marshalled Magnificate!" (and so on,an on anon) And it is what this movie's devoted fan can recollect from its most excellent script-- "Give'em a BROADSIDE!..."

Cinematic Science Fiction Will hark back to this Golden Glory! I promise! There are not stars enough bespeckling the dark gilded globe of night to measure this Masterpiece! We recieved the old U-Boat Commander, the old Sleuth, the Time Traveller, and Nostradamus too! What More and what more Beautiful leadership could we have asked for? Where were We in these scarlet hours with tin Rapier crates and a People United under Pilgrims? Methinks there is nothing "new" under "Silla's" grasp, nor under Sol, nor star, nor history's past.

Some movies just knock you flat with their ensembled technical and melodic perfection. This is one among the few I can count to. Just viewing the movie's intro credits and theme montage gives me shivers, "nothing I've ever seen before" WOW! I remember that line spoken in the film's scence obseving the unsteady recklessness of youthful moxie machismo, and I think it applies to this review: "Now, what were you saying?"--Black Pilot.

Remember, Honor, Delight; a No Prisoners Production of Wing Commander, a Chris Roberts Film, written by Chris Roberts. Thanks Chris, thanks all of You!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Still exciting...
Review: Wing Commander is most certainly one of the finest computergames of the last decade. Nevertheless, the jump onto the big screenseems to be only partially successful.

The motion picture combines elements of the saga's first three parts. We again see the Tiger's Claw (renamed as Tiger Claw - oh my...) and the Concordia as well as the Rapier fighter. The appearance of all ships is disappointing, though: In the original computer game the Rapier was a smooth fighter with multiple energy cannons; in the movie we encounter a Rapier with a MG-like weapon.

The movie's plot is all new and all main characters are introduced quickly. While Maniac is still the same old first-shoot-than-think, Blair's relation to the Pilgrims comes unexpectedly and gives the role a whole new aspect. We also meet Angel, Paladin, Bossman and Admiral Tolwyn.

In summary, Wing Commander is a fascinating movie but not as great as the computer games. Knowing the games helps a lot in understanding the plot. As for the rest of you, who did not endure countless battles against a fierce Kilrathi strike force: Do yourself a favour and rent the movie before buying it. It may save you some money.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The best computer game to movie transfer ever!
Review: Wing Commander a movie based on a computer game series, not excactly the most flattering reputation to have. Considering the likes of disaster video game to movie transfers like "Street Fighter" "Super Mario Bros." and "Mortal Combat". But surprisingly enough this movie had a few tricks up it's sleeve. Some of them even gave a run for the money for a picky viewer like me, and that's seldom. Even though I watched the movie on my own home entertainment center on DVD format(Digital versatile disc, movie on cd format), I was surprised over the massive dolby digital sound effects as well as the astonishing special effects, brilliantly programmed by the Digital Anvil effects corporation. The DVD sleeve states, and i quote "An action packed thrill ride!", this is actually one of the most used clichès in movie critique, but I actually think that this is one of the movies that really deserves the use of it.

The movies storyline is as before mentioned built on a computer games series, Wing Commander. The Wing Commander series, which consists of 5 games(the last three being interactive movies starring Mark Hamill as "Lt. Blair". Mark Hamill is also known for his performances as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies), was created by the Englishman Chris Roberts as well as directed by him. Chris Roberts also directed the movie, as well as creating the storyline and characters which were taken from the third computer game in the series "Wing Commander 3 - Heart of the Tiger". Having played the game, I might ad that he did a brilliant job in bringing the characters from the interlaced computer screen to the silver screen.

The storyline in the movie takes us on a journey with Leutenant Christopher Blair(Freddie Prinze Jr.) a half human, half pilgrim(the first human space explorers, believed to have developed amazing navigational and space exploration skills). Blair is introduced to us as a pilot commanded to relieve a pilot post on the battleship Tiger Claw. On his way to the Tiger Claw he recieves a message from Admiral Tolwyn aboard the cruiser ship "T.C.S Vanguard" stating that the space station "Pegasus" had been destroyed by the Kilrathi. An evil race of human sized space cats on two legs, which are really the only big downer in this movie(Not because of that they're an evil race of human sized space cats on two legs, but because of their poor design. Which deviate from the original design they had on the computer game, in which the Kilrathi were brilliantly designed by the way). The Kilrathi had also gotten their paws on some critical navigational data to jump-point coordinates leading to earth. Joining Leutenant Blair in his fight against the evil cats is leutenant Todd Marshall(Matthew Lillard). A loose cannon, appropriately nicknamed Maniac. Fresh out of flight academy Lt.Blair and Lt. Marshall don't know what to expect but they could never imagine the fate that awaits them.... The storyline let's the people who have played the game recognize many of the old characters as well as meeting new ones. The storyboard could easily have been adapted as an addition to the game series. But as well as giving the old Chris Roberts junkies alot of rewards for being faithfull gamers, a viewer who is totally unfamiliar with the Wing Commander concept can join in and have as lot fun as the old fan. And those new viewers who enjoy it might continue the adventure by themselves through the Wing Commander games. So you might say it can be enjoyed as a total experience. First see the movie, then play the games.

The perfomance of Freddie Prinze Jr. is astonishing as Lt. Blair. Although we know him as a teen idol for girls through movies like "I know what you did last summer" & "She's all that", this is his first film were he also appeals men as both an entertainer and actor. His idol image is still there, but his handling of space crafts and fighting makes him a more macho idol than before. This gives him leverage to give his character both a sensitive and a masculin side, which let's the plot include spiritual content as well as the action. Before mentioned Matthew Lillard is also a name to look out for in future coming movies. Known for his portrayals of complicated, deranged teens in films like "Hackers", "She's all that" and "Scream", he knows how to play somewhat of a maniac. But we also get to see the more serious sides of his acting talents, which could mean a major shifting point in his career. Because of director Chris Roberts nationality, he has been smart enough to take in many of Europe's most experienced and talented actors as well as his standard american cast. The most known of the European cast are, Frenchman Tchèky Karyo("Commodore Taggart". Starring in films like Goldeneye, Dobermann and Badboys), German Jürgen Prochnow("Commander Gerald". Starring in the giant European blockbuster Das Boot), British talents include Saffron Burrows("Devreaux"), David Suchet("Captain Sansky"), Ginny Holder("Rosie Forbes") and David Warner("Adimral Tolwyn"). Each and everyone of the European actors are known as serious character actors. Some of them have even taken former characters they've acted and used them as inspirational sources for their roles. One great example is Jürgen Prochnow starring as "Commander Gerald", who uses, in my belief, his greatest performance ever. His role as the U-boat captain in Das Boot, to power boost his portrayal of the Tiger Claw "Commander Gerald". Other European performances worth mentioning are Saffron Burrows as the wing Commander who get's involved with Lt. Blair and Ginny Holder as the fighter pilot who falls in love with Lt. Marshall.

This is a blockbuster movie with a good story, terrific acting, an exhilarating score composed by Kevin Kiner and special effects that will blow you away. Whatelse could you ask for in a movie! I hope this review gave you some insight to the movie as well as the urge to go see it. In my opinion the only way to really describe Wing Commander in as few words as possible is "Wing Commander IS a must see".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An entertaining, if derivative, sci fi film
Review: Okay, so the plot's not the greatest, but the quality of the video transfer and especially the Dolby Digital soundtrack are first class. An entertaining little film that I would even consider adding to my DVD collection.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: would rather watch squirrells mate
Review: This "movie" is the absolute worst ever made. It was the first time that I went to a movie, and the funniest things in the theater came from all the audience members making fun of it. Not some, but the WHOLE audience. This movie is horrible. If you are 12 years old and don't mind lame acting, stupid jokes, and don't know what a plot is, you will like this movie. In fact, they might hire you to write the sequel...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The worst movie ever? Now THAT's rediculous...
Review: People that think this movie is a sign of Armageddon must not have seen many movies. The acting isn't the best, I'll admit it, but it's not all bad. Most of it's passable at least, I think. Come on, there are a lot of movies with far worse acting. The special effects aren't cutting edge, but the movie was low budget, and the ships looked a lot more realistic than the glossy starships and resorts in other Science-Fiction films. And I won't say this movie is bad because it's not exactly like the games; That doesn't have anything to do with whether it is good or not. Like it or not, I think this movie is good. Or fun, at least. (And if people hate this movie with a passion, why do they waste time preaching to people not to see it when they can come up with their own decisions?)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than the games
Review: I have played the games, and i thought "it could never be as good as the game."..WRONG....it was just as good as any of the games, and in some ways better.....it gave a descent reason for the shipmates to not like Blair, something i never understood from the games.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: oh this is bad.
Review: i would never have thought it possible that a computer game could beat a movie. until now. i cannot believe how little effort went into this movie. the effects are poor the acting just as bad, the starship designs are boxy and nowhere near the games standard. the villains costumes are far better in the game. the storys are better in the game and the quality of actors is better in the game, with mark hamil, malcome macdowell and john ryhs davies. the movie could have been one of the best sci-fi films of the year and they just didn't want it to be. i would stay away from this one. if you want the wing commander experience then get the games 3&4


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