Supernova

Rating:
Summary: ...the Power of God but a lot less nice...
Review: Seeing the R-Rated DVD version of SUPERNOVA magnifies the creative differences between the Motion Picture corporate mindset and the creative control of the Director. How? The DVD contains a little more non-frontal nudity and about twenty minutes of deleted scenes which if incorporated into the original theatrical release would have resulted in a totally difference film. The alternate ending conjures up memories of THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE and answers the question, where's the Supernova. The deleted scenes make this movie more complex by actually making key elements of the plot more visible. Synopsis: The medical rescue ship NIGHTINGALE "light-Jumps" to answer the distress calls of a mining planet. Upon arrival, they find the mining planet threatened by a "Blue Giant" (a sun going supernova). The ship is damaged coming out of the "jump" and now the rescuers' survival is threatened unless they can repair their ship and re-jump before the blue giant explodes. The reason for the distress call is a mystery to the crew until, one survivor is brought aboard carrying an alien artifact of unknown purpose and power. What follows can easily be called a non-threatening copy of ALIEN. BUT, then we view the deleted scenes (unfortunately grouped separately under DELETED SCENES) and the "copy" takes on new properties with questions answered, scenes extended to a point where they actually make sense, and what sounds to be a difference soundtrack with a little more HEAVY METAL (movie) influence. What Happened to this film? It could have been a classic if left uncut. Even the deleted scenes suggest additional film sequences were abandoned and/or not included on this DVD. I viewed this movie in standard format before watching it in widescreen (both offered on this DVD) and you are not missing much. However, hometheater sound at "rock your world level" is highy recommended. This is a movie worth watching again, even if its just to mentally place those deleted scenes within the running movie.

Rating:
Summary: Almost unwatchable sci-fi turkey
Review: This blatently derivative (hat tip to Ridley Scott's Alien, with a hint of Stanley Donen's Saturn 3 thrown in) movie should surely win the award for the most irritatingly gratuitous over-use of strobe lighting ever. This makes it extremely uncomfortable to watch and is, presumably, employed to detract from the lack of any genuine thrills. Throw in a ridiculously precocious ship's computer and a downright silly robot, and this adds up to one helluva big turkey in space. James Spader and Angela Bassett do their best to make something out of an inadequate script and plot, but this is unremittingly dreadful and dull. The "happy ever after" finale will probably make you cringe in its corniness. Supernova's only redeeming factor is that it is very short.

Rating:
Summary: Bashful's DVD Summary #003
Review: Best:

1) It really feels like you're in space and far from home.
2) The acting from everyone was amazingly good.
3) 9th dimentional matter is very cool as a concept. The special-effects rendition of what it looks like and how it effects humans is astonishing.
4) The indestructable man Carl (strengthened by the 9th dimentional matter), who just keeps coming no matter what you do to him (and they did a LOT), was simply eye-popping to watch.
5) The main spaceship's dimentia-drive (that seemed to be a less safe precursor to hyperspace or warp drive) was an interesting addition.
6) The deleted scenes are numerous and MUST-sees.
7) You get to see Robin Tunney topless twice (ha).

Worst:

1) The scientific jargon is a little hard to understand (or believe) sometimes.
2) The ending (even the alternate version) was predictable, but they threw in some conceptual touches to make you think - hmm.

Recommendation:

The price is good. Get it even if you aren't a huge sci-fi fan.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent re-working of old SF themes
Review: Very sharp sets, cool lighting, and interesting characters re-tell a suspenseful 'alien' tale; except that the intruder is a mutated trojan horse with a time bomb created by ETs (and script writers) who know something about Quantum Collapse and 9-dimensional matter. (Current super-string theory holds that present day matter {3 dimension plus time} is the result of a universal collapse of an earlier 9 dimensional {plus time} reality. See Strings, Conformal Fields, and M-Theory: Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics by Michio Kaku.)

The idea that advanced aliens would lay booby-traps for unsuspecting, potential competitors, and that the bait would be pretty crystals and super human strength is VERY original; not to mention that the results of unleashing such matter WOULD, in fact, cause a light-speed tidal wave that completely annihilated everything in it's path by recreating matter with 9 dimensional characteristics.

If that's not interesting enough, then enjoy the chess playing computer, Angela Bassett, Lou Diamond Phillips, or the really cool shots of space around a blue giant.

Remember: If you only saw the VHS version, you haven't seen the movie. The restored scenes on the DVD make the movie, and I can only guess that they must have been deleted by someone who thought they were too cerebral.

Minor complaint: The gratuitous nudity got a little silly.

Rating:
Summary: By the numbers sci-fi film.
Review: There's no reason to recap the plot of Supernova, because you've seen it so many times before. Angela Bassett and crew are aboard the U.S.S. One-Source Blue Lighting, carrying their cargo of flashing lights, shaky cameras, and smoke machines, when they receive a distress call leading them to the bleak Planet Ridley-Scott. Then an alien spooky comes on board, delivers some snappy one-liners, and starts shooting people out of airlocks. Oh, no! Guns won't stop him! Bombs won't stop him! Really, when do they ever? This movie has nearly every cliche in the book: an arbitrary time limit before everything explodes, an intelligent talking computer, a crew whose typical mindset is "hey, a pulsating alien artifact like nothing we've ever seen before, TOUCH IT!", a wisecracking villain who has CGI on his side, and, of course, lots of one-source blue lighting, smoke machines, and so forth.

As a movie, it's moderately entertaining, but there's nothing new to see. The plot is roughly on a level with your average Sci-Fi Channel Original or USA movie of the week, but if your expectations are exceedingly low where this film is concerned, you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: i liked it
Review: I SAW THIS MOVIE on usa and couldn't remember the title so i came to amazon to see if i could figure it out and i am going out tomorrow to try and find it because i really enjoyed it. I don't know if it is because i didn't see it at the theaters or if i was just very bored at home that day, but regardless of the other reviews i just read i am going to buy it and enjoy it some more. After all THE ABYSS was kind of weird and it got great reviews.

Rating:
Summary: Angela Bassett is the Best!
Review: Supernova starts out as a cool voyage through space. All the while I was thinking I'd see something new. The first thirty minutes was pretty routine. It was saddled with cliched space dialogue and a mismatched romance between Angela and James. By the second half a guy is picked up from space and he has a lot of secrets that are found out later in the film. He has an artifact he found on another planet and soon the crew realizes it's dangerous, although they're intrigued by the stranger and his little toy.

The second half of the film turned into " Friday the 13th: In Space ". The stranger sent James' character on a wild goose chase meanwhile he ( predictably ) picked off each crew member one by one. By this time I was confused because I was in the mood to see a space film and not a cheap rendition of " The Texas Chainsaw Massacre ". Except the stranger used his out-of-space strength to get rid of the crew members.

Once again the filmmakers threw in elements that weren't needed and didn't make sense. The romance between Angela and James was weak. They could have had more time together before having to save each other's lives. Robin Tunney and Lou Diamond Phillips weren't believable as a couple. Not only was Lou Diamond way older than Tunney, the two had zero chemistry and were as boring as a PBS talk show. James Spader was not believable nor was he exciting. Hello! The lead character of a SCI-Fi picture should be exciting. Angela Bassett and Peter Facinelli were the only ones that kept my interest. I'd watch Angela Bassett in anything because she never lets a film down no matter how bad it is. The climax was my favorite part. Other than that it was two hours of noise and boring blue scenery.

Rating:
Summary: EASYILY,ONE OF THE WORST FILMS EVER !!!!!!
Review: Yes,iv'e seen this mvie from begining to ending,I was praying the whole way through that it would get better,that some scenes later in the film might redeem it.No such luck.Why was this film ever made.The director and the producer must of needed some cash really fast to pay off the mob or some drug dealers or something.And what were you thinking Angela Basset being in a film like this.Angela is to good a actress to be making such trash.The plot is some Quasi-scifi wanne be soft porn flick.Tis film is dark and boring and it just dragged on until the next nude scene.Supernova still begs belief that it was ever made.And unlike some b-movie and cult classics,this movie not even worth watching to laugh at.Even the nudity not worth seeing.Nowadays there is so much nudity in film and every where else.Actually there are alot of porn films with more engaging plots then this tasteless movie.Don't waste your time or money seeing this unless you want to be rendered dumb,dazed and numb.Supernova should be vanished to the nether world.

Rating:
Summary: supernova
Review: I normally don't watch Scifi movies however, this one I watched because it had two of my favorite actors Angela Bassett and James Spader. I thought they really connected in this movie. I enjoyed this movie and thought the story line was great. In fact I'm adding it to my collection.

Rating:
Summary: Good Space Sequences
Review: This film is pretty interesting. I was very impressed with the end sequence of the exploding supernova and the hyperspace warp drive sequence of the spaceship. If you get this DVD, watch that sequence in slow motion, frame-per-frame, then again at full speed. It's a very powerful and masterfully exectued sequence, especially when the screen turns black and silent for a few seconds. Such experimenal cinematography, when it works, as it does here, deserves more credit than many of the reviewers give it here. The storyline is unique enough. Alas, it may be too far-fetched for us to really grasp, however, this notion of one man embodying the very cosmos itself. But if you really think about it, we all have that power within us, we are all the offspring and basic stuff of stars...