This is a Resurfaced review written in 2002 or earlier. For more information, please visit this link: Resurfaced Reviews.

Wing Commander

Rating

Director

Chris Roberts

Screenplay

Chris Roberts, Kevin Droney

Length

1h 40m

Starring

Freddie Prinze Jr., Saffron Burrows, Matthew Lillard, Tchéky Karyo, Jürgen Prochnow, David Suchet, David Warner, Ginny Holder, Hugh Quarshie, Ken Bones, John McGlynn, Richard Dillane, Mark Powley, David Fahm, Simon McCorkindale

MPAA Rating

PG-13

Review

It’s the age-old story of one man saving the world. It’s also a highly popular theme in science fiction films. “Wing Commander” doesn’t disappoint in that respect.

It also didn’t disappoint in delivering a brilliant preview of the most anticipated movie since “Jurassic Park,” “Star Wars Episode I.” The preview was the key reason I went to the film and for that, I wasn’t disappointed. What it does disappoint in, however, is everything else. The film lacks any intelligent direction, acting or writing. It is yet another Sci-Fi reject in a year where science fiction will be the genre-du-jour.

Based on a computer game, “Wing Commander” is a stupid movie that plays like every bad science fiction film in recent memory. Chris Blair (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and ‘Maniac’ Marshall (Matthew Lillard) have been sent to join a battle cruiser on the warfront against a menacing race known as the Kilrathi.

Blair is half Pilgrim, a sect of humans who developed a gene that made them natural space navigators, but became hated for various reasons by others. He is a natural pilot and figures heavily in the plot. His friend, Maniac, is less suited for fighting and more suited for the role of cockily suave pilot who falls in love and has sex all over the place.

When it is discovered that the Kilrathi have obtained a strategic navigational computer and are heading for Earth, Blair and his fellow crew members are sent on their way to defeat them.

Sadly, the strongest characters are the supporting players, most notably Angel (Saffron Burrows), the gruff superior officer and Rosie (Ginny Holder), the tough-as-nails black pilot who falls in love with Maniac.

The worst part of the film comes from the insipid and annoying performance of Lillard who carried his hyperactive mannerisms from “Scream” over to a film that didn’t need them. While the film is fast-paced and never lags, the plot is so simple that anyone with any IQ could understand it. Perhaps that is the major problem. When “Dark City” came out, it didn’t pander to its audience. It was intelligent and pensive. “Wing Commander” could have taken its influence from there, instead it took its influence from the formulaic science fiction films of “Armageddon’s” ilk.

“Wing Commander” is little more than eye candy and isn’t worth watching again. It is one of those films that if its cast wasn’t so attractive, it would have sunk beneath a flood of films with intelligent plots.

Awards Prospects

In a less competitive year, I’d say Visual Effects are a long shot, but with Star Wars Episode I coming out, this is absolutely no competition.

Review Written

April 13, 1999