In "Supernova," the first big budget flop of millennium, the villain of the story - upon meeting the crew of the ship sent to rescue him - states that he was essentially acting as a scavenger, stealing items from an abandoned lunar mining colony. Considering what then follows, that identifier seems rather appropriate since this sci-fi film has obviously taken on the same role, ripping and stealing bits and pieces from far superior films and trying to sell them as a collective whole as something new.
Of course, that's not a new phenomenon as many a cheap, low-budget sci-fi flick has ripped off a superior one in hopes of profiting off the success, name and/or plot of the original. The problem is when major studio productions, with gargantuan budgets that could support some of the smaller countries of the world, are the ones doing the pillaging.
Such is the case with this film, a long-troubled project that had so many problems that it was reportedly sitting on the shelf and/or repeatedly visiting the editing room for more than two years while MGM tried to figure out what to do with it.
In fact, the film's director, Walter Hill (best known for his 1982 film "48 Hours," with his recent efforts being "Wild Bill" and "Last Man Standing") had his named replaced in the credits with the anonymous pseudonym, "Thomas Lee" (instead of the standard "Alan Smithee"). Then there are the reports that famed director Francis Ford Coppola stepped in to supervise the film's editing.
This new, R-rated version of the film reinstates some extra footage that had originally been excised from the theatrical release. While it gives the film more of an "adult" feel, at least to some degree, such additional footage doesn't do much to make the film much better.
Considering that reportedly huge budget, one would have hoped that some of the money would have been spent on a decent - and original script - but alas, that's not the case here. No, what's obviously happened is that screenwriter David Campbell Wilson ("The Perfect Weapon") who works from a story by William Malone ("Universal Soldier: The Return" and the director of "House on Haunted Hill") and Daniel Chuba (a visual effects producer turned writer) has simply gone on a larcenous tour of filmdom's better-related efforts.
As such, the film should have a rather familiar ring to it. The basic story of a spaceship picking up a lone survivor who then terrorizes the crew while the captain is checking out the stranger's deserted base is simply a retreading of the far superior and highly more imaginative and suspenseful "Dead Calm" as if filtered through and mixed with elements lifted directly from the first two "Alien" films.
Such plagiary is usually found far more often in the works of high school or college screenwriters - who consciously or unconsciously pay homage to their favorite films - than those by "professional" filmmakers. To make matters worse, it doesn't end there as elements from "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" (the impervious, quick healing villain) and "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (the alien device here is near exactly the same as the destructive, but life-developing Genesis device found in that Trek flick).
Of course the theft, or, to be kind, the lifting of such material isn't bad enough, so it's of little surprise that the "new" work -- assembled from those stolen elements - doesn't come anywhere near to matching the fun of the originals and only serves to remind viewers that they're watching nothing more than a copy. To cap things off, the few marginally "original" elements - such as the ship sitting near a pending supernova or the "big mystery/surprise" of a character's connection to his father - are mostly forgotten, too easily figured out and/or clearly not used to any great extent of providing a fun and/or adventurously suspenseful experience.
Beyond the recycled plot, the dialogue is usually stiff and wooden, giving the moderately well-known performers - who should have known better than to sign on to a project like this - practically nothing with which to work. That, coupled with the rough and uneven editing and overall storytelling, makes for a thespian and viewer nightmare as anyone watching this will have a hard time getting to know the characters, let alone liking or caring about them.
For instance, the character embodied by James Spader ("Crash," "Stargate") is so flat and Spader plays him so stoically that you couldn't care less about him or his fate. While the film - in one of it's few shining moments -- actually pokes fun at that as the ship's computer tells his character that "she," like him, wasn't given a sense of humor, some greater dimensionality would have benefited both the film and the viewer's reaction to it.
None of the other performers fare any better. Angela Bassett ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back," "What's Love Got to Do With It?") inhabits what's presumably the Ripley role (Sigourney Weaver's character in the "Alien" films), but can't do anything with it. The same holds true for Lou Diamond Phillips ("Bats," "La Bamba") in another of his beefed up roles, and Robin Tunney ("End of Days," "The Craft") as his girlfriend of sorts.
Peter Facinelli ("Can't Hardly Wait," "Foxfire") is unimaginatively cast as the "Energizer Bunny" type villain and doesn't make much of a lasting impression, while the only one Wilson Cruz (TV's "Party of Five") makes is as one of those old "Star Trek" extras who's earmarked for termination at the hands of some alien. Only Robert Forster ("Jackie Brown," "The Black Hole") is smart as his character makes a quick exit, thus freeing him from having to suffer along with the audience.
To be fair, the film has a few decent special effects and does manage to become a tad interesting once the cat and mouse games begin. As a result, for anyone who hasn't seen any of the previously mentioned films, this one might seem like something of a real, or at least partial hoot.
For everyone else, however, the similarities to the many far superior films will be too obvious, the acting and dialogue too wooden, and the thought of millions and millions of dollars being spent on a forged project far too disconcerting for anyone with anything resembling a conscience. As such, this "Supernova" quickly burns out and is nothing short of a grand disappointment.
As far as the disc itself, the audio - in typical sci-fi fashion - is excellent, while the picture is okay, but nothing spectacular. Considering how much of a dud the film was, it isn't surprising that this release wasn't given the complete frills package as far as supplements go, but it does include a fair number of deleted scenes (although considering that they were what was cut from the release means that they aren't much better than what made the final cut).
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