Wing Commander

Bomb Rating: 

It appears that the human race is getting its ass kicked by the planet Garfield.

The alien enemies in this film are called the Kilrathi, and when we finally get to see these menacing, space-faring varmints -- when we finally lay our eyes on this evil race that's captured a computer navigation device and threatens to attack Earth -- it's like the film ran out of money and had to rent big cat outfits from the local costume shop. Suddenly it appears that the human race is getting its ass kicked by the planet Garfield.

Up against these beings from Planet Garfield are the amazing acting talents of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard, who play Christopher Blair and Todd "Maniac" Marshall, respectively. Seems that Blair is half-human and half of some other race that has an innate space-faring sense that proves to be just what his species needs to save themselves from the Kilrathi. Appropriate to Lillard's personality, Marshall is just an idiot.

Like the video game that it's based on, "Wing Commander" consists almost entirely of space ships flying around and shooting stuff. Suspiciously, this innate sense Blair has about flying in space sounds a whole lot like The Force from "Star Wars." Is science fiction so devoid of ideas that we have to plagiarize The Force in order to bring closure to the plot? Isn't there some other spooky philosophy somewhere in the universe that filmmakers could use to blow stuff up? I hear Scientology's up for grabs.

It's no irony that the only reason anybody is going to go see "Wing Commander" is to see the new "Star Wars" trailer that will run prior to it. You know a movie is of high quality when the studio entices people to buy tickets because another film's trailer is premiering before it.

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