Sometimes, I think science fiction fans will automatically love anything with aliens and spaceships, regardless of whether it's actually any good. I hate to sound obnoxious, but some fans really don't seem to discern between quality entertainment featuring spaceships, and total dreck featuring spaceships - like "The Chronicles of Riddick."
I mean, really, I can't think of a single original idea in this movie's script. It's a cut-and-paste version of "Flash Gordon" and "Star Wars," complete with a cannibalized mythology which is expounded upon at tedious length. The villainous Necromongers, with their dull philosophizing about life and death, come across like lame Conan knockoffs (and utterly fail to appear even minutely menacing). Poor Judi Dench, meanwhile, is forced to flit about in special effects form and explain all the baloney rules of this particular baloney sci-fi universe.
Perhaps I could forgive the movie if it looked good. But the fight scenes are disjointed, and the special effects are as fake-looking as they are elaborate. Besides, the whole aesthetic is too reminiscent of "The Fifth Element," another overdone sci-fi film that failed to capture a broad audience.
I don't think I'm a particularly brilliant writer, but if you gave me a legal pad, a pen, and a weekend in a secluded cabin, I could probably write a better sci-fi film than this one. I could certainly dream up a richer and more imaginative sci-fi Universe, too - preferably one free of Necromongers, Furians, and really hot planets called "Crematoria."
I mean, really, I can't think of a single original idea in this movie's script. It's a cut-and-paste version of "Flash Gordon" and "Star Wars," complete with a cannibalized mythology which is expounded upon at tedious length. The villainous Necromongers, with their dull philosophizing about life and death, come across like lame Conan knockoffs (and utterly fail to appear even minutely menacing). Poor Judi Dench, meanwhile, is forced to flit about in special effects form and explain all the baloney rules of this particular baloney sci-fi universe.
Perhaps I could forgive the movie if it looked good. But the fight scenes are disjointed, and the special effects are as fake-looking as they are elaborate. Besides, the whole aesthetic is too reminiscent of "The Fifth Element," another overdone sci-fi film that failed to capture a broad audience.
I don't think I'm a particularly brilliant writer, but if you gave me a legal pad, a pen, and a weekend in a secluded cabin, I could probably write a better sci-fi film than this one. I could certainly dream up a richer and more imaginative sci-fi Universe, too - preferably one free of Necromongers, Furians, and really hot planets called "Crematoria."