Supernova (2000) Reviews

• Much better than its reputation has it, but no gem

  BrandtSponseller2005-03-04

  A deep space "ambulance" ship receives a distress call from a mining outpost on a rogue moon (it's been removed from its orbit) 3 thousand light years away. Normally, that wouldn't be so unusual, but the distress signal was specifically hailing this particular ship (like calling someone inside an ambulance directly instead of dialing 911) and when the source is revealed, female crew member Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett) realizes that she knows the person who sent it. Worse, it's someone whom she's had an extensive personal history with and whom she considers a walking nightmare. Before she can warn Captain A.J. Marley (Robert Forster), they're in hyper drive on their way to the moon and unwittingly headed into trouble. This film was plagued with problems--the originally attached director, Geoffrey Wright, quit. The replacement director, Walter Hill, had creative differences with the studio, which demanded re-shoots and new cuts from none other than Francis Ford Coppola and Jack Sholder. Hill ended up requesting that his name be removed, and used the new version of the infamous "Alan Smithee" designation--"Thomas Lee". And that wasn't the end of it. Upon its release, Supernova received a critical drubbing. Rotten Tomatoes, for example, a website that collates professional and semi-professional reviews on films, showed a 90% negative reading on Supernova. The reaction from everyday viewers mirrored this reception, with mostly negative comments right here on IMDb. But Supernova isn't that bad of a film. It's no gem, but it does a lot of things right: The premise is certainly stimulating. The transition from a stock, Alien (1979)-like sci-fi film to a thriller in space is well done. The characters are interesting. The suspense level gradually increases until the very end of the film. There are thoughtful subtexts about giving oneself over to a "feel-good" substance, "survival of the fittest" evolution, and cyclical regeneration. The "fountain of youth" device is intriguing, and even though the "Ninth Dimension" stuff is gobbledy-gook, it's good gobbledy-gook--it makes some sense as fantasy material, and it provides a lot of suspense. There is a subtle social commentary/criticism on attitudes about violence in the media, population problems and eugenics. A lot of the cast is also good--I like Robert Forster a lot, although unfortunately he disappears from the picture too soon. I'm also a fan of Lou Diamond Phillips, even if his presence more often than not signifies a "C", "D" or lower film. James Spader's characterization of Nick Vanzant is nice and complex. And the rest of the cast is at least decent, even if Peter Facinelli overacts a bit towards the end--but the role calls for that. However, as a 7, Supernova has its share of problems, too. I don't usually subtract points for a film being clichéd, but it's difficult not to do so in this case. The beginning of the film is right out of Alien--with the ship waking up a crew member unexpectedly, after running some "tests". This is saved a bit by funny dialogue at the end of the scene. The computer, "Sweetie", is reminiscent at times of "Hal" from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). The holographic chess game is right out of Star Wars (1977). The distress signal scenario is again out of Alien, and the exploration of the abandoned mine on the rogue moon is similar to Aliens (1986). The dialogue in the opening of the film is also a bit too jargonistic and quickly delivered for its own good. It can be difficult to get the gist of it without subtitles. There are a number of editing problems, most prominently during the "near miss" of the out of control ship with the moon--shaky cam cinematography doesn't help, either. And for so many directors being involved, the direction, while not incompetent, comes across as primarily "flat". Is Supernova worth seeing? If you're a huge sci-fi fan (meaning that you watch and like most sci-fi films) and you do not mind familiar material that's slightly clunky at times, yes. There are enough positives to make it worthwhile. Like usual with 7s, the film is best approached with lowered expectations. Given the reputation of this film, that should be no problem.

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• If they left this movie alone, then it would've been one of the greatest sci-fi movies I've ever seen

  Psycho862002-06-08

  Supernova is a perfect example of a studio screwing up everything. MGM had their minds on a 'sexy and hip' type movie while director Walter Hill was making a dark, 'logical' sci-fi movie. After the studio screwed with his movie, he took off. The movie was then taken charge by such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, and Jack Sholder (The Hidden). Well to make a long story short, MGM directed this movie, not as they say in the credits, 'Thomas Lee'. The movie ended up being about an entire crew doing nothing but screwing each other (literally), while bad stuff happens around them. That's it. I highly recommend everybody who has seen this movie to check out the DVD. There they can see all the deleted scenes that the studio cut out. Check them out, then you think about it. Would you like to have seen the type of movie portrayed in the deleted scenes, or in the current turd that was released to the entire world? IMHO, I'd like to see the movie in the deleted scenes. Let's just hope that MGM has learned it's lesson with such flops like this and Rollerball.

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• Good movie despite the line noise above.

  fraterm2000-11-28

  The title may have been a bit misleading... but the movie really did a good job of conveying a mood. The technological picture is well developed strikingly original and interestingly conveyed. Many underlying themes of what happens to humans in the presence of all kinds of environments (psychological, sociological, spatial and otherwise) are touched upon. It is not a mindless drivel action movie which is probably (I know I'm not being very nice...) why so many people really didn't like it. Aside from the ending which was rather humorous and may have left some with a groan, I happened to like it though it was a tad cheesy. This movie really touched on so many things in so many ways that it deserves a much better rating than what it got. The mood conveyed was dark and very horiffic. I would say in a more psychological way than a gut spilling sort of way. The performances of the actors in this film shine, perhaps with the exception of Lou Diamond Phillips, though not to his detriment as he is capable of better work, and his part was really rather small. Tight shots on the crew contrary to earlier comment, really conveyed the emotion of each situation as well as the compressed environment of the ship rather than hiding all of the technological wonders in the set. Sweeties voice being criticized is a non-issue in my opinion, female voices are supposed to (supported by scientific study) command attention better than male-sounding ones. In no way did Sweetie come across as a phone sex operator to me. Quite to the contrary, I submit the scene in which she begs for the additional passphrase from Benjamin in order to be able to save his life. This was one of the most touching scenes I have ever seen in a movie. Between a computer and her Sys Admin there develops love of a kind, really. Marvelous. On par with Event Horizon though somewhat lesser than it for the psychological horiffics, but really different movies with different objectives. All you people trashing this... Go watch a heartwarming coming of age movie and waste no more of your time trashing this fine piece of work.

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• I don't know why people harp on this movie

  nzavaglia2003-01-27

  It's not the greatest movie ever, no doubt. But it's not bad. As far as Science Fiction movies go, this is definitely one of the better ones, maybe the best in recent memory. It's science was dead on, having a NASA employee as a technical adviser certainly shows. As for the story, it's not out of the realm of science fiction, which is no more and no less than can really be expected. It keeps it's pace well and doesn't slow down to wax philosophic like a cheesy 50's Sci-Fi would have done. The plot progresses logically and doesn't tend to jump around (a thing that I HATE in a movie). It kept me entertained, which is more than I can say for a lot of movies today.

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• Supernova is not a film about Supernovas

  youfnhobo-12004-02-27

  My physics teacher mistakingly thought that this was a film about Supernovas and showed it to our class. Let's just say that that day in class was a romp. The movie is probably one of the strangest movies I've ever seen. It's not supposed to be a comedy (well i don't think it is) but it's gonna have you rolling with laughter. Watch it with a large group of friends and do a little Mystery Science Theater type commentary on it...you'll have a blast. You should see this movie just for the ending. I'd have to say that it's one of the best bad endings of all time. Everyone in this movie is either talking about sex, having sex, thinking about sex or putting their hands in things and moaning like their having sex. You wouldn't think that sex would be such an integral part space exploration...but then again...what else is there to do?

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