Slipstream (1989)

Director:

Steven Lisberger

Writer (WGA):

Tony Kayden (screenplay)

Release Date:

22 June 1989 (Australia)

Genre:

Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

From the depths of the earth. To the edge of existence... The hunt is on!

Plot:

In the near future, where Earth has been devastated by man's pollution and giant winds rule the planet...

Plot Keywords:

Adventurer | Airplane | Android | Post Apocalyptic | Plane

Cast

Bob Peck	...	Byron
Mark Hamill	...	Will Tasker
Kitty Aldridge	...	Belitski
Bill Paxton	...	Matt Owens (at Cafe)
Susan Leong	...	Abigail (at Cafe)
Alkis Kritikos	...	Cook 'Petrois' (at Cafe)
Tony Alleff	...	Bartender (at Cafe)
Ricco Ross	...	1st man at table (at Cafe)
George Camiller	...	2nd man at table (at Cafe)
Diana Defries	...	Woman Construction Worker (at Cafe)
Gay Baynes	...	Rosie (at Village)
Robbie Coltrane	...	Montclaire (at Village)
Paul Reynolds	...	Travis (at Village)
Eris Akman	...	Blind Boy's Father (at Village)
Eleanor David	...	Ariel (at Village)

Also Known As:

Slipstream: Bounty Hunter 2000 (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:PG | Netherlands:12 | UK:PG | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Cappadoccia, Turkey

Company:

Entertainment Film

Trivia:

Byron's line "I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth - put out my hand and touched the Face of God," is taken from the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a British-American aviator who died in a mid-air collision during WWII. On his grave is inscribed the first and last lines from his poem. This line is a direct allusion to that poem and befitting the film's predominant theme of aviation.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Will Tasker: It's over! It's finished! End of chase!

Soundtrack:

Barefootin

Somewhat interesting sci-fi fare.

In a typically desolate vision of Earths' future, there are intimidating winds that now dominate the planet - known as the "slipstream". Affable, hard-luck dreamer Matt (Bill Paxton, highly animated as always) runs into thuggish cop Tasker (Mark Hamill, clearly relishing the opportunity to be the baddie after being known mainly for playing Luke Skywalker). Matt learns that Taskers' prisoner Byron (the late, talented Bob Peck, giving the best performance in the movie) has a hefty price tag attached to him, so snatches Byron away from Tasker and heads right into the slipstream in his little aircraft.

This little movie clearly aspires to be something more than a standard sci-fi adventure. It doesn't offer us that many action scenes, or really try to dazzle us all that much. It's more of a story of the journeys, personal as well as physical, that our two main characters, Matt and Byron, are going on. Late in the game, when one would think that a movie of this type would ordinarily be building in intensity, it starts piling on social commentary with two different depictions - essentially, haves (who are hording works of art) and have nots (who turn out to be flakes who worship the winds, or something to that effect) who each live in seclusion, with the haves of course being able to live in relative comfort. This leads to a rather perfunctory and unmemorable finish. All of this makes for a very unusual and intriguing, if not entirely satisfying, experience.

The movie boasts an interesting pedigree: it marked Hamills' return to feature films ("Return of the Jedi" had been released six years prior to this) with Steven Lisberger of "Tron" fame as the director, and Gary Kurtz, producer of "Star Wars" episodes IV and V as the producer here. Elmer Bernstein contributes a soaring, majestic score and the locations are quite breathtaking. The sets have an impressively run-down look to them. One sequence where Byron needs to be rescued plays out as a great set piece; with the forceful winds and the low light, it truly looks like hell on Earth.

Hamill actually does a pretty good job portraying a jaded tough guy type. (At least, with the peroxided hair and the full mustache and beard, he's certainly got a different look going on here). The striking Kitty Aldridge has got a lot of spunk as his equally tough female partner, and such folks as Robbie Coltrane, Roshan Seth, and Ricco Ross have small roles, with two Oscar-winning guest stars in very brief turns: Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham. Peck really emerges as the star of this show, though; as I've already said, he's obviously quite talented, and it's a shame we couldn't have gotten to see him in more films (though anyone watching is bound to recognize him as the character Muldoon in "Jurassic Park").

An offbeat, reasonably entertaining movie with decent enough production values, "Slipstream" is worth catching for curious viewers.

7/10