Battle Planet (2008)

User Rating:

4.1/10   

Director:

Greg Aronowitz

Writer:

Greg Aronowitz (writer)

Release Date:

2 November 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot Keywords:

Power Suit | Space War | Alien | Spacesuit | Artificial Intelligence

Cast

Zack Ward	...	Jordan Strider
Monica May	...	Jun'hee
Colleen Smith	...	The Suit (voice)
Kevin Thompson	...	Panhandler
John Duerler	...	Gen. Wakgen
Stephen Settgast	...	Cmdr. Brandon Thaine
Meg Cionni	...	Shelly Walker
Kimberly Arland	...	Lt. Myian
Erik Betts	...	Harris
Todd Fournier	...	Kane
Brea Grant	...	Rasha
Dianne Kwon	...	Mitch
Rhobye Wyatt	...	Gen. Baenesh
Jason Miller	...	Strike Leader Jackson
Traycee King	...	2nd Strike Leader

Also Known As:

The Suit (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

El Mirage Dry Lake, San Bernardino County, California, USA

Company:

Night Light Films

Quotes:

The Suit: I detect no intelligent life forms in our sector.
Jordan Strider: That better not be an attempt at humor.

Soundtrack:

Your End of Days

Very good movie!

BATTLE PLANET

Sci-Fi Channel makes very good TV series. „Battle Star Galactica" remains one of the finest drama on television. Earlier Sci-fi brought us such charming shows like „Sliders" and small screen version of "Tremors". With Sci-Fi Channel produced movies the story is completely different. Many of them shouldn't be called films at all. The pseudomovies starring yesterday stars like "Riddles of the Sphinx" and "Epoch" should be avoided like a plague. Luckily, there are some movies presented by Sci-Fi Channel which, although made with extremely low budget' are really worth watching, One of such rare diamonds is „Battle Planet" directed by Greg Aronowitz. It's a "little –big" movie. Despite a shoestring budget "BP" delivers a tale which can fascinate audience on many levels. The story is about the soldier Jordan Stride, who is sent on a classified mission on an isolated planet to find renegade. With a brilliant virtuosity, in medias res films portrays a very interesting take on a futuristic universe. There are three civilizations: Humans, Bevorians and Aquarians. The first two species formed alliance and fight against the third in the interstellar war. This rich epic picture serves as a background to a very personal story which more depicts innerspace than outerspace. The soldier is sent with a special equipment – an experimental suit which is able to provide complex terrain scans and even feed its user. The power suit has its own artificial intelligence and speaks to its "Commander" with a human voice…"It's Commander"… soon it turns out that the commandership of Jordan is in question, because it's the suit who decides when the solider has to sleep, where he has to go and what he can or cannot say (there's a great scene in the movie when Jack wants to say something about his mission to another character, but the suite mutes his voice!) The relationship between Jordan and The Suit is core of the storyline. This is a brilliant idea, but at the same time it's a difficult test for an actor, who most of time plays alone. Zack Ward stars as Jordan Stride and it's a magnificent performance. This is one of many reasons you should go see this movie. During his mission Jordan meets a mysterious person. It's the general Jun'hee - a humanoid Bevorian woman. And here go two other reasons to watch „Battle Planet". Firstly – the wonderful design and execution of makeup. How many times we have seen in various "Star Trek" carnations people with prosthetic makeup. How many times we have seen in other films people with face masks. After all these efforts it's seems it's impossible to come up with something fresh and new, yet Aronowitz & Co managed to bring something truly original. The prosthetics in "Battle Planet" look superbly inhuman, yet leaves freedom of facial expressions. It's like a small miracle. In a nick of time we buy Jun'hee as a real creature. It's not a human hidden under heavy makeup, it's another species. Last time I had such a feeling watching Wolfgang Petersen's "Enemy Mine". Of course this movie magic wouldn't happen without the great performance by Monica May. I have never seen Monica in another role, but she is simply wonderful as Jun'hee. On the side note – the makers of the movie plays a risky yet interesting game: Jun'hee is a reptile-face alien, she is a beast yet there is something very sexual sensual, very sexual abort Her. It's easy to give a beautiful woman plastic ears, calls her Elf (or Vulcan) and claims she is the most sexy alien ever appeared on the silver screen. It's one million times more difficult to show a creature-girl with lizardesque face and then make her a believable love interest for a human hero. Other designs and visual ideas are also very interesting - aliens, spaceships, landscapes (the silhouette of Saturn-like planets beyond the clouds etc) . And then there's The Suit itself – another "perfect ten". Kudos to Aronovitz and Co for making such a big show on such a small resources. The interesting actions sequences don't overshadow the message of the movie – the truth about the technology who changes it's role in human life: from the servant to a symbiotic and then, who knows, the ultimate master… I'm praising this film and go sky-high with my enthusiasm about it, because I really would like my fellow science fiction fans to see it. Of course "Battle Planet" has many little flaws (most of them because of the budget limitations). If someone wants to trash this rough diamond, it its easy. You can blame it for out-of-date cgi effects and some poorly executed scenes. You can blame it for its cheapness. But – if you are true fan of science fiction – trashing "Battle Planet" is like shooting your own foot. The point is: the creators of "Battle Planets", despite the low budget nature of their film, attempted to make an interesting intelligent hard sf movie, with interesting characters and designs. They tried to avoid all the clichés and stereotypes you can see in almost every summer blockbuster. And you know what? They won the battle. They won it for us – fans of science fiction stories with spaceships, alien species and mysterious new worlds; for us – the lovers of the escapism-stories with deep messages about the current and near future condition of humanity.

„Battle Planet" lacks the budget, but it has heart and mind, brilliant acting and great design& makeup effects. It's the movie you won't forget!

ARKADIUSZ GRZEGORZAK

(Translated from Polish by Anna Koniewska)