Saturn 3

Saturn 3 (1980)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Adam (Kirk Douglas) and Alex (Farrah Fawcett) are lovers who are working on a space station right outside of Saturn. The two of them spend their times working as well as messing around but they're thrown for a loop when Benson (Harvey Keitel) shows up. What they don't know is that Benson has killed the real Captain that they were expecting and he's brought on board a new robot that can think and act for itself.

SATURN 3 is a film that was released to some really awful reviews with most critics calling it one of the worst films of the year. Even worse for the filmmakers was the fact that people believed the critics and stayed away from the pictures making it a huge disaster at the box office. The film eventually gained a cult following on video but there's no question that this is one of the weirdest movies released from this era.

The film was released early in 1980 but there's no doubt that it has a 70's vibe to it. The film is without a doubt one of the dumbest science fiction movies ever made. You can read Roger Ebert's review where he points out countless flaws with the scientific aspect of the film including such easy stuff as gravity. I will admit that the film is really dumb and there's an even bigger problem with the screenplay and that's the fact that we don't really know why Benson wanted on the spaceship and we really don't know why the robot goes crazy.

Speaking of the crazy robot, the final twenty-minutes of the movie are basically like a slasher as Alex and Adam must run, hide and try to fight the robot that is after them. What's even stranger is the three-way love story that blossoms and the fact that the robot wants to join as it falls for Fawcett. Douglas, for the most part, gives a good performance and Fawcett does what she was paid to do and that's look sexy. Her role doesn't really allow her much to do but the two stars do show off some nudity. I think Keitel was good in the part but the awful dubbing really hurts the film. I'm familiar enough with his voice where I could picture it saying the lines in the movie and I can't help but think things would have played out better with it.

SATURN 3 has a lot of bad things in it but at the same time it's weirdly watchable. Some of the special effects are good, although quite dated. Some are really lousy looking but at the same time they're still fun. The film really does play out like a film that tries to be intelligent and thinks that it is intelligent yet most people are laughing. It certainly takes itself way too serious but overall the film is mildly entertaining as a cult film.