Customer Reviews

Dark Planet [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I am a big scifi fan and a friend recommended this film. I was plesantly surprised to see Paul Mercurio. I have been a fan of his since Strictly Ballroom. He was quite believable as the hero "Hawke." What I liked was that he wasn't completely gung ho and he had a few good oneliners. The storyline was believable and the effects weren't bad considering their budget. The acting was good, especially the main characters. I liked this much better than the first Star Trek film (original cast) and I'm a big Star Trek Fan. I plan on buying the DVD to add to my scifi collection. A good Saturday Afternoon flick.

The plot was weak, most of the actors were horrid (though in all fairness to them, they weren't given much to work with) and even the special effects weren't anything to write home about. My deepest sympathies to Michael York, who must forever live with the fact that his name is in the credits for this movie.

Just for an example, this supposedly top secret mission to a hidden location, in a dangerous region of space that, for whatever reason, the war profiteer character was wandering around in once not to long ago, is suddenly visited by pirates (who are not mentioned anywhere else in the movie) who surround the black hole with... mines, randomly. No one else is supposed to know about the dark planet, so we are left to believe that a band of phantom pirates are wandering around space leaving mine fields in random locations, or maybe they just have a black hole fetish.

I don't think I've ever seen a sci-fi movie this hokey. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a movie this bad before, period. Watch this only if you're having a lame movie festival.

after viewing this tape, i felt as if i was trapped on the dark planet. the story is limp and aimless, with no real direction. badly written plot that makes no sense. who are all the characters supposed to be? i couldnt tell you. this movie must have been written by a seven year old.

It's unfortunate to see the talents of such marvelous actors as Michael York and Harley Jane Kozak wasted in a mediocre film. The book of the script was weak, and the plot was slow to develop. There were many holes in the plot, (perhaps they were swallowed up by a blackhole). The "secret" of the Dark Planet was not addressed enough, so there was no suspense in the mission, and in turn we never got the opportunity to be concerned for the characters when their safety was jeopardized. The character development was at a minimum, and Paul Mercurios's "Hawk" was behaving too much like a star-chasing Don Juan. And are we to really believe that BOTH women would become smitten with him from the get-go? The characters of Hawk and Brendan were far too vulnerable in nature to believe that they were hero material. Especially Brendan, who was supposed to be a skillfull rebellion leader, but this has more to do with the screenplay and direction than the actress. All the actors did as best they could with the material they were given.On a more technical vein, I've seen better graphics and special effects in a video game. The lighting was much too dark to give the sinister, moody quality that it was striving for. I liked the production design, as it didn't strive for the traditional sleek look of such shows as "Star Trek", where the ships look more like hotel lobbies. The ship in "Dark Planet" looked like it was designed for battle.This movie wasn't a whole loss, and is worth a viewing if you're a fan of either Michael York or Harley Kozak, but don't waste your money buying it....go take a trip to the nearest Blockbuster.

First off, did anyone else think that the doomed lady in the opening scene looked like she worked at McDonalds? That's just the beginning of an incredibly dull, farfetched, incoherent and out and out boring movie. Paul Mercurio plays an ace pilot named Anson Hawke, who lost his wife during a mission through an enormous wormhole!! He is later released from prison to pilot a ship back through that wormhole in search of a mysterious dark planet. Seems like on earth, there are two sets of people who have survived three world wars: the Alphas, genetically enhanced humans, and the rebels, real humans or "mutants." They want to find this dark planet to see if it is habitable, thus mankind can get a new start. One scene has the ship going through a mine field, wherein the mines actually look like cordless microphones. The special effects, what little there are, are pedestrian, and obviously shoestring budgeted. The acting is atrocious: Harley Jane Kozak taking on the Sigourney Weaver role, but with no muscle; Michael York shamefully overacting as the obvious bad guy; Maria Ford with her clothes on most of the time, which is quite unusual for this comely actress. If you like tense exciting scifi, this is not the movie to watch.

The effects in 1910 were better than this and the plot was none existant. Don't waste your time with this film.

Buying this turkey is basically like letting some hood steal your money. Aside from the fact that "Dark Planet" is a mediocre film at best, this copy of it is "full screen" (a lie from media hype merchants). Why would anyone want to own this bloody mutilation. The good news is that the original 1.85:1 version is still available. Check Amazon's other offerings of "Dark Planet".

This movie is not Starship Troopers, but it does have an excellent plot, above average (if somewhat slow) character development, good action, and a few moments (at least) where you will be on the edge of your seat. It was well thought out except for those "cheesy" interstellar transmissions. This movie addresses what happens when two well-armed warring factions are forced to combine resources for a "common" goal. They've even got a "rebel without a cause," well at least that is how it appears initially. I was also impressed with casting which includes some new faces along with some very familiar ones.

This is no slow "B" sci-fi movie. It's much better.

On a more fun note, if you like blonds with short hair, *this movie is for you* ! ! !

On the technical side, this DVD was put out by The Richard Diercks Company, Inc., and Simitar. It's quality is much better than I have seen from them in the past. Even though it is not widescreen format, the video quality is more in line with what I would expect of a DVD. Gone are those fuzzy sections, blips, and digital errata that made viewing other movies from these two companies a frustrating VCR-like experience. I give the quality on this one 3 stars. I would have gone for 4, but there was almost no bonus material (pretty sad).

If you like this movie, I would suggest:
Interceptor
Species
Starship Troopers
The Last Starfighter

BEST COMPUTER GRAPHICS available in 1996. There is this group of genetically engineered humans known as "Alphas" (can Huxley still sue?) who seem to lack a lot of emotion. Then there are the Rebels (also technically advanced) who fight against the Alphas, both blaming the other for atrocities. Their space ship seem to travel super fast, i.e. from Earth to Jupiter's moon in a matter of hours, and then to deep space in a day or so. But they can't seem to get to another inhabitable planet unless they go through a wormhole, in this case it is wormhole 762, not to be confused with the movie "Convict 762", done by the same group which ignores the science in their science fiction. Only one man has ever done this, and he is a profiteer, who has no allegiance to either side, but does sweet talk the ladies on both sides. A truce is declared between the Rebels and Alphas so they can jointly enter the wormhole with the profiteer as the navigator. Most of the story deals with the space trip to the wormhole. What we really wanted to see was the planet on the other side, but computer graphics apparently couldn't create a Brave New World in 1996.

It is the year 2638; this is the year of the cleansing war; different factions of people such as Alphas (genetically engineered), and the Rebels (natural born) with a few other factions are tossed in.

Suddenly the head ruthless Alpha, Capt. Winter (Michael York), is forced to cooperate with an equally determined and suspicious Rebel, Col. Liz Brendan (Harley Jane Kozak) on a mysterious mission through a wormhole to a mysterious Dark Planet. The only person to get us there is a renegade (Blake Boyd) that neither side likes or trusts.

As we are treated to treachery and tragedy, we want to know why?

This film has that good and bad independent film feel.

Red Planet ~ Benjamin Bratt