Customer Reviews

Slipstream

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

BE WARNED THIS IS A VERY BAD COPY OF A VIDEO TAPE MASTER.
WHAT A SHAME TO RUIN SUCH A GOOD MOVIE

Five Stars!! As a SciFi fan, this is one of my favorite movies. When the failures of mankind in managing the environment come to a tragic head, nature turns against us. The movie starts after a series of earthquakes, tidal waves, and such have virtually destroyed nations and economies and people are left to fend for themselves in enclaves. The major manifestation confronting mankind is a river of wind called the SlipStream, a virtual jet stream which has descended to the Earth's surface and literally destroys all structures. Major travel is by ultra-light aircraft and balloons between settlements.

Bill Paxton plays Matt, an opportunistic wanderer on future Earth who sees a chance to score some money by kidnapping a wanted prisoner with a bounty on his head. The problem is that he's already captured by the law in the person of Mark Hamill and Kitty Aldridge as Tasker and Belitski. Little does Paxton know that the prisoner is a special man and the two cops are not willing to give him up at all for a specific reason. The ensuing chase makes for a hoot of a SciFi romp through a fascinating future earth's places and people.

SlipStream boasts an outstanding cast with a riveting Mark Hamill as you've never seen him before, Bill Paxton in a great wisecracking role; Bob Peck as the object of everyone's desire; the comely Kitty Aldridge as one tough, trash-talking sexy cop; F. Murray Abraham and Ben Kingsley in terrific cameos; and others like Robbie Coltrane in a funny but ultimately tragic cameo. Plus, Eleanor David who steals every scene she's in. "SlipStream" is a frightening look into the possible awful near-future of Earth. Based on current events like the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, we may well be hurtling toward this type of future if we are not careful.

This movie has one of the best movie scores you will ever hear by the fabulous Academy Award-winning super composer Elmer Bernstein and please do sit through the credits to enjoy it all. I have it on my 'best of the best' cassette. And also sit thru the credits to enjoy the wild balloons. Five WINDY Stars.

Bill Paxton ("Titanic"-"Apollo 13") stars in this very amusing and intelligent adventure along with an impressive cast, including cameos by Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham, that should not be missed. Not your typical adventure movie, the dialog is very smart and often very funny. Starting out average, it gets more and more impressive with every scene and explores a wide variety of social issues and relationships. Filmed in the rocky grass covered mountains of Turkey, the scenery is very dramatic and often unearthly. Taking place in the near future, Mat Owen (played by Bill Paxton) impulsively Steals a fugitive named Byron (Bob Peck) from a bounty hunter "Tasker" for the reward and gets more than he bargains for. Stuck together, while being chased by Tasker and his female partner, the two travel the country side and slowly become friends. Mat soon deals with the dilemma of having to turn in his new friend or miss collecting the reward. After meeting a variety of people and cultures, good times and bad, the two deal with a dramatic outcome in the end.

For what it is, SLIPSTREAM is not all that bad a movie. It's got interesting characters and some good acting, and the storyline is tolerable if you're not looking for depth. Watching it's a good way to pass a rainy weekend afternoon.

To clarify, in regards to Savanthar's completely inaccurate review:
Mark Hamill plays the lawman bad guy with the blond hair and beard. Ben Kingsley is the leader of the settlement who gets trapped under the big stone wheel. Bill Paxton is the long-haired hero who streals "Byron" away from Mark Hamill at the beginning of the film. And F. Murray Abraham is the mustached leader of the underground museum group whom Mark Hamill clocks in the head with his gun.

Enjoy.

In a world where the laws of nature have gone haywire, the earth is ravaged by fiercly strong winds, making flight a very appealing way of getting around. Filmed in Turkey, this visually stunning piece of film making (boasting an impressive cast, including Mark "Skywalker" Hamill) shows some very impressive flight shots. The plot goes into what it is to be human, and has quite a good AI theme underlying throughout. On a basic level, it is a chase movie, where a fugitive from justice is hi-jacked by a privateer for a profit, but as time goes on, the privateer and his prisoner form a unique bond. However, the film was quite low budget, and some of the directing loses much of its impact because of this. The script also leaves a lot to be desired. But an essential film nontheless for any Science Fiction fan.

This is one of those movies that has some great potential, but ultimately doesn't deliver all the way through. The premise is creative, the talent is solid and the scenery is beautiful. The script, while solid, lacks the proper pacing to keep up with the virtues of this movie. In other words you won't be on the edge of your seat watching Slipstream.

The setting is both unique and very familiar. The familiar part is the post-apocalyptic looks that Mad Max made so popular. The unique part is making a society both dependent and afraid of the wind. I like the idea of ultra light planes and gliders being the standard mode of transport and the on location scenes really shine with some amazing shots. The plot might not be the most original in the world, but that's not what makes the premise creative. Instead of having a movie done in the eyes of the hero you get a good amount of seeing things in the eyes of the fugitive Byron (Bob Peck), which I find to be intriguing.

You get some good performances with the actors here. Mark Hamill seems to be enjoying his role as villain without overplaying it and Bill Paxton is dynamic as always. Kitty Aldridge does a good performance of the person in the middle. Kudos should ultimately go to Bob Peck with perhaps the most compelling straight man/robot performance I have seen in a while. Special effects are rather simple. Nothing really beyond conventional effects like models, opticals and environmental stuff will be found on Slipstream. Combine that with what can be considered a dated look and you can assume this is a low budget movie.

So you have an interesting premise, good performances from popular actors, people who made Tron and Star Wars IV and V working this film; what could go wrong? One simple answer: script. The pacing of the movie lacks in several scenes and the way this very interesting story is laid out makes it look more muddled than creative. Some might even call the movie boring when you go by script alone. This movie definitely could have used some rework.

Slipstream gives you great scenery, solid acting, and an interesting theme. Unfortunately it also gives you lack of clarity in executing all of this. Those of you who would be considered thinkers will likely appreciate this movie a lot more than those who look for action, drama or lots of stuff to keep a short attention span interested. Personally I find the movie very interesting and ended up with a smile on my face by the end credits. Your mileage may vary depending on how much you are willing to be more soaked in the setting than on the story.

yes, i agree with the other reviewers who didn't care for the quality control. but, i did like this movie. i liked the fact that it was daylight on the earth (so to speak) and not surrounded by green screen on a studio set. and, of course, the age old question as to whether or not man is losing his humanity and leaving emotions to our robotic servants.

we can't always have special effects, the best writers, editors, etc. but it is a decent movie. and yes, i feel they wasted bill paxton, as well.

I remember seeing this movie as a kid and really enjoying it. A feeling of nostalgia prompted me to add it to my DVD collection recently, and I'm very glad that I did. I just finished viewing this movie again after receiving my order from Amazon, and I'm pleased to report that even after a span of about 18 years, I still think this is some pretty good science fiction.

In terms of realism, the movie plays pretty fast and loose. You'll just have to take it for granted that Bill Paxton is a hardened scavenger living in the remains of a collapsed, post-apocalyptic Earth when what you actually see is Bill flying a little solar-powered airplane around for no apparent reason and then charming the pants off of every woman he meets...oh wait, I guess there was a reason for all the flying around.

What you essentially have here is a buddy/road-trip movie in a fairly compelling science fiction setting. Technology vs. Nature, Man vs. Machine, Duty vs. Self, it's all here and more. This really is some of the more thoughtful science fiction I've seen and enjoyed. The treatment of some of these concepts is a bit superficial and/or fuzzy in places, but hey, what can you expect: it's a 90 minute B-grade sci-fi movie, and even so, I loved it from start to finish.

On a side note, I must ask: why in the world is Bob Peck not shown or credited anywhere on the DVD packaging? I mean, his character (Byron) is only the central plot device of the entire movie, and he shares the lead with Bill Paxton...no reason at all to include his name or even a picture of the man on the DVD case, huh? Instead, we get busts of Bill Paxton, Ben Kingsley, F. Murray Abraham, and Mark Hamill on the front of the case, but for the life of me I cannot fathom why the pictures of these actors were not taken from the movie "Slipstream." I swear to God that the picture they used for Bill Paxton must have been lifted from Apollo 13 or Twister or something, because Mr. Paxton looks nothing like that for his role in Slipstream. Ditto for the other actors pictured. Mark Hamill is pictured on the cover with black hair and a black goatee. His hair in the movie, however, is so blonde it's almost white! Not that any of this packaging strangeness detracts from the movie, but I strongly suspect that Kraft Foods, Inc. may have been involved in the design of the DVD cover because it's definitely the cheesiest.

Stay calm. Just because Mark Hamill is in this movie, doesn't mean it automatically rises to the calibre of a trilogy of movies he once starred in - but SLIPSTREAM does deserve a viewing. Hamill breaks from his typecast hero role to successfully play a baddie. But the better reason to watch this flick is to see an amazing performance by the late Bob Peck. His controlled acting and professionalism carry the film. Also look for short, albeit good performances by Robbie Coltrane, Kitty Aldridge and Ben Kingsley. Unfortunately, the hero of the story is a bungling idiot (played by Bill Paxton) whose character may dissuade some viewers from giving this flick a better grade. In a fantasy/action genre that is so often characterized by common themes, surroundings, and plotlines, SLIPSTREAM is a welcome change.

"Slipstream" is a little-known science fiction epic that has dizzying high and low points. Made in Turkey in some of the most visually interesting terrain imaginable, the film is set after environmental calamity in the future, and sort of resembles a cross between "Blade Runner," "Lost Continent," "Mad Max," "North by Northwest," and "48 Hours." The plot has all kinds of things going on from man-versus-machine and "what does it mean to be human?" angles, to explorations of good and evil (are the police always right to seek out murderers?) There's romance, there are tons of light aircraft, and there is a hidden civilization right where you'd least expect it. In other words, the film has sparks of genius, but is all over the place.

After some ponderous narration about the ecological disaster that overtook Earth sets the scene, Will Tasker (Mark Hamill) is introduced as a cop determined to bring admitted killer and android Byron (Bob Peck) to justice. Doing this proves more difficult than he imagined, particularly when young, cocky, and belligerent Matt Owens (Bill Paxton) shows up and kidnaps Byron for reward money: the chasing then commences. Before it's over Byron and Owens predictably become friends, while it becomes more and more obvious that Tasker is so devoted to his job as a cop that he forgets what justice is all about. Byron also falls in love and learns what it is to have emotions; equally predictably, he likes it. The concepts are actually good, but one key problem is that even though individual components of the plot are good, the bigger elements are extremely predictable. Who didn't know that Byron would learn emotion as soon as it was revealed he was an android? Who couldn't see that Tasker had to be the bad guy as soon as Byron became a sympathetic character?

There are numerous distractions in the film that really detracted from it. First, the cast is fine (even Ben Kingsley has a small role,) but evidently the direction took them over the top sometimes. Hamill was great in most places, but when he tangles with Paxton and Peck (the core drama of the film) he gets uncharacteristically hammy (notably ridiculous is the unique aviation duel to the death of Hamill and Peck.) Paxton is by far the worst offender here, and has some of the worst dialogue in the very uneven script to deal with. There are scenes where he does great work, but at other points he just chews the scenery. The one constant in the film is Bob Peck: he turns in an absolutely brilliant performance, and is largely responsible for the film rating four stars. He is such a nuanced actor, and he really sells the premise while making the android the most human and interesting character in the picture. The film is definitely worth seeing just for Peck's performance.

The picture has some great sets, but has some silly special effects and concepts, the most eye-rolling of which is the world's biggest (and scariest) box kite. There are other lapses that are fairly egregious including Ed Wood-like alternating weather edits of what appears to be a sirocco and a pleasant spring day somewhere in Scotland. Worst of all is Elmer Bernstein's insipid soundtrack full of grating 1980's-tainted music. I am normally a fan of Bernstein, but this is not his best work.

"Slipstream" is a relatively high-concept movie handicapped by a script that can't subtly hide the future direction of the movie and some intermittent hammy performances. When it's bad it's really bad, but when it's good, it's really good, and most of the latter is due to the performance from the late Bob Peck.