Top Gun in Space?
Wing Commander is Sci-Fi Fluff

A couple of weeks ago, I told a friend of mine that I needed a science fiction fix to get me through until Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace opens in May. Traditionally, spring is not a time for big SF movies, but when I heard that Wing Commander would be released, I figured it would fill the bill. Unfortunately, it was about as satisfying as a greasy cheeseburger when one is expecting a filet minion. To its credit, it was a fun special effects bonanza, even if it was short on plot.

There are so many things wrong with Wing Commander. To try and list them would take too much time. Even suspending disbelief long enough to get past the one million broken physical laws, the characters and situations seemed to be borrowed from a myriad of naval military movies like Top Gun and The Hunt for Red October.

Wing Commander is set approximately 650 years in the future, not that you would know it by looking at the sets or the costumes. This is not a sleek future of mankind at its finest, but a dingy universe where war continues to be the inescapable horror it has always been. Rather than fighting ourselves, humanity has found a new foe among the stars. This alien race, the Kilrathi, have no interest in peace (according to the prologue) and have forced humanity to fight for its survival.

Into the fray come two new pilots, Christopher "Maverick" Blair (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and Todd "Maniac" Marshall (Matthew Lillard). They are two hotshot pilots who apparently have never seen battle. Marshall is cocky, a little too cocky, and you can't wait until he gets taken down a peg. Blair, on the other hand, is the brooding, silent type. He has to come to grips with the fact that he is a half-breed. His father was a Confederate pilot. His mother was a Pilgrim, a descendant of one of the first explorers into space. Not much is said about the Pilgrims, or the Pilgrim War, but it sounded like a much better storyline.

The crew of the Tiger Claw must intercept a Kilrathi fleet before it can make a jump to Earth space. They are to gather information and return it to Admiral Tolwyn (veteran actor David Warner) before the invasion begins. Of course, its no surprise when things don't go as smoothly as planned, and a fight breaks out between the Tiger Claw and the Kilrathi.

While the whole movie is pretty predictable, Tchéky Karyo gives a great performance as a rogue freighter captain named Taggart. As the story continues, Taggart is revealed to be a covert intelligence officer, code named Paladin. That revelation, in addition to one later in the film, add depth and dimension to the only interesting character in the film. Karyo's performance, especially his accent, add to the character's uniqueness.

Rounding out the cast, and providing a love interest for Prinze, is Saffron Burrows who portrays Wing Commander "Angel" Devereaux. While the appearance of Devereaux and other female characters is intended to show equality of the sexes in the future, the affect of emotion on the battlefield only serves the argument that women should not fight in the military.

For all the faults in Wing Commander, this trip to the movies had one spectacular thing in its favor. The movie included the second trailer for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. That alone was worth the price of admission.

MY RATING: 4 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 80 min.

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