I think this movie is.
Very good space battles, albeit a bit 'gamy', which might be intentional considering the source.
Surprisingly many high-ranked actors for such a risky movie. Maybe they hadn't been burned yet from making game-inspired movies.
I almost want to play the games, but that will pass.
Definitely give the games a shot. Most fans liked the games way more than the movie. Numbers 3 and 4 are nearly movies as is with all the live action footage.
shareAdmittedly the Kilrathi looked terrible, like actors in rubber suits, which they of course literally were. And they were very little on screen, maybe for that reason.
shareThat's only part of why they're on the screen so little. The real reason is a bit... elaborate.
There used to be a digital hologram/sidekick character in the film. Somewhere really early on in post they decided they either didn't like him or that it was too costly to complete the effects for it. However, the collateral was that Merlin - the hologram - was essential to a traitor subplot involving the Pilgrims. The monkeyed around with giving Merlin's dialogue to other characters to make Blair leaving the Diligent during the Concom raid make sense. But I don't think they ever figured it out, and test audiences just found it confusing.
Ultimately they decided to drop the traitor subplot all together. That meant we lost a bunch of earlier scenes in the Kilrathi fleet with the Kilrathi Admiral and the Pilgrim traitor. And seening how all that was unessential they also got rid of some of the other bits that they weren't happy with since they were disapointed with how the Kilrathi turned out. The result was them minimizing the Kilrathi roles as near as possible.
the film is under rated ? the film was very weak, the story line was awful sorry but it deserves the 3 stars i gave as a rating , i dont even want to continue after the story line what else was wrong with this film, maybe the game was good but this movie was not very good atoll.
shareYes, the storyline was a bit too simplistic and admitedly geared towards a more teen audience. It was however also neutered in the editing room. The movie has issues for sure, but the games don't really follow the movie's story per se... the Film was more of a prequel, but done in such a way that it doesn't relly affect the game storylines at all.
sharebut the acting... i dont even want to think about it.
shareThe only really bad performance is Freddy Prinze... Lillard isn't actually all that bad if you ignore his surfer intonation. Whether the casting suited the roles or whether each character had decent dialogue is another issue entirely.
shareAdmittedly I wrote the comment while watching one of the early space fight scenes. No excuse, but now you know.
The Kilrathi are outright rubbery bad, and the 'supposed radio communication between space ships, but it looks more like they are talking directly with each other' sequences are really bad too. And they could have done more onsidering the subject matter: Games that actually have stories. It could maybe have been a comeback for Mark Hamill too. I suppose they didn't have much of a budget.
The official budget was 27 million... But more money than that went into it. Chris roberts wanted to fix some stuff on top of everything but reports are that FOX ended up telling them to make do with what they had (so no extra expensive CG to fix the Kilrathi and no reshoots). As it is,they actually did touch up some of the Kilrathi mouth movements with CG(and you thought they were bad in the theatrical cut... That meant that they ended up dropping the traitor subplot be cause there just wasn't any money to fix it before they had to deliver it.
shareSomehow the Kilrathi look worse in the movie than they did in the video games.
shareI don't think it is an awful film, just that a lot was cut i.e. the traitor part and also yes the Kilrathi looked totally different.
Why they never got the game cast back as IMO WC4 nailed it, they shoudl haev made a film like the FMV in that game.
The force will be with you always...
Just seen it, and I think it's pretty bad. Sometimes even annoying.
Production values are not bad (but also not too good), CGI is decent (for its time), and cinematography could be better. Story is not bad but not anything remarkable. Acting is pretty bad for most of the cast, characters are annoying and dialogue is awful. Action is also not too exciting.
Worst part of the movie was the ridiculous death of Rosie, and the ridiculous events right after.
I've read production was troubled, and it's and editing mess... it makes sense, but I don't think an extended cut could save it. Characters, acting and dialogue would still be annoying.
I liked the submarine look of the ships, but also think some bridge shots looked a bit fake.
I didn't played the games, so I don't get the hate. This just looks like a little failed movie. Nothing to hate, just watch-> don't enjoy-> forget in a couple of days.
For me it's around a 3-3.5/10 movie.
Is "Wing Commander" everything it could have been? No. I admit that there were problems, but I claim when all the elements have been judicially weighted it has to be reasoned that this is one solid and sound film that has been tarnished by some misguided press and more than a few unfair reviews. This science fiction film fits in genre on the level of a Star War prequel. Take the "Phantom Menace". "Wing Commander" nearly blows that movie out of the water on pretty much every single category.
The special effects are fairly even. The acting is solid all-around and there is not a whiny heroic kid or a God awful digital gibberish talking goofball clown bouncing about the screen. The overall musical score is close, but there is no contest when it comes to the story. The "Wing Commander" story is reasoned and sensible - two things that "Phantom Menace" is not. There is never a moment when the logic of the film gives out on you and it is really engaging without having any moment that is far fetched. For its genre there is not a film that comes close to it, beside the Star Wars brand Hollywood doesn't make movies with capital ships and fighters battling it out against an equally match opponents.
If you pass up this feature you are likely going to have to walk miles before you find another science fiction watering hole.