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Wing Commander
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Additional DVD options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
DVD
August 6, 2013 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
—
| — | $21.99 |
Watch Instantly with | Rent | Buy |
Genre | Science Fiction |
Format | Multiple Formats, NTSC, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Letterboxed |
Contributor | Matthew Lillard, Tcheky Karyo, Freddie Prinze Jr., Saffron Burrows |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 40 minutes |
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Product Description
Product Description
It's Starship Troopers meets Top Gun in this no-holds-barred battle on the far reaches of space. A vicious alien race, the Kilrathi, has discovered the coordinates to Earth and is heading there with plans for total destruction. Now it's up to two young hotshot fighter pilots (Prinze and Lillard) to blast their way through the Kilrathi's defenses and save humanity from this new breed of enemy.
Amazon.com
Video games are interesting because they're interactive, and movies because they aren't. In a video game, you're the actor; moviegoing depends on your connecting with those people up on the screen;. There's really no easy crossover.
That's the problem with Wing Commander, based on the bestselling computer game series created by Chris Roberts. Roberts helms the film, too, having previously directed "cinematic" sequences for the game, starring Mark Hamill from Star Wars, no less. But a feature-length story is something else again. Maybe gamers will find something to enjoy here, but that sets the rest of us adrift.
There's war between the Terran Confederation and the evil Kilrathi, who are so evil they want to destroy the whole universe. (They probably aren't thinking that through very clearly. But then they're evil.) They've stolen the Pegasus Navicom A.I. device that enables them to "jump" behind enemy lines and destroy the Earth part of the universe. Freddie Prinze Jr. stars as Blair, a Pilgrim, which means he's hated by everybody for having this film's answer to the Force. His pal Matthew Lillard plays Maniac (his usual role). So you've got two guys with a Top Gun complex, bent on preventing the Kilrathi from destroying Earth. You'd expect lots of action from these combat-ready flyboys. But there's scant little of that, and lots of static dialogue scenes, including one cinematic quote of Howard Hawks's classic Only Angels Have Wings to explain how pilots handle the death of one of their own. Presumptuous. All it would have taken to make this film a success is a series of action set pieces and a thin plot to hang them from. What director Roberts needed was a Navicom device to help him "jump" behind Hollywood lines. That and a decent script. --Jim Gay
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 2.35:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
- Product Dimensions : 7.5 x 5.38 x 0.6 inches; 1.6 Ounces
- Media Format : Multiple Formats, NTSC, Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Letterboxed
- Run time : 1 hour and 40 minutes
- Release date : November 1, 2011
- Actors : Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard, Saffron Burrows, Tcheky Karyo
- Subtitles: : English
- Language : English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- Studio : 20th Century Fox
- ASIN : 6305475822
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #14,503 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #296 in Science Fiction DVDs
- #1,481 in Action & Adventure DVDs
- Customer Reviews:
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You've got some heavy hitters here: David Warner, Tchéky Karyo and Jürgen Prochnow to name a few, and of course, the awesome Matthew Lillard and even Freddie Prinze, Jr! The story is pretty similar to movies such as Run Silent, Run Deep, and Das Boot, but with enough character development to add some spice!
There's something for everyone here: Overcoming prejudice and bias based on heritage; interracial romance; action; secret agents!; and even a hero who uses paranormal abilities to calculate jump trajectories by feel.
Seriously, this movie amps up the excitement, hitting all the bullet points one needs for an enjoyable few hours of mindless entertainment. It's not one for hard science fiction (although the space battles, especially between ships of the line, are decent enough, from a physics standpoint.)
I've always loved the subtle parts of this movie: the nihilistic attitude of how the pilots deal with comrades death by telling that anyone dies in action "never existed." The nods to how trusted Paladin really is, because he's a rogue, but his instincts are dead on. The diverse crew of the "Tiger Claw," which was pretty progressive for its time.
On the surface, this seems a cheapish B-flick. It's much, MUCH more!
Enjoy the story, the effects, and the fun of watching Matthew Lillard just chew through every scene he's in!
The overall plot is interesting. Despite some plot gaps, the story is good and action-packed. The visual effects are all great (though the bad guys look a little cheesy). The science behind the movie, especially behind the FTL jumps is a bit confusing and isn't elaborated on, but is interesting and unique to this title.
I was thrilled to finally own this classic favorite in an HD format for a reasonable price. I strongly recommend that you pick this up and give it a shot.
If I was just rating this specific product (the Wing Commander Blu Ray) I would give it two stars, but I can't bear the thought of people skipping over this title altogether after glancing at a low star count. I think the transfer is really good and the picture looks fantastic. I can't comment on the sound because I don't have anything beyond my TV's built-in system, but there are no obvious audio issues. One significant complaint I have is the complete lack of subtitles. While I understand that the movie is a little dated and came out before universal captioning was required, it would have been nice to have seen at least that token effort for the BD transfer. Also, I would have appreciated a few bonus features (there are none). This movie is based on a game series, similar to the Resident Evil films, so I feel like there was a lot of potential for some interesting discussions of bringing the game to the screen or just talking some about the games. So, overall I love the movie but am a little disappointed with the studio's construction of this release.
It's humans vs. bad guys in a spaceborne adventure that oddly has gravity to deal with even outside the spacecraft. The sets and effects are nicely done for a 1999 film, perhaps not the best ever produced but certainly in the same league. The script was pretty good, convincingly delivered by good actors whose performances might have been better if they had better material to work with. Direction seemed average for Hollywood major releases but the cinematography felt a little off throughout the film.
Most of the human subplots could have been better developed and the whole theme about the past war between Pilgrims and Earthlings should either have been far better developed or omitted entirely. It appears that this is a continued subplot from the computer game so perhaps the filmmakers were thinking fans would already know what it's all about.