In the 27th century Earth is at war with the Kilrathi Empire. During an attack on an Earth space base, the Kilrathi capture a Navcom unit that will allow their ships to jump directly to Earth and attack before defences can be prepared. Earth turns to Starship Tiger Claw and it's small crew of fighters to stop the assault and ensure that the Kilrathi cannot attack Earth unannounced.
I haven't played the game, seen the game or even know anything about the game so I'm relatively open and had no images of what the film `should' look like. I've read other reviews and have noticed many focus on the factual errors (like the anti-gravity bulldozers) and the spaceship design. Yes, these were poor things but they are not the only reason why this wasn't very good.
The `plot' seemed to require a history with the game it was full of nonsense about pilgrims, wars etc, little of which was explained and made me feel like it was my fault for not knowing! Secondly the film felt like a game at parts. I mean that we had some action scenes then we had shots of Admirals talking that felt like it was an interlude between missions on a game. It certainly didn't feel like a scene in a movie.
The effects are a little daft but the WW2 designs are actually quite cool despite being totally impractical and unlikely. The space battles lack tension and simply aren't exciting in the least. The plot clichés are all over the place , ranging from loser come good to a poor love interest aspect.
Prinze Jr should not be allowed to make films if this is all the screen presence he can muster up. He is as vacuous as the space around him and it's hard to care for him. However he shines when beside Burrows who brings a new definition to the word `wooden'. I hate Lillard but at least he brings some energy to the film he's still irritating but at least he's trying hard! Prochnow is actually alright and rises above the material. The WW2 theme continues in the mainly British cast. This is a little weird because the leads are mostly Yanks. It's also worrying to see actors like Suchet, Warner and several others hawking their wares in this sort of film. The support cast is deep in familiar faces from British TV and film including the lead of Young Americans and Don Gilet. The only actress that really caught my eye was Ginny Holder who played a sexy love interest as Rosie. But she's black, and a side kick of sorts, and a love interest so how long do we think that she'll survive?
Overall who cares about the WW2 design or the fact that the ship design is silly or that factual errors are all over the place. These are not reasons the film is bad no. The poor acting, poor plot and dull `action' scenes that lack tension these are the things that make this film bad and well worth avoiding apart from the pretty Holder.
