Velocity Trap

Velocity Trap is one of those movies that is neither terrible or great. In fact my thoughts were mixed here, meaning that there were good things and also bad things. Starting with the good things, Velocity Trap does look good. The special effects are really quite decent, the movie is well shot and the galactic settings and ship are more than convincing as well. There is some solid action, efficiently choreographed, spiritedly performed and decently shot, that ensures that Velocity Trap doesn't get tedious. The music score is memorable and atmospheric enough to not get generic and overbearing. The acting is also better than average, okay Olivier Gruner often looks as though he's in tears, but Alicia Coppola and Jorja Fox are very appealing and Ken Orlandt is surprisingly good. However, here come the debits. The cardboard stereotypes that we have for characters are not really interesting or developed enough to make you root for them, but the actors do deserve credit by all means for trying to give some credibility to them. There is some wit in the dialogue, but there are one too many times where it's all clichéd, stilted and somewhat soppy. But the biggest problem was the story, which, while not dull, suffered from having interesting ideas that were never developed sufficiently, and I'll be honest there were one too many times when I was confused in alternative to enthralled. While the action parts were great, but the thriller ones were lacking in suspense and originality. The Sci-Fi elements looked good and had some good ideas going for them, but not enough time is spent to explore them well enough. In conclusion, looks good with solid action and better than average acting, but a ridiculous story sinks it. 6/10 Bethany Cox