Supernova Review
by "Steve Rhodes" (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)January 16th, 2000
SUPERNOVA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
"Here we are, caught in the gravitational pull of a blue giant, and all you can think about is sex," Troy Larson (Peter Facinelli) says to Danika Lund (Robin Tunney). Amazingly, sex is indeed the theme of SUPERNOVA, an incorrectly rated PG-13 science fiction film. Laced with frequent nudity and scenes of floating naked bodies having sex, the movie cries out to be rated R. Given the show's theme and its rating one can expect lots of kids under 13 to see it, as there were in my audience.
Originally directed by Walter Hill (48 HRS.), who reportedly asked to have his name removed after the studio recut his movie, the film now lists Thomas Lee, Walter Hill's pseudonym, as the director. With acting this lethargic, it's quite difficult, however, to see how editing could do much to change the quality of the picture for the better or the worse. (The studio decided to run it without the normal advanced screening for critics so that no reviews could appear until after it opened.)
In this rehash of dozens of other science fiction films, the medical rescue vessel Nightingale is answering a distress signal from a supposedly abandoned mine. The mine is on a moon that is so far off that the ship has to make a dimensional jump, sort of a leap through hyperspace, to get there. What is the one thing necessary to accomplish such a jump? Nudity, of course. The men and women of the crew get naked together before tucking themselves into their snug little Plexiglas beds. Think of all of the fun that the Millennium Falcon's crew has been missing.
On board this fearless space ambulance are A.J. Marley (Robert Forster), Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett), Nick Vanzant (James Spader), Yerzy Penalosa (Lou Diamond Phillips), Benj Sotomejor (Wilson Cruz) and Danika. Troy is a mysterious stranger that they pick up from the mine. Troy's despicable father, Karl, once dated Kaela. Small universe, huh?
Troy has brought with him a glimmering object in the shape of a lava lamp. Featuring nothing less than "ninth dimension matter," this mean little piece of plasma is -- surprise! -- trouble. Like the rest of the special effects in the film, which rely heavily on flashing lights and fog to create the atmospherics, the look of this devilish substance is cheap. But given the 10 minutes of credits at the end of the picture to the film's technical teams, one suspects that lots of the studio's money was wasted in the creation of these lame effects.
"The only real sin is regret," Troy tells Danika, as a sexual come-on. One suspects that most of the people associated with this film will be filled with regret that they ever had anything to do with it. Only briefly as a guilty pleasure for adults does the picture have anything to recommend it.
SUPERNOVA runs 1:25. It is rated PG-13 for sex, nudity and violence. It would be acceptable for older teenagers.
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