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Year:   1999
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie:  3/5
DVD:    1/5

Teaser

Earth has reached out to the stars... and found a savage race bent on exterminating humanity. The Kilrathi have ignored all Terran diplomatic overtures. It's war to the finish. And in this war it's the Terran Navy that leads the way. And the elite of the Navy are it's fighter pilots, like 1st Leftenants Christopher Blair (Freddie Prinze Jr) and Todd Marshall (Matthew Lillard).

The duo have just arrived on the Tiger Claw with an urgent encoded message from the admiral. The Kilrathi have destroyed Pegasus Base and captured its NavCon. Now they know a fast route to Earth and will beat the fleet by two hours. It's up to the Tiger Claw to intercept the Kilrathi fleet and somehow slow them down. Time to gear up and go hunting!

Movie

"Wing Commander" is one of those movies that you have to watch without being critical, because there are a lot of things wrong with it. But first, what it does right. It seems to portray the Wing Commander universe fairly well. The fight scenes are entertaining. The main character is interesting. The special effects are fairly good.
The biggest problem is the ship battles. The Tiger Claw is a carrier. The ships use torpedoes as their primary weapon. The Tiger Claw has to hide on an asteroid while a Kilrathi destroyer depth charges it. The Tiger Claw is a schizophrenic ship. But really, the 13-year old target audience is not going to notice.

Actors

It's another Prinze and Lillard movie. They're both fine actors so I have no complaints there. Saffron Burrows plays Lt Commander Devereaux. Beautiful but after a while I really started getting annoyed with her British accent, even though she's British so it was her normal accent. Tcheky Karyo, who I just saw in "The Core" plays Captain Taggart, a man with a shady past who befriends Lt Blair.

DVD

The DVD has a theatrical trailer and two television commercials.

Recommendations

I suppose if you like the game and/or Freddie Prinze Jr (and who wouldn't?) you should watch this movie. If you're looking for lots of Kilrathi shots you'll be disappointed, as they only have a minute or two of total screen time.
Copyright (c) 2003 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: November 30, 2003 Page Last Updated: November 30, 2003