Under-rated for sure but still light years ahead of such sci fi nonsense as The End of Oak St (2026). Doesn’t hang around either, story told in 82 minutes flat. And instead of wasting time and stretching credibility just comes straight out and says the crew on this space ship and the audience for that matter aren’t smart enough to understand even in pure mathematical terms what is going on in the ninth dimension, which is where the narrative threat comes from.
Plays around with the Alien series conceit of alien aboard a space ship but doesn’t require a toothy monster and doesn’t fall for that old canard of dropping what you’re doing and responding to a distress signal from outer space. For the simple reason that this is medivac operation, its purpose to rescue people in distress.
There’s some interesting stuff about evolution and quite a nice line about the human race being effectively composed of stardust gathered from the previous millions of years. And it’s gone truly hyper in terms of the threat – I mean Project Hail Mary (2026) level of threat. We’re not talking about invading Earth or blowing it up, what’s at stake from this item from the ninth dimension is our solar system as a blue giant (sun) or supernova intends to wipe out anything it perceives as a rival.
Given that our brains, as noted, are too small to conceive of such a concept, the main narrative concentrates on dealing with a refugee from a mining planet and his “treasure” worth billions, plus an “11-minute window” at the end of the tale for the crew to escape. The Nightingale space ship has performed what’s termed a “dimension-jump” which permits it in pure lightspeed style to cover 3,000 light years in a flash.
However, the ship’s captain dies during the jump and recovering drug addict Nick (James Spader) takes command. On board we’ve got Dr Kaela (Angela Bassett), lovers Danika (Robin Tunney) and Yerzy (Lou Diamond Phillips), and Benji (Wilson Cruz) who plays chess with computer control Sweetie. First hint of impending trouble is that Karl (Peter Facinelli), the fellow being rescued, was the abusive partner of Kaela. Then it turns out he’s Karl’s son. Then it turns out he’s actually Karl, grown younger and somewhat superhuman, a charmer, who manages to seduce Danika, though her lover doesn’t seem to mind, too entranced by the “treasure”, a spherical artefact containing the aforesaid ninth dimensional matter.
Nick wants to dump the treasure out the window. The ship’s got enough problems, having lost most of its fuel during the jump and liable to be incinerated in 17 hours by the blue giant which is sucking it into its high-gravity atmosphere.
Nick returns to the mining planet to find extra fuel supplies, not realizing this is a trap of Karl’s devising, allowing the invader to weaponize all manner of equipment against Nick. Meanwhile, Karl gets rid of Danika and Yerzy by the simple measure of ejecting them into space. He gets the better of Kaela and Benji. The best scene is Benji pleading with the computer to override its controls to deal with Karl, on the grounds that she’s done this once before to wake him up to play chess.
Naturally, Nick has a few tricks up his sleeve or the ending would be pre-ordained. Although you probably wouldn’t expect to see Nick and Kaela stuck in the same pod, buck naked, for the journey home. Whether they then exchange bodily fluids is unclear, but they do swap eye color.
There’s also an interesting kicker. If the artifact reacts with the blue giant, it will create a supernova which will reach Earth in 51 years and either destroy it or lead it into a new form of evolution.
This doesn’t have a good rep, mostly on account of the shenanigans relating to its shooting – more about that tomorrow – but I found it to be pretty serviceable. James Spader (Secretary, 2002) was always better when he could exude menace of sexual creepiness so playing the hero just doesn’t seem right. Peter Facinelli (Viper, 2026) exudes a Spader kind of menace – with a smile. Oscar-nominated Angela Basset (What’s Love Got To Do With It, 1993) ensured there was at least one class act aboard. Robin Tunney (End of Days, 1999) is landed with the overly-emotional scenes. Lou Diamond Philips (La Bamba, 1987) and Wilson Cruz, better known for television, are effective.
There was a whole hoohah surrounding the direction so I’m dealing with that tomorrow in a Behind the Scenes.
Much better than I expected.
The Magnificent 60s 