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Plot: A futuristic film which takes place after disasters have irrevocably changed and destroyed the world.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:February 7, 2008
Here's one I dusted off for a viewing after at least 15 years since I first saw it. As a kid, Slipstream really captured my imagination and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now... Ooo it has problems.
Mark Hamill is an officer of the law, charged with capturing Bob Peck - a mysterious fugitive on the run for murder. After running into the ever-amiable Bill Paxton on a pit-stop home, a game of cat-and-mouse begins when Hamill is relieved of his bounty as Paxton plans to claim the reward himself.
All of this takes place on the 'Slipstream'. A wind system that has been formed as a result of earthquakes reshaping the world, and microlites are now the futuristic craft of choice.
So, first to the problems.
Where the hell are we? The landscape in this picture, whilst grand in places, is so inconsistent it is very difficult to identify where we are. One minute it looks like we're at an English airfield, the next we're looking at cave-dwellers on the Turkish border and 5 minutes after that, a sandstorm in Tunisia. It would be nice if the explanation for this could be the tectonic truffle shuffle that the world has suffered, but no reference is made to it and all these places seem to be within a couple of miles of each other.
The second problem here is that the narrative is very convoluted, and messy. From the very beginning, perhaps aided by his top billing, it's easy to assume that Hamill is our hero. But when Paxton arrives with his likeable self, it's assumed HE is our hero. No, wait! As we discover more about Peck it seems he is the one driving this film! I'm all in favour of keeping the audience guessing when it's deliberate and intelligent, but here it really doesn't seem intentional and just gets confusing.
Then there is the pacing of this narrative labyrinth. After a fairly promising opening, the film begins to grind to a slow halt half-way through. Paxton & Peck happen across a community of recently attacked settlers and land to help. For their troubles, Paxton is bound and gagged and Peck is strung up to a kite. Throw in a dying cameo from Ben Kingsley and a random woman, who at first seems to be a 2-line extra but then turns out to be quite important, and you're left scratching your head at what all that was about.
And finally, the special effects. You can see that all the money in this film went on our 3 'heroes', Kingsley, a dash of F Murray Abraham and all the music Elmer Bernstein didn't use in Ghostbusters. Quite frankly the microlite sequences in places, are awful. You would think the man who directed Tron, a landmark movie in the world of special effects, would have set himself higher standards.
It's not all bad though. These points aside, Slipstream does hold some charm to it - as many low bugdet genre films sometimes do. Peck is outstanding and the chemistry between himself and Paxton is undeniably engaging.
Hamill is also good, if underused, as the pursuer and has a real menace about him. I'm sure the luftwaffe look he has gone for helps. So does his beard.
As for the story itself, despite it's obvious Bladerunner similarities (including a shameless reference from Peck about dreaming), it's good and set on quite an orginial backdrop. It's just too bad that it is executed so poorly in places.
I agree with others who recognise this films cult status, but at the same time understand why others can't stand it. Each viewer will have to make their own mind up about this one. -
MCT:October 24, 2007Mark Hamill was actually ugly in this movie as the villian, usually he's really handsome, but in this movie, wow. He was such a great villain, I hated him. I did not care for the weird android guy, he got on my nerves, but overall the movie was alright.
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MCT:September 11, 2007
While this had an overall good premise, the movie could have been better. A bit weak on the production and acting.
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MCT:July 18, 2007A great cast but a lousy film budget. Might have been so much more if they would have put more than $25 into it.
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MCT:March 14, 2007
This is why I go out of my way to find bad movies. Because sometimes, they're not so bad. The other day I bought three double DVDs for a buck each-- six movies for three dollars. One of those movies was SLIPSTREAM, and, as far as I'm concerned, that one paid for the whole thing.
An odd little Sci Fi film with Bill Paxton and Mark Hamill, it was made in England with what I think of as "Dr. Who effects"-- the visuals were rather cheesy, but the script is good and it has some fine acting. The story isn't really much-- bounty hunters chasing each other across a post-apocolyptic Earth-- but the characters are well handled. Paxton is so much fun to watch, and Hamill makes a suprisingly sinister villian. I won't say it's a diamond in the rough, but it's a solid piece of craftsmanship inexplicably buried in the dump bin. If you run across it at your local Video Hut, it's worth checking out.
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