WING COMMANDER
US, 1999, 100 minutes, Colour.
Freddie Prinze Jnr, Matthew Lillard, Saffron Burrows, Jurgen Prochnow, Tcheky Karyo, David Warner, David Suchet, Ginny Holder.
Directed by Chris Roberts.
Wing Commander is based on a video game and characters created by the director Chris Roberts. The first question to ask is whether one would entrust the future of the world and space exploration to Freddie Prinze Jnr and Matthew Lillard. They were much more at home in young adult romantic comedies like She's All That. They are not very persuasive, especially with the strong character actors who are in support. Saffron Burrows is a rather cold commander.
The technology on screen is very much in the Star Trek style with touches of Star Wars. However, audiences have seen much of the material before, the leads are not persuasive and so the film did not have the wide release that was initially expected.
1. The popularity of Star Trek and Star Wars films? This film in that tradition?
2. The special effects, the spacecraft, travel through space, the battle sequences? The musical score?
3. The title and its focus on authority, leadership, the galaxies, battles?
4. The world in the future centuries, very much similar to the imaginings of science fiction of the 20th and 21st century? Very American in accent and style? With the British in support?
5. The set-up in the galaxies, the spaceships and their exploration, readiness for war? Communications and difficulties? The attacks, the hostile race, their destroying the battleship, their taking the navy commander communications? The need to recover it?
6. The admiral and his staff, his reliance on Blair, the information to Taggert? The admiral and his continued supervision of the battles, especially his decisions at the end? The other commanders, Taggert, his skills, taking control? The clashes with Commander Gerald, his suspicions, especially of Pilgrims and Blair? Captain Sanski and his command, believing the messages, his death? The role of the hierarchy?
7. The contrast with Blair and his nickname Maverick, Marshall and his nickname Maniac? Their friendship from the academy, their skills? Being chosen to deliver the message, with Taggert, Taggert and his interest in Blair as a Pilgrim? The clashes with Marshall and his asking him to obey him? Their going to the space station, the encounter with Angel, her dominance? Marshall and his relationship with Rosie? The training, the mission, the deadlines? The strategies and the fights? Marshall's decision, Rosie's death, his wanting to rescue her? Angel and her severity, pointing the gun at him for treason? Blair and his intercession?
8. The mission, Blair, the pursuit, his Pilgrim instinct, relying on his genetic skills, the quasi-mystical background, his cross? His misleading the enemy? His return, Marshall and the friendship, Angel and the romance? The commanders satisfied?
9. The staging of the battles, the journeys, the strategies? The use of the technology? The pilots?
10. The underlying mystical subtext, the Pilgrims, their initial exploration, the kind of Gnosticism of an infused knowledge? Touched by God? How well developed was this mystical tone - in Blair's character, his parents, the older commanders remembering them? His finding his role and destiny?
