leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (12/22/85)
ENEMY MINE A film review by Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: Film adaptation of Barry Longyear's story slams home its message of racial tolerance. The matte and model work are more imaginative but less well-executed than is expected these days. Last Christmas season brought two major science fiction films to grab the holiday market. Neither DUNE nor 2010 did very well at the boxoffice, so this year we get only one. ENEMY MINE is an adaptation of the Hugo- winning novella by Barry Longyear. The story is a cross between the plots of two Sixties films, HELL IN THE PACIFIC and ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS. A human and an enemy alien are stranded together on a planet and must overcome their instinctive mutual hatred if they are to survive. There is more plot to the story than that, but that is the core of what ENEMY MINE is all about. The film talks down to its audience at a slight incline when presenting its message of tolerance for those different than ourselves. ENEMY MINE was directed by Wolfgang Peterson, who previously directed DAS BOOT, one of the best films ever made about submarine warfare, and THE NEVERENDING STORY, which rose above the mismatched patchwork of ideas and images it had only because some of the ideas were really interesting. ENEMY MINE goes to the other extreme from THE NEVERENDING STORY. ENEMY MINE is a little too pat, a little too simplistic. Peterson took over the reins from the film's first director, Richard Loncraine. (Why Fox threw out Loncraine and nine million dollars of his work in unclear. People in production report that Loncraine's version of the story was as good as Peterson's.) Peterson had the alien make-up done over--a number of times, in fact. The resulting make-up does not quite look believable, particularly a tail that looks borrowed from a stuffed animal. Dennis Quaid of THE RIGHT STUFF, DREAMSCAPE, and BREAKING AWAY stars as the human and Lou Gossett, Jr. (AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN, SADAT) is quite good as the alien. Also on hand is Brion James, continuing a career of belligerent parts like the replicant Leon in BLADERUNNER and the head redneck in the "Mummy Daddy" episode of AMAZING STORIES. The special effects of ENEMY MINE are fun rather than believable. Much of the landscape is provided by unconvincing matte paintings. Curiously enough, these were done by Industrial Light and Magic, who usually have much higher standards. The spacecraft models were created by the Bavaria Studios model unit. They look like something off the cover of a Sixties science fiction book. When one crash-lands on a planet it is obviously model work, but it fun to watch much like a similar landing was fun to watch at the climax of WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE. In total, there is much to like in ENEMY MINE, but curiously the adaptation of the prize-winning story it was based on is what lets it down. Give it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. The film is just a bit simplistic in its Yuletide plea for peace off earth and good will toward aliens. Mark R. Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper
rsk@pucc-j (Wombat) (12/23/85)
Quaid is mediocre as Willis Davidge; Lou Gossett is wonderful as "Jerry". Fair recreation of an alien landscape. So-so SFX. Simple but effective plot; pace drags somewhat in the middle. Novel critters. The bad guys are really bad, and much delight is to be had in their demise. 3 stars. -- Rich Kulawiec pur-ee!rsk purdue-!rsk rsk@purdue-asc.arpa rsk@asc.purdue.edu