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!leeperrsk@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