mismatched ideas, gore effects, sink flick

Rating: 4/10 (14 April 2006)

I have to disagree with those who like this film, sort of.
It sets itself up as a science fiction film, but in fact, it's a horror film, and worse, a theological horror film. The spaceship's "drive" allows it to travel in space by short-cutting through other dimensions, but when, after an absence of seven years, it returns to the solar system, it turns out (**SPOILER**) that it's actually been to Hell.
The problem is that science fiction is based on science, and the idea of this film depends on a literal understanding of some fairly medieval (aka fundamentalist) Christianity. The two simply don't mix. Those who like science fiction will be deeply annoyed by the intrusion of religious ideas, and those who are religious likely will miss this film entirely because it looks like science fiction.
In the end too, a lot of loose ends remain untied. Is Hell real? Is it just another dimension? What's the theory behind the way all these dimensions fit together into some universe or other? Are our cultural ideas about Hell derived from some sort of intuition about these other dimensions? Who knows? Who cares? Certainly not the film-makers, who seem interested only in milking the concept for the maximum amount of gore and pointless shocks -- you know, the sort that make you jump in your seat for a second, and then you realize that's all it was: no concept, just another "Gotcha!" moment. Manipulative and thoughtless film-making at its worst (or best, depending on your tastes).
And the truly sad part is that the acting and the set design are truly fabulous. A lot of energy was expended on making the ship seem workable, real, and genuinely creepy. In the end, however, all the effort is wasted. The story doesn't fit together, and the genre itself is misjudged. Give it a miss.