Sleek, fun, intentional B-Movie

Rating: Null/10 (9 March 2004)

This movie is a mix of a spoof and and homage, to both sci-fi and pop culture. I found it hilarious with great eye candy, a real treat to watch. Think of it as a 90s kaleidescope of various traditions, cliches, and conventions, in a silly framework of America's favorite medium, science fiction. In essence, it's an intentional b-movie of the 90s.

First of all, 90% of this movie is a reference/spoof/homage to *something*, either in pop culture or science fiction. Many of the devices are drawn from not only B sci-fi of it's decade, but also heavily from 50s-70s sci-fi short stories, of which I happen to be a huge fan. For example, the little robots cleaning up the mess is almost perfectly as described by Ray Bradbury, and even Zorg's speech (slightly modified) in that scene is drawn from a mid-60s Hugo winner, by an author whose name escapes me.
The culture references are equally engaging. I love the Thai ship, McDonalds, Ruby Rod, etc. Several of them are double references, also. Some day I'm going to sit down and make a complete list of every reference in the script and film... then again, I'll prolly never have that much time on my hands.
There is alot of quite intentional campiness. Think about this for a moment: if they could do the visuals for so many of the great-looking scenes, why do the Mangalores looked so stupid? I think it's hilarious how sleek everything is, but the Mangalores look like something out of an old Star Trek episode. Zorg embodies the 90s cliched badguy perfectly (I mean come on, he's named Zorg), yet Oldman still manages to creep me out with his psychopathically blank eyes.
This movie isn't about humans being made to love, or war being evil, it's about the silliness of American culture. The whole love theme and the second-thought morality are things mandated in B-movies; You couldn't possible do a 90s mélange without it.
Comparing this to Star Wars is ridiculous, but I hazard another comparison: I think this movie has done for sci-fi what the Austin Powers movies did for spy movies. It makes us laugh at ourselves, and yet at the same time feel for the characters. I love this movie for the memories, the laughs, the music, and the rhythm, and I think as time passes it will be even more fun to look back on as the decade I grew up in.