is n't it the ultimate sign of a movie 's cinematic ineptitude when you ca n't think of much to say about it other than
" it sucks " ?
one of the first official year 2000 releases , supernova is such a movie .
i ca n't seem to get past one - word adjectives with this one , although
" boring , " " stupid " and " absurd " does n't amount to much of a review .
a shame .
i would have been able to save myself the chore of desperately trying to elaborate .
but c'est la vie .
here goes nothing .
i 'll keep it short .
i suppose the first bad omen for supernova came when director walter hill ( 48 hours ) removed his name from the movie , requesting that it be replaced with the pseudonym thomas lee .
the film 's fate was sealed in many minds when struggling studio mgm declined to screen it for the press , an event usually signifying a studio 's lack of confidence in a particular movie .
hill 's and mgm 's actions were prudent .
when the captain of medical space vessel nightingale dies in a tragic hyperjump accident , a reformed drug addict who is also the first officer , for some reason ( james spader ) is forced to take command .
the ship picks up a distress call from a nearby planet and , on arrival , picks up one survivor from an apparent accident in an abandoned mining colony .
one of the crew members ( angela bassett ) knows this passenger , who is played by peter facinelli , and has some bad feelings about it -- and we all know what that means .
this intergalactic hitchhiker is carrying some mysterious cargo -- a jellylike substance the purpose of which is unknown , though it seems to bring some form of pleasure to whoever touches it .
another one of the crew members experiences this first hand ; after spending a few minutes partially inside this glob of goo , he does some impressive handstand pushups .
evidently , touching this enigmatic egg - shaped thingie makes you younger and stronger .
how ?
why ?
the movie never bothers to explain .
soon enough though , spader and bassett are running around the ship like mad , being chased by the all - of - a - sudden - superhuman facinelli .
to be honest , i do n't even remember exactly why .
i just remember that i did n't care .
supernova 's plot suggested some more or less interesting ideas , such as the ball of goo being an intergalactic time bomb , but they are all dropped before they have a chance to develop into anything truly intriguing .
in fact , everything is dropped just so the actors can have some fun running around what looks like an elaborate set .
well , the effects are good , though there 's hardly a studio movie with bad special effects these days
so i 'm not sure whether that 's so remarkable an accomplishment .
the performances are hardly worth talking about .
i 'm not even sure i can call what 's here " performances , " though angela bassett sure is good at giving people the finger .
james spader is not a bad actor , but he proves to be one of the blandest action stars i 've seen in a while , mostly because he is n't given a character with a personality .
the action scenes are just as bland , since they 're pretty much just rehashes of action elements that were n't particularly entertaining the first time around . and since the action scenes are everything to this movie ,
it 's pretty much dead in the water .
and for the life of me , i ca n't figure out why it 's called supernova .
Output: N