Wing Commander Review

Hey, this is Greg Berger and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to another episode of The Cinema Geeks as we

venture back into the world of video game films.

I am one of your hosts, Optimus Solo, and joining

me today is movie repolt. Dan, hello. How's it

going? It's going. Are you excited for today's

topic? Oh, I am. I cannot be more thrilled to

talk about Wing Commander. All right. And also

with us is Miss Hard Candy Mandy. Hello. Well,

I am in the stars, into the moon, ready to talk

about Wing Commander. I don't know what that

means. I'm already in space about it. I'm just

dreaming about Franklin Jr. at what point of

his life. And also, Fridley Scent, hello Matt.

Hi, I'm ready to get back to back with Amanda

and defend this movie for entirely different

reasons. So as they alluded to, we are talking

about Wing Commander today, which is our fifth,

if I'm getting the count right, fifth video game

film that we will be covering. We have Mortal

Kombat, Street Fighter, Double Dragon and Super

Mario Brothers. I don't think I forgot one. but

they are somewhat forgettable so I wouldn't be

surprised if I didn't forget one but this is

this is like the video game film I never knew

existed apparently if there's a few of them that

we're gonna get to over the course of this series

that I didn't even know number one that they

were films and number two that they were video

games based on them maybe I just have been living

in a cave or something but I am not familiar

with the Wing Commander series of video games

so be interesting to get into this one Usually

what we do is we talk about our experience with

the video games and how well This depicts the

video games I don't know how long of a segment

that's gonna be but let's go around and at least

see if anybody's played any of the Wing Commander

games Dan have you ever Seen or played or know

anything about the video those video franchise

video game franchise Wing Commander I do not

I was not really aware of it when I thought of

Wing Commander I for whatever thought of the

What would be like asteroids, I guess, with the

little ship, the Atari game. That's not it at

all. And then I thought of Last Starfighter.

Again, not at all. So I was not really. Would

you have preferred a film based on one of those

two properties? I would. Hmm. That's a good question.

Considering what we got with pixels when it came

to like classic video games, I'd probably say

no. So I don't know. It's a good question, though.

It's hard. So that's a selfish choice. Amanda,

any experience with the game Wing Commander?

Zero. Alright, so zero for two so far. I'll make

it zero for three. I think maybe I was aware

of it at one point, but I really can't remember

that version of me that was aware of this game,

and I definitely never played it. But Matt, you

got to know something about this, right? I know

some things about the Wing Commander video game

series. Excellent. Because I refuse to let us

not know things about video games. The like my

earliest memory of the wing commander video game

series is when I saw this movie originally in

theaters with a bunch of my friends When we got

out of the movie one of my friends and remember

this movie was over 20 years ago So I wasn't

even 10 years old yet one of my friends said

man I need to play all of those video games that

are based on this and I was like you would have

been disappointed I think he would have been

Yes Go ahead. Well, I mean, if he's playing the

video games expecting them to be anything like

the movie, then yes. But knowing that guy and

knowing all of my friends at that time, no, these

are amazing video games. The Wing Commander series,

if you've ever played X -Wing TIE Fighter, X

-Wing versus TIE Fighter, X -Wing Alliance, any

of those Star Wars flight sim games, Wing Commander

is just those with different dressing. It plays

really well. It's a lot of fun The storylines

don't match up between the movie and the video

games because it's a video game movie Why would

they use the source material? Other than names?

But the games are a lot of fun. I have never

I had never played any of these games But before

watching the movie I did some googling to find

out what was the most highly rated of the Wing

Commander games, which is Wing Commander IV.

Went on good old games, GOG .com, and bought

Wing Commander IV and played it for a few hours.

And honestly, if I were 10 again, I think I'd

played it from start to finish that first day.

It's exactly what I want. I mean, it's old, it's

from the early to mid -90s. Four is, the rest

of them are older, except for Wing Commander

Five, which I hear doesn't have a whole lot of

people behind it. So besides the graph, it's

got full motion videos for cutscenes. So you

get interactions between characters and they

use live actors. And guess what? The main character's

played by Mark Hamill. I would argue he does

a better job than Freddie Prinze Jr. and probably

should have been in the actual movie, because

Mark Hamill, I like Mark Hamill. If he's got

a good director, he's great. If he's got a bad

director, he's terrible. Actually, the Wing Commander

IV, the only one I've played, has way better

actors than the actual movie. It's nuts. I'm

trying to remember who... Maniac is played by

Biff from Back to the Future. Because he doesn't

have a name. I don't remember his name. But it's

Biff. That's awesome. Hold on. I'm pulling up

the IMDB because I don't want to say Malcolm

McDowell is the Admiral John Rhys Davies Who

is the dwarf from Lord of the Rings is also in

it? Like it's just full of actors that are great.

We should have watched that It would have been

probably more enjoyable for both of you But like

yeah, the game series is great. And if you want

to buy just about every wing commander game ever

$35 on good old games, or they're about $6 a

piece for the 10 of them. Well, before we get

into the actual film and talking about the details

of the film, Matt, since you're the only one

that can speak to it outside of a little bit

of research that I've tried to put in, how well

does the Wing Commander film symbolize the Wing

Commander game? Well, I played Wing Commander

4, where they've already beat the Kilrathi, and

there's still games to come after that, but...

Like, I mean, it got some of the idea of, like,

it's not dogfighty enough, for one, because the

games are very dogfighty. You are a guy in a

snubfighter in space fighting other snubfighters

and eventually running a mission that launches,

that has you launch a missile into, like, the

core world of the Kilrathi to wipe them all out

or whatever. So, like, it's probably needed a

little bit less, or a little more cockpit time,

but at the same time there are still interactions

where you still do dialogue. So, like, I think...

Mostly it got the idea right, if not getting

the storyline right and creating its own universe

and adding all this hyperspace jumping stuff

to it. Right. Well, the only stuff I could find

based on this was that they changed quite a bit

obviously from the games because that's what

video game films do. Apparently there was a whole

complicated mess with the Kilrathi and trying

to create those for the film and it was done

like over and over and over again and the director

was not happy with it ever. They look like funky

ass master splitters. Well, apparently according

to some sources the puppets for the Kilrathi

were built before the sets were completed. and

then once the sets were completed the puppets

were actually too large for to look natural in

the set so that's why they kind of have like

more of a hunched over look in most of the the

shots there but they they lost like in the games

i guess they're much more furry and they're not

in the in the movie at all names of ships were

changed uh... names of uh... or to the what the

ships look like were changed the actors didn't

resemble the people that had previously played

the part in the games at all uh... so apparently

they changed a whole bunch of things but uh...

hey it's a video game film we can't expect it

to be a representation of the game right so matt

since you're the only one that can score what

would you give a score out of uh... out of ten

as far as how well it uh... represents the game

oh i don't know like a five like it's got I mean

does have the names of the characters and in

fact I would argue it makes a lot more sense

because the characters have like real names and

then call signs whereas in the game they're just

known as their call signs and they even have

that printed on their uniforms for no reason

like yeah it doesn't white look the same, but

it kind of feels the same, and the characters

have the same names but don't look the same.

So it's kind of like halfway there. Gotcha. Makes

sense. And for people that don't have a clue

what we're talking about, a little quick introduction

as we get into the actual film part. Wing Commander

is a 1999 science... Fiction film and like we

said it has Freddy Prince jr. And Matthew Lillard

in there so both guys from scooby -doo As well

as a lot of people that most of you would not

recognize so we won't get into it too far Directed

by Chris Roberts who was in charge of I think

all the games He was created the game series

so they got to create the game series and then

apparently he was That made him eligible to direct

the film. So he's the film director and It's

a runtime of a hundred minutes and to give you

guys an idea of how it did at the box office,

it had a 30 million dollar budget and it brought

in 11. Is this a 30 million dollar budget? Really?

30 million dollar budget for these science fiction

effects and special effects and stuff like that,

yes. There's some choppy ass space travel for

30 million dollars. Yeah, it only brought in

11 and a half so it barely made a third of its

budget which means that it is the 27th Best grossing

film for the video game films on box office mojo,

so there's only well there is five worse than

that so Eleven million there's still five worse

than that at one of them. We already talked and

plus double dragon which we already talked about

so Dan How well forget the games that we didn't

play so it's gonna be easy to forget those How

well does it do just as a movie? Yeah, not very

well, to be honest with you. Um, in the sense

of, like, I don't necessarily think it's, like,

horribly made, per se, but I guess the word that

kind of comes to my mind is dull, and I find

that, like, boring is a very, like, weak criticism

of a movie, because, like, it's hard, because

what someone considers boring is very subjective,

but I do feel like that is the word that kind

of fills my mind when I think of Wing Commander,

because something like Double Dragon is kind

of... it fails but fails in such an interesting

and unique way that it's like somewhat of a like

a car fire to enjoy watching you know Mortal

Kombat similar like at least it was you know

not greatly made but something to enjoy with

this i just felt like it was just kind of freddy

fritz jr is like the perfect perfect first person

for this because it's like his acting resembles

this movie where it's like it's not bad it's

not horrible it's just like It's limited in its

range, and there's not much there, and I was

just... I tried very hard not to check out, but

I found myself checking out on occasion. I ended

up... I went back and tried to rewatch segments

of it, because I felt like I just spaced out

in moments. But again, I don't think, necessarily,

it's awfully made. I think the special effects

are pretty bad in moments. When you said 30 million

dollars, that surprised me. I thought it would

be half that. This came out to see me as the

Matrix. What? What do you put it like that? I'm

blown away. It seemed to me it was The Matrix.

It came out, what, 20 years after Star Wars.

It looked super cheap. Every time it was in space,

it was hard to take anything seriously because

I was just like, what? This looks so poor. I

just was not a fan at all. If there were not

actors in this film that some people would recognize

I'm pretty sure you can show this to somebody

and convince them that it came out in like 1983

Like or 1970 something like you could almost

pull that off because the special effects are

so bad at some points It's like a direct to TV

Sequel to Starship Troopers or something like

that. I mean like if I would if this was like

like an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation,

I'd be like more, and I feel like it has special

effects that are on par, if not worse than that.

I mean, and it's one thing if you have a small

budget and you want to be creative, and I felt

like it didn't do that. Like the aliens you mentioned,

they look like angry seals. Like it's all, I

don't know, it just didn't, it didn't work for

me, so. My biggest problem with the aliens are,

I never get why movies do this. Okay, so you

have an alien race that speaks a language that

we do not know. What is the point of putting

subtitles up that are in the language that they're

speaking? Like, we already don't know what they're

saying, so why are you showing us the text that

we can't read? They're strangers, and you're

in a strange land, and you should feel strange.

Well, I guess we know that it's a language we

don't speak or understand. I don't get that.

I'll get more into my thoughts in a second, but

Amanda, what are your thoughts about the film

in general? I think in general, the only thing

that kept me super interested was the actors

that I've seen in other things. The visual effects

were the most distracting thing ever. I mean

this is year 2654, okay? We can't get some better

visuals when it comes to outside your space station.

And they're moving like the space station or

the ships were just the way they traveled through

space. I think there was one scene where it took

them forever to just get a small distance and

we had to watch that the whole... time and i

think there was a bunch of stuff that i was just

like really i didn't get some of their you know

why they did some of the things they did like

a lot of it with matthew willard like you're

gonna risk your your new lady friend's life a

bunch of times to prove that you guys are tough

guys and and who better to cast in the tough

charismatic role than matthew willard he's like

almost the exact same guy he was in spring like

there's a bunch of him For in like, you know,

just showing up in in this from from his character

And it was like it was like a picture -perfect

Harrison Ford, right? That's the character they

were going for Yeah, I don't know that platinum

blonde hair kind of wasn't wasn't Wasn't working

for him. I would say I don't think Harrison Ford

can pull that off either Apparently Matthew Lillard

and Freddie Prinze Jr. Have been like five freaking

movies together up until this point I can't even

name five. Or maybe a couple addresses. I think

Scooby Doo is in 2002. She's all that in 99.

Scream. No, that was just him in 96. And I think

that the whole Pilgrim thing that was going on

was probably the stupidest thing ever. Ever.

And then... You're telling me the whole time

you're growing up, you have no idea why you're

being ostracized for being this pilgrim. You

don't know. You're just... I just didn't get

that whole thing. I didn't get anything about

that because they're the ones that carved the

way for you and made all this possible, but now

you're the red -headed stepchild that everybody

can't stand if you're part pilgrim. That was

weird to me. I don't know. Maybe it was just

the jargon that they're using at the beginning

of the film because they use... sixteen words

for different things that are all like science

fiction creation words but they throw so many

at you at the beginning that I had no idea what

was going on I think for the first like five

or ten minutes like I didn't know what any of

that stuff was that they were talking about I

think it's stupid too that the derogatory ladies

is thrown all the time like ladies are saying

come on ladies like it's derogatory like I don't

care if you're in a military setting or not like

that's stupid like you could have said ton of

different things but why keep using the gender

in a derogatory way and then calling ladies sir

and stuff I can kind of get that but I don't

know that was really distracting for me I did

like the look of the ships though they really

are pretty cool looking and the inside was like

akin to like a submarine and I think that their

costumes when they were in the ship almost look

like like what Soldiers would look like on the

inside of like a Russian stuff, you know those

little hats and stuff So that's it had some it

had potential when they just shit all of this

movie at these these visuals and and some of

these stupid One -liners and stupid decision

-making and I don't know. I'm not a big fan apparently,

huh? I wanted to like it but Matt, I know you're

chomping at the bit to say some things about

different things that have been brought up, so

go for it. Alright, the first one is when you

said Starship Troopers, I remembered that in

Wing Commander IV, they also have Casper Van

Deen, the star of Starship Troopers, as an unnamed

character, because that's how much bigger the

Wing Commander IV was than the Wing Commander

of the movie. Is it the star of that? Also, I

for some reason was thinking this was 96 10 or

20 years ago I was actually over 10 when this

movie came out, but only just only just Let's

get the timelines. Yeah Was Maniac supposed to

be manly because I thought of him as white prince

It was like he was he was effeminate but still

had a sexual energy that people were attracted

to but and then and then he had the girl that

was more manly and like that was like a push

and pull give and take relationship which i actually

liked like they're they're these like adventure

thrill seeking individuals they're always trying

to one up each other she's gonna be more of a

man than him he's gonna be more of a lady than

her like i i actually rather liked that relationship

and i thought that was one of the better elements

of the movie um i think the whole pilgrim subplot

needed to needed to not be there um I don't remember

that from the from the one video game. I played

doesn't get mentioned And I can't imagine it

was in there originally or if it was it wasn't

very big because the last thing you need is a

five -minute Voice -over at the beginning your

movie telling you how there's a war happening

between these two races Also, there was a different

war that happened and some racism is gonna come

up because of that but that war is over We don't

even deal with that war anymore. But look at

this other war, but then also the pilgrims racism

I don't know why that whole subplot was put in

there. That could have been removed. And also,

it was one of those things where it was like,

hey, why does Freddy Prince have two necklaces?

And it's like, oh, one of them's my pilgrim thing.

And it's like, oh, hey, there's three characters

so far and another one's wearing a necklace that

you don't see, so that guy's another pilgrim,

right? Like, it was immediate how obvious that

storyline was going to play out. I guess I didn't

know that he was not only a hidden pilgrim, he

was also hidden the greatest admiral ever. He

was just like the secret agent. I've got all

of the things hidden underneath me and then I'm

just gonna whip him out as I need to and to keep

the story going. He's flying the Millennium Falcon,

man. Yeah, I mean that guy was probably the coolest

character. I agree. But although when he got

a little Mary Sue -ish he was like, yes, I'm

also a pilgrim and I'm also naval intelligence

and I'm also this. I was like, okay, okay, okay.

You were cool when you were a smuggler doing

fringe space shit. Now that you're all of these

other things, it's like, well, wait, they're

just paying you to hang out at the edges of space?

He wasn't also his father, though, so that didn't

work. That was terrible. I just don't understand

why this was made. Was there a calling for a

film based on this video game? Like, there's...

a million video games and cartoons that I'm sure

people have like wanted to be made into movies

and there's been movements to make this or that

I mean they've been trying to make a new Masters

of the Universe film for like 15 years there's

been fans trying to get that done and it can't

happen where was the call for Wing Commander

the film like did I miss that segment of the

population that was really interested in this

I I'm baffled that this is a video game that

was made into a film makes no sense to me Alright,

any other last minute thoughts before we get

into a few more little trivia things and the

Rotten Tomatoes score and your guys' score or

anything else about the movie that you want to

bring up that you really appreciated or really

didn't like, Dan? I felt like the aliens themselves.

I hate when it's just like they're aliens so

they're bad. and like that's kind of the justification

of it. It's like, well, you know, we try to have

a peace with them, but then they're like, yeah,

no, we just like to kill you all. And then it

just, there was like, there was no compelling

billing to the villain to the side at all. Just

this like, you know, there were just creatures

that were fighting against and made it not all

that compelling. I don't know, like it, I can,

I kind of can see what Matt was saying regarding

the, the relationship between Matthew Lillard

and the other. the other character. Can I just

say that it's telling that none of us know a

name of any of the characters in this film? It's

not. I call him Maniac. I don't know who Matthew

Lillard is, but it's definitely Maniac. Yeah,

that's true. Maniac and Blair, the only two.

But again, I played one of the video games, so

I haven't got a leg up. Yeah, that doesn't count.

You know, I was kind of confused regarding the

one death scene and like why they have to push

her off the... Why does that seem like you're...

that there seems to be so many more options about

what you could do besides just like nope nope

we're just we're just gonna push this spaceship

off like why are you all right still like give

me a five minute dramatic scraping a fly off

a windshield well i also want to know why there's

no medics anywhere near anything like there's

like three different times in the film where

they're calling for medics and Not only do they

not come right away. I don't think they ever

come in any of those scenes like I don't Wouldn't

it be typical for the medics to be on the bridge

or on the, you know, whatever you want to call

it, not the bridge, but on the entryway of where

these ships are going to land? Hey, hey, hey.

When you know 10 minutes in advance someone has

been picked up and they've been in an escape

pod for two hours, but only have an hour of air,

and you know that that ship is coming in, you

definitely do not get your medics out on the

flight deck. They might catch something. That's

just like, why is he having to call seven times

for medics? stop this man yeah and just seeing

freddy pin chunard trying to hold matthew lilard

back was just that was a uh a school of acting

right there just like that and i don't know they

had this little element where it's like if a

character or if someone died it's like they never

existed and it's like all right i get it but

it you know it's just They brought it up 17 times.

Yeah, I mean, I did kind of like the, when they

did have the, how they treated the space battle

almost similar to that of like a naval battle

between two battleships. Like yeah, I mean it

was, it's not like it hasn't been done before,

but it was okay, I guess. You know, it was weird

that they had shields that they couldn't fire

weapons out of unless they took the shields down,

which I thought was something you tend not to

see, like at least put a little bit of a, a little

bit, you had to be a little bit more creative

when it comes to because you're going to open

yourself up to be, you know, destroyed. Though

that ended up not really mattering anyways, but

whatever. It's usually only the cloaking device

that you have to lower your shields for. Yeah.

Yeah. So it's just like, I guess ultimately it

just, it felt like I don't. Again, you mentioned

like why was this movie made? I don't know like

I don't know the point of it like what like what

people got out of it If it was just a mistake

that money just kept going like oh wait didn't

mean to actually make the movie It was a joke

and it's actually I don't know, but it's just

Again, like I don't know if that's just somebody

like the creator that just had enough money from

his other games that he made somehow So he was

able to just fund this by himself. I guess but

I mean I mean like the performances themselves

minus that of like some of the major characters

some of the Like generals and things like that.

They they felt like legit actors Which just almost

felt out of place in this movie when you're like

having like your surrounding Like good actors

around Matthew Lillard and Freddie Prince jr.

And like oh they you know, they can't really

hold their own but I guess like, you know Like

I said, even though I feel like it's not as badly

made as like a double dragon at least, like I,

it was so crazy. This was just, nothing really

stood out to me. It was just, this is happening

and I was just waiting for it to end. Amanda,

any other final thoughts on this film before

we go around and give some trivia and some scores?

No, I just think it's super forgettable, a lot

of it, and I don't feel like anything happened.

I think I've forgotten half of it until some

of you guys brought up some of it. I just don't

feel like anything happened. Yeah. Feel that

too. That's kind of what Dan was saying with

his opening statement too that it just kind of

that was just there predictions We've seen five

video game films so far Dan Matt and Amanda Where

do you think this one ranks as far as the five

films if you go on its Rotten Tomatoes score?

Best worst somewhere in the middle. What do you

think Matt? I'm gonna say Load a middle just

because like Like I think the movie's forgettable

and I think it's got its problems, but I think

it's like just as a general movie more enjoyable

Like it's not in being enjoyed for ironic reasons.

Yeah Dan where's it gonna rank out of the five

we've seen so far Mortal Kombat are you including

both more comments? No, just the first I Would

say in the middle I think it's pretty low because

I think I had more fun with Mario Brothers than

I did with this. Alright, currently out of the

five we watched, the highest on Rotten Tomatoes

is Mortal Kombat with 33%. That's the highest,

guys. That's the highest. Great to get a curve

here. Second highest so far is Super Mario Brothers

with 15%. Third highest... Street Fighter with

12%. Oh wow. Then Wing Commander 10 % and followed

in last with Double Dragon at 8%. What is Annihilation?

Do you have that or not? I did not pull that

up because I refuse to acknowledge that that

exists. I'll have to look that up, but yeah,

I'm not sure if Annihilation is... it's got to

be lower than that. It's got to be like a four

or five percent or something. But yeah, Double

Dragon so far, the worst reviewed film, that's

both by the critics and if you're going to take

the audience score though, it's a little different.

If you take the audience score, you have Mortal

Kombat at 58. It makes a big jump for just the

audience score, 58 % for Mortal Kombat, 28 for

Mario still in second place. And then if you're

taking the audience, Double Dragon jumps all

the way up to third at 26, followed by Wing Commander

at 24, and then Street Fighter at 20. So, a little

bit different if you just take the audience view.

Annihilation got 3%. Yeah, 3%. It's got one positive

review. One if it's just one guy. I just want

to point something out though because our last

record we were doing the Miyazaki spotlight and

we talked about Castle in the Sky and I don't

know if it's because of dubs and this that and

the other. Castle in the Sky on Rotten Tomatoes

has 21 reviews. Wing Commander for some reason

has 49 reviews. How does Wing Commander have

so many reviews? Like I don't understand why

49 people even reviewed this film that's bizarre,

but In my last little bit of trivia we talked

about how it made 11 million on a 30 million

budget Which is not even a third of its budget

and then also consider this When it came out

it was the only film that was showing the theatrical

trailer to Star Wars episode 1 the Phantom Menace

which at that time meant half the people that

went to watch this film and paid for those 11

.5 million dollars in tickets did not watch Wing

Commander. They watched the trailer for Star

Wars and left. So, that was a thing, because

it had a sneak peek trailer beforehand, which

I think was paired up with like Meet Joe Black

or something, but this was the one that carried

the actual full -length theatrical trailer, so

half the people didn't even actually stay for

the film. And that's back in the day when you

couldn't go online to watch it you actually had

to go to the theater to see the trailer. Right.

So people like entire theaters were going watching

the theatrical trailer getting up and leave.

So that was the power of Star Wars. That was

when it wasn't ten dollars for a movie ticket

and people were cool with leaving. Now it's like

I don't even care what's going on I'm sitting

through this fucking movie. Alright, so let's

go around and give our scores for Wing Commander

out of 10. What do you give this? We will start

with Miss Amanda. What grade do you give Wing

Commander? And where does it rank for you amongst

the video game films we talked about? I already

said that. I liked this. Not as awesome as all

the other ones. I think maybe even Double Dragon.

I like this a little less than that. I'm gonna

give it... Shit. I'm gonna give it a 2 .5. 2

.5 from Amanda. Dan, where are you at with Wing

Commander? For me, it's the worst one if you

don't count Annihilation. It's a 1 out of 10

for me, and that's being generous. I thought

I was being fucking generous. No. Matt, where

do you score this one? I'm sorry if everyone

in this record hates me. I thought it was incredibly

forgettable. I thought that there were some subplots

that need to be removed, some things that need

to be expanded upon. But as far as just being

a general sci -fi movie, I didn't hate it. I'd

give it like, I want to say between five and

a six, but I'll go with five just because everyone's

in such a bad mood. We're not in a bad mood.

I'm in a good mood, man. I can now not forget

about this movie and move on to the next one.

Yeah, I'm in a good mood because we're almost

done talking about it. And nobody hates you,

man. I'm with more with Dan and Amanda. I'm going

to give this one a one out of ten and match up

with Dan because I don't know why I would ever

watch this film again and nor... need to know.

Like I said, I've almost forgotten everything

about the film except for you guys were reminding

me as we were talking about it and I think in

about two weeks time, I'm not going to be able

to tell you anything about this film other than

it's bad. So, and I like science fiction movies

and I like bad science fiction stuff too, but

it just did nothing for me. The aliens were nothing.

There was no, you know, like Dan was talking

about, there was no good bad character to get

invested in or to fuel the conflict. I mean,

there was some cool maneuvering and strategic.

moves, I guess, with the wing commander aspect

of it, but like you said, Matt, didn't have enough

of the fighting to have enough of the dogfighting,

so one out of ten for me. The Kill Rathy looked

like the guys from Small Soldiers. They did do

that. What guys from Small Soldiers? The main,

like the evil -looking dude who's actually the

protagonist toy. The Gorgons? Yeah, the leader

of the Gorgons. Oh my god. I like that movie,

for some reason. I do like that movie. Actually,

we should have watched that instead. Alright,

so next up, when we go back to the video game

series, guys, we will be going into the world

of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, the 2001 release.

So we're done with our 90s. We've covered all

the 90s video game films and we're moving into

the 2000s. We'll start with Tomb Raider. Excitement

level, Amanda? Through the roof. Is that serious

or sarcastic? Both. Dan, are you excited to move

into something else completely different? I'm

somewhat interested because I've actually never

seen the Tomb Raider films, so I'm actually kind

of curious to see... I have not either. ...how

good or bad they really are. Matt? Um, I'm super

excited for a few reasons. Like, I remember seeing

it in the theaters and not liking it, but I also

remember when we were doing this, isn't this

like one of the highest rated and like one of

the highest grossing? It's not one of the highest

rated, but it is one of the highest grossed.

Oh, that might be the problem. In my mind, it

should be just a slightly more bland Indiana

Jones with a pretty lady at the helm, which,

like, that's all anyone ever wants, right? It's

just Harrison Ford movies redone with lady characters?

Exactly. But yeah, we'll have to wait and see.

I've never seen it. Dan's never seen it. Matt,

you've never seen it either, right? I have seen

the first one in theaters. Oh, okay. And I remember

the weird bungee jumping scene, but that's about

all I remember. All right. And Amanda, you have

seen this before, correct? Yeah, I've seen all

of it. All right. So we'll have a mixture of

first timers and repeat viewing, so we'll have

to see how that works out for us. So that's what

will be coming up next in our video game series.

For now, you can comment on this episode and

let us know if you agree or disagree with our

takes on the classic... Wing Commander film here.

You can do that by going to the website geekcastsradio

.com or the address the gcrn .com. Either one

will take you there. You can find the episode

post and comment there. We'll definitely interact

with you there. Or we can interact with you directly

via Twitter. Amanda, your Twitter handle is?

Heart Candy Mandy, I know why. Matt, what is

yours? At Fridley Sent. Dan? I'm at Movie Revolt.

I am at Optima Solo, or if you just want to interact

with the actual podcast in general where we can

all choose to react to your comments, you can

tweet at CinemaGeekCast. So that is it for this

episode. We'll hope you join us next week for

another fantastic episode of The Cinema Geeks.