MGM
You know how some pic are misunderstood at the time of their button and receive a much - take re - evaluation tenner later , with film enthusiasts reclaiming them as chef-d’oeuvre of their musical style ? Well , Supernovaisn’t that . In fact , it would n’t be an magnification to call it among the worst sci - fi motion-picture show of the noughties , and considering the decade produced such trainwrecks asThe Adventures of Pluto NashandBattlefield Earth , it ’s not an sluttish competition .
Yes , Supernovamight not be as infamous as those other two movies , but maybe it should be . A hot mess if there ever was one , Supernovaisa monitory tale of speculative CGI , at odds visions , studio apartment hinderance , a carousel of directors , and a hand that never really knew what it wanted to be . On its twenty-fifth anniversary , permit ’s look back at this pleasurably terrible movie and talk about how the behind - the - scenes drama is far more entertaining than anything that actually happen on the screen .
MGM
Softcore sci-fi
Supernovais a relatively straight scientific discipline fabrication movie — at least until it is n’t . The plot centers on a six - somebody hospital ship that answers a distress call and rescues Karl ( Peter Facinelli ) , a vernal man extend a mysterious artifact . Soon , the ship finds itself present an unexpected threat aggravate by the gravitational pull of a break down whiz about to go supernova . James Spader and Angela Bassett conduce the cast alongside Robert Forster , Lou Diamond Phillips , Robin Tunney , Wilson Cruz , and Facinelli .
The first thing you ask to know aboutSupernovais that it ’s a horny movie — a very horny film . The curtain raising vista have the ship ’s computer , aptly key Sweetie , waking up computer technician Benjamin ( Cruz ) to temptingly ask for a chess game . Immediately after , there ’s a view with Phillips ’ Yerzy and Tunney ’s Danika go at it in a morose elbow room . From there , Supernovatries to press ahead with its plot , but there ’s just so much intimate heat between reasonably much everyone that it ’s often distracting . Spader and Bassett drop most of their scenes together replace yearning glances , as do Tunney and Phillips when they ’re not having actual sexual urge . Then there ’s Facinelli , who ’s genuinely a threat , walk from gang phallus to work party member and showing off like a dog in heat .
Supernovamight be a good movie if it embraced this low - character Skinemax coming ; I mean , it ’s not like it was locomote to win any Oscars anyway . The visual effects are regretful , the execution are so hammy they might as well be smoked , and the script start from one billet to the next without caring for consistency or pacing . It tries to be too many things at once — thrilling sci - fi , Alienrip - off , Event Horizonspiritual sib — instead of being the one thing it should be : campy . The sexual practice picture have the type of sax music one can find in a softcore ’ 80s erotica ; the line have an “ I researched this on the library ” quality to them , and the histrion often rescue them with the same kind of self - awareness with which the characters fromThe Officespeak before looking into the photographic camera . Supernovacould be fun ; rather , it prefer to be “ serious , ” to its ultimate detriment .
Behind-the-scenes chaos
Jack Sholder , director of boron - grade horror film likeAlone in the DarkandA Nightmare on Elm Street 2 : Freddy ’s Revenge , was hired to re - edit the moving-picture show . Sholder changed many aspects of Hill ’s interpretation , from the score to the voice of the ship ’s computer . However , that version also did n’t sour , and MGM tried to go back to Hill , whose demand they refused to meet . This is the stage in our tale where things get really wild as Francis Ford Coppola enters the ruffle . Yes , Francis Ford Coppola , conductor of The Godfather trilogy andThe Conversation .
See , Coppola was an MGM board member , and he was brought in to keep the motion-picture show as only a five - time Oscar victor could . Coppola ’s main contribution was supply a sexual activity view between Bassett and Spader ’s characters without using Bassett or Spader . Instead , Coppola choose touse footage from Facinelli and Tunney ’s sex scene , hiding their human face and darken Tunney ’s tegument . If that sound way too bizarre and nonsense , it ’s because it kind of is , and the movie is not any good for it . Indeed , the panorama lasts two seconds and does n’t achieve what Coppola desire : to meliorate the kinship between Bassett and Spader ’s type , purportedly the central romance in the story .
Super-flopa
Sadly , Supernovais a mess of a movie without any social organisation or purpose . It tries to distinguish a fairly straightforward story without even attempting to introduce any semblance of wager or emotional connection . The character are thin , the dialogue elbow room too contrived to be so basic , and the output values too cheap - looking to come about as a prestigious sci - fi vehicle . Today , the film ’s bequest is all about the behind - the - view good deal and how much it derail the finished product .
Indeed , you’re able to tell this picture show went through numberless hands , stitched together before being separate and reshaped again , attempting to turn it into something it ’s not . That ’s probably the main issue withSupernova : it ’s a braggart pile of nothing , way too basic to become anything of time value and way too insipid to endure as a camp classic .
Some flick endure as so - speculative - they’re - good classics , guilty pleasures that make us express mirth or at least enjoy . Supernovaisn’t that : It ’s lazy and a bit sad , only spice up by how steamy everyone is , yet it does nothing with that . The film desperately try out to beAlienwhen it should ’ve beenArmageddonall along . Oh , what could ’ve been ; we really would n’t have omit a thing .
Supernovais usable tostream on Tubi .
