Supernova
USA 1999
Reviewed by John Wrathall
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
The 22nd century. Joining the crew of deep-space medical-rescue vessel Nightingale 299, co-pilot Nick Vanzant gets a frosty welcome from chief medical officer Kaela Evers. The Nightingale picks up a distress call from a mine on an abandoned rogue moon apparently from Karl Larson, an abusive former lover of Kaela's whom she believed to be dead.
To reach the moon, the Nightingale has to perform a "dimension jump", during which the captain is killed. Nick takes command. The ship loses most of its fuel supply in an asteroid attack. A patrol vehicle docks carrying the sole survivor of a mining expedition, who claims to be Larson's son Troy. His vehicle is carrying an alien object which Troy dug out of the abandoned mine. Led to believe that there is fuel on the abandoned moon, Nick goes to investigate, but is left stranded there by Troy. Kaela realises that the alien object on board her ship is "ninth dimensional" and will destroy the Earth if it is taken back there. But Troy, whose body and mind have been infiltrated by an alien force, is determined to do exactly that. After killing the rest of the crew, Troy reveals to Kaela that he is in fact Karl, rejuvenated by his contact with the ninth dimension. Now he wants her back.
Kaela is rescued by Nick, who manages to return from the moon in time to blow up Karl and the ninth-dimensional object. Forced to share the only undamaged "dimensional stabilisation chamber" on the journey back to Earth, Nick and Kaela undergo a transfer of a small amount of genetic material which leaves Kaela pregnant.
Review
The slow decline of Walter Hill as a director over the past 20 years, from The Driver (1978) and The Long Riders (1980) to his more recent Trespass and Last Man Standing, has been offset by a parallel career as producer and sometimes co-writer of one of the most successful film franchises of the era, the Alien quartet. That Hill chose to entrust the direction of Alien to the then relatively untried Ridley Scott, and its sequels to comparative newcomers James Cameron, David Fincher and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, suggested an acknowledgement on his part that science fiction wasn't his forte. So it's a mystery why Hill, some way from the height of his powers, should have chosen to direct this substandard Alien imitation which he apparently had no hand in writing. Supernova proved a disastrous experience - not just for the viewer but for Hill himself, who removed his name from the credits, replacing it with Thomas Lee. (Alan Smithee is presumably too well-known for his own good.) Extensively recut and reshot (by an uncredited Francis Ford Coppola, among others), Supernova bombed at the US box office earlier this year.
Like Alien, Supernova relies on the basic set-up of alien, or in this case alien-infected human, picking off the crew of a spaceship one by one. And as with Alien, in which the spaceship was named after Joseph Conrad's novel Nostromo, Supernova toys with references to classic nautical literature, specifically Jack London's The Sea Wolf. In The Sea Wolf, Larsen is the ship's captain who terrorises the castaways he rescues; here Larson is the castaway who terrorises the crew who rescue him. Alongside such literary references, there are a few interesting ideas buried in Supernova, notably the decision by an advanced alien race to plant a lethal "ninth-dimensional object" in a far corner of the universe as a booby trap for any species evolved enough for deep-space exploration - and thus posing a threat to their supremacy.
But like so much else in the film, this intriguing premise remains undeveloped. Whether it's the fault of the script or the re-editing, Supernova feels woefully rushed and bursts with loose ends and unfulfilled set-ups. In the film's incoherent first act, for instance, the spaceship's speaking computer Sweetie has to keep up a running commentary in order to give us any idea what's going on.
As for Hill, the only sign of his involvement as director is the strange, seasick camera style, forever tilting from side to side, which marred his 1995 Western Wild Bill. More seriously, he seems to have broken the cardinal rule that gave such early films as The Driver their existential charge: his avowed refusal, against received Hollywood wisdom, to give his characters backstory. Here, fatally, the whole plot depends on backstory, in particular Karl Larson's past relationship with medical officer Kaela Evers, which is what motivates him to send out his distress call to her ship. But since we're never told the terrible things Karl did to Kaela during their time together (presumably the scene where this happened ended on the cutting-room floor with so much else), the climactic revelation that Larson's son Troy is in fact the rejuvenated Karl falls hopelessly flat.
Credits
- Director
- Thomas Lee
- [i.e. Walter Hill]
- Producers
- Ash R. Shah
- Daniel Chuba
- Jamie Dixon
- Screenplay
- David Campbell Wilson
- Story
- William Malone
- Daniel Chuba
- Director of Photography
- Lloyd Ahern II
- Editors
- Michael Schweitzer
- Melissa Kent
- Production Designer
- Marek Dobrowolski
- Music
- David Williams
- ©Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc.
- Production Companies
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents a Screenland Pictures/ Hammerhead
- production
- Executive Producer
- Ralph S. Singleton
- Zoetrope Producer
- Shannon Lail
- Associate Producer
- James R. Johnston III
- Production Supervisor
- Nancy Rosing
- Production Co-ordinators
- Jean Costello
- 2nd Unit:
- Zoila Gomez
- Production Manager
- Ralph S. Singleton
- Location Manager
- Karen White
- Post-production Supervisor
- Kim Aubry
- 2nd Unit Director
- Allan Graf
- Assistant Directors
- Jeffrey Wetzel
- Jeff Okabayashi
- 2nd Unit:
- Christopher T. Gerrity
- Amy Schmidt
- Script Supervisors
- Tricia Ronten
- 2nd Unit:
- Sherry Gallarneau
- Casting
- Mary Jo Slater
- Associate:
- Tim Michals
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Robert La Bonge
- Camera Operators
- Mark La Bonge
- Mike Chavez
- 2nd Unit:
- Gary Huddleston
- Norman G. Langley
- Michael Frediani
- Visual Effects Supervisor
- Mark Stetson
- Additional Visual Effects Supervision
- Tim McGovern
- Visual Effects Post Producer
- Rochelle Gross
- Visual Effects Post Co-ordinator
- Allison Troxell
- Special Visual Effects/ Digital Animation
- Digital Domain
- Additional Visual Effects
- Hammerhead Productions Inc
- Digital Effects/Animation
- PDI (Pacific Data Images)
- Digital Visual Effects
- Pacific Title/Mirage
- Additional Visual Effects
- Santa Barbara Studios
- Rainmaker Digital Pictures
- Additional Computer Graphics
- Mobility, Inc
- Additional Matte Painting
- Jay Mark Johnson
- Special Effects Producers
- Thomas L. Fisher
- Scott R. Fisher
- Miniature Effects Unit
- Digital Domain
- Art Director
- Bruce Robert Hill
- Set Designers
- Luis Hoyos
- Kristen Pratt
- Lauren Cory
- Domenic Silvestri
- Set Decorator
- Nancy Nye
- Costume Illustrator
- Mariano Diaz
- Conceptual/Production Illustrator
- Rick Buoen
- Sculptor
- Fred Arbegast
- Costume Designer
- Bob Ringwood
- Costume Supervisor
- David Rawley
- Key Make-up
- Gary Liddiard
- Make-up
- Adam Christopher
- Kimberly Felix-Burke
- Dennis Liddiard
- Special Make-up Effects Designer
- Patrick Tatopoulos
- Special Make-up Effects Supervision
- Patrick Tatopoulos Designs Inc
- Key Hair Stylist
- Joy Zapata-Chavez
- Hair Stylists
- Ora Tillman Green
- Robert Stevenson
- Laura Connolly
- Title Sequence Design/Visual Effects
- Gary Gutierrez
- Titles
- Hollywood Title
- Title Opticals
- The Image Resolution
- Additional Music
- Burkhard Dallwitz
- Orchestrations/Conductor
- Steven R. Bernstein
- Music Editors
- Terry Delsing
- Bunny Andrews
- Music Recordist/Mixer
- John Richards
- Additional Mixing
- Michael Farrow
- Programming
- Mark Boccaccio
- Additional Sound Design
- Jim McKee
- Sound Design Editors
- Peter Michael Sullivan
- Rodger Pardee
- Craig Berkey
- Sean Garnhart
- Production Sound Recorders
- Jim Webb
- 2nd Unit:
- Robert Janiger
- Re-recording Mixers
- Greg Watkins
- Greg Orloff
- Melissa Hofmann
- Brad Sherman
- Additional Re-recording Sound Mixers
- Patrick Cyccone Jr
- Paul Massey
- Michael Keller
- Doug Hemphill
- Recordists
- Peter Horner
- Drew Webster
- Eric Flickinger
- Supervising Sound Editors
- Michael Kirchberger
- Mark Stoeckinger
- Jay Wilkinson
- Dialogue Editors
- Paul Carden
- Mark Gordon
- Fred Stahly
- Dave Kulczycki
- Susan Shackelford
- Sound Effects Editors
- Bryan Bowan
- Scott Sanders
- Phil Hess
- Alan Rankin
- Chuck Michael
- ADR
- Supervisors:
- Barney Cabral
- Jerelyn J. Harding
- George Berndt
- Recordists:
- Brian Basham
- Rick Canelli
- Mixers:
- Ron Bedrosian
- Tom O'Connell
- Jeff Gomillion
- Editors:
- Connie Kazmer
- Glenn Morgan
- Nick Korda
- Foley
- Artists:
- Jeffrey Wilhoit
- James Moriana
- Dan O'Connell
- John Cucci
- Recordists:
- Greg Zimmerman
- Linda Lew
- Mixers:
- Nerses Gezalyan
- James Ashwill
- Editors:
- Willard Overstreet
- Gary Mundheim
- Ted Caplan
- Chief Science Consultant
- Dr Jacklyn R. Green
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Allan Graf
- Cast
- James Spader
- Nick Vanzant
- Angela Bassett
- Kaela Evers
- Robert Forster
- A.J. Marley
- Lou Diamond Phillips
- Yerzy Penalosa
- Peter Facinelli
- Karl Larson
- Robin Tunney
- Danika Lund
- Wilson Cruz
- Benj Sotomejor
- Eddy Rice Jr
- Flyboy
- Knox Grantham White
- Troy Larson
- Kerrigan Mahan
- voice of Troy Larson
- Vanessa Marshall
- Sweetie
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- United International Pictures (UK) Ltd
- 8,126 feet
- 90 minutes 18 seconds
- DTS
- Colour by
- DeLuxe
- Super 35 [2.35:1]