Stranded is a sci-fi type thriller starring Christian Slater, Amy Matysio, Michael Therriault, and Brendan Fehr as four astronauts in space on a mineral expedition on the moon. Looking around the web, I have noticed that very few people actually liked this movie at all. Is it really that bad? I didn't think so. Don't get me wrong, it's not a great film at all- but it certainly deserves a better reception than it's been getting.
The four astronauts are Gerard, Ava, Bruce, and Lance, played by the four actors I named above respectively. One night while on their moon mission, a meteor shower strikes their base and causes quite a bit of a damage- enough to allow carbon monoxide to infiltrate certain areas of the base. Ava tries to fix the problem but can't, but she retrieves a portion of the meteor and realizes that there is a spore attached to it. While examining the spore, she cuts herself, allowing it to get inside of her. She rapidly becomes pregnant and gives birth to a baby alien life form that has no DNA yet. To change that, it bites Bruce when he's not looking and thus obtains some of his DNA. The alien begins to take Bruce's form as it replicates his DNA. The crew must fight to survive against this alien being and make sure the damage from the meteor shower doesn't cause carbon monoxide to infiltrate the base to a serious extent.
I thought the premise for this movie was actually pretty brilliant. The idea of some alien life form not having DNA but obtaining some from a human and replicating it to take a human form is actually pretty creative. As Ava said, the alien is actually smart because apparently it knew that males are the dominant species so that's the form it decided to take. Nonetheless, until that actually happens halfway into the film, the plot is a little drawn out and boring. The baby alien with no DNA simply stalks around the ship after Ava gives birth to it and it doesn't really do anything. Also, the other crew members (besides Bruce of course since he was bitten) do not believe what Ava saw was real. They think she is suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning. But then how do you explain her no longer being pregnant?? Apparently she is telling the truth! There are other stupid moments like this throughout the movie. For example, Bruce is the first to die and when the Lance, the doctor, walks in to find his dead body with blood spattered all over the place, he doesn't react really, no screaming, no shock at all. He simply puts a blanket over the corpse and pretty much just says, "oh well."
Capitalizing on what I said to finish off the last paragraph, the acting was okay. I thought Amy Matysio did a nice job playing Ava, as she acted frightened and emotional when she needed to. Everyone else was alright I guess. Christian Slater was a little over the top with following all the rules and regulations. Besides him, Michael Therriault did a nice job playing Bruce. After Bruce gets bitten, he tries to convince the others that there is something else in the base with them but they don't believe him. Thus, he starts going insane. Therriault did a nice job of playing this role and showing that he was going mad and frankly it was fun to watch the progression of Bruce's insanity as the alien continues to stalk him before ultimately killing him.
Besides the first half of the movie being a bit dull, the second half was better. It was more interesting after the alien took Bruce's form. He finally reveals himself and now the others have to try to escape. This is where the suspense grows. Was I captivated? No. But I was interested. The ending leaves room for a sequel as well!
As for character development, in the first half of the film Gerard is pretty much an ass and a control freak. He isolates Ava even after she saves their lives in the beginning and treats her like a lab rat. However, when he realizes they are really in trouble, he works together with Ava to try and get out alive. In addition, Ava doesn't seek revenge on him for treating her horribly earlier, which makes her behavior admirable as well.
The setting was cool too. The alien moves throughout the air shafts to stalk and hunt the four astronauts throughout the base. There are plenty of places for him to hide. Are there good kill scenes in this movie? There's two and they are pretty gory. So I was pleased; the special effects were gratifying. So minus the hoaky acting and the plot going dull in the beginning, the second half holds interest enough to make this film worth watching. Would I go out of my way to view it? Probably not. But if you have some free time and you like good sci-fi films, you might want to give this one a shot. You might be impressed! It was more than I expected based on everything I was seeing about it.
BaD BiRdS: GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
~MJ Aufiero
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