

SUPERNOVA
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****):  * 1/2

"Here we are, caught in the gravitational pull of a blue giant, and all
you can think about is sex," Troy Larson (Peter Facinelli) says to
Danika Lund (Robin Tunney).  Amazingly, sex is indeed the theme of
SUPERNOVA, an incorrectly rated PG-13 science fiction film.  Laced with
frequent nudity and scenes of floating naked bodies having sex, the
movie cries out to be rated R.  Given the show's theme and its rating
one can expect lots of kids under 13 to see it, as there were in my
audience.

Originally directed by Walter Hill (48 HRS.), who reportedly asked to
have his name removed after the studio recut his movie, the film now
lists Thomas Lee, Walter Hill's pseudonym, as the director.  With acting
this lethargic, it's quite difficult, however, to see how editing could
do much to change the quality of the picture for the better or the
worse.  (The studio decided to run it without the normal advanced
screening for critics so that no reviews could appear until after it
opened.)

In this rehash of dozens of other science fiction films, the medical
rescue vessel Nightingale is answering a distress signal from a
supposedly abandoned mine.  The mine is on a moon that is so far off
that the ship has to make a dimensional jump, sort of a leap through
hyperspace, to get there.  What is the one thing necessary to accomplish
such a jump?  Nudity, of course.  The men and women of the crew get
naked together before tucking themselves into their snug little
Plexiglas beds.  Think of all of the fun that the Millennium Falcon's
crew has been missing.

On board this fearless space ambulance are A.J. Marley (Robert Forster),
Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett), Nick Vanzant (James Spader), Yerzy
Penalosa (Lou Diamond Phillips), Benj Sotomejor (Wilson Cruz) and
Danika.  Troy is a mysterious stranger that they pick up from the mine.
Troy's despicable father, Karl, once dated Kaela.  Small universe, huh?

Troy has brought with him a glimmering object in the shape of a lava
lamp.  Featuring nothing less than "ninth dimension matter," this mean
little piece of plasma is -- surprise! -- trouble.  Like the rest of the
special effects in the film, which rely heavily on flashing lights and
fog to create the atmospherics, the look of this devilish substance is
cheap.  But given the 10 minutes of credits at the end of the picture to
the film's technical teams, one suspects that lots of the studio's money
was wasted in the creation of these lame effects.

"The only real sin is regret," Troy tells Danika, as a sexual come-on.
One suspects that most of the people associated with this film will be
filled with regret that they ever had anything to do with it.  Only
briefly as a guilty pleasure for adults does the picture have anything
to recommend it.

SUPERNOVA runs 1:25.  It is rated PG-13 for sex, nudity and violence.
It would be acceptable for older teenagers.

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