Review of Enemy Mine

Introduction

In this visually stunning sci-fi adventure, two warriors engaged in a savage, futuristic war between Earth and the planet Dracon, crash-land on a desolate, fiery planet. At first, the human (Dennis Quaid) and his reptilian alien opponent (Louis Gossett Jr.)are intent on destroying each other. But after battling the elements and each other, the two stranded pilots gradually realize that the only way either of them will survive is to overcome their undying hatred...

Ah, from the synopsis above this sounds like a nice 1980s sci-fi flick to enjoy. Or that was what I was hoping as the DVD tray slid into my player and the 20th Century Fox logo appeared. I had no background knowledge or experience of this movie before, so I was hoping for the best. As a little intro, I watched the trailer. Oh dear. When the 2 minutes ended, I thought I was in for a turkey. From the trailer, Enemy Mine looked like it was a tacky Star Wars rival, with mundane action sequences and bad effects. Anyway, I selected `Play Movie` and braced myself for a terrible 102 minutes...

Video

The movie is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, which is good, considering this was made way back in `85. Sure, there are a few glitches on the print (the odd compression sign), but hey, at least they made the effort. The visuals are fairly good throughout, but my major haggle is with the space scenes (unsurprisingly shot outside) - they are too dark and they don`t give enough focus to the action.

As you could have probably guessed, Enemy Mine has a lot of deep space locations, the odd action sequence...but to my pleasant surpise, more than I thought it had. Instead of being a cheap, tacky, sci-fi borefest, Enemy Mine is instead an insight into the power of friendship, and packs a `don`t judge books by their cover` moral. The script, although lacking in places, is a good stab about human emotions and feelings, and how people must adapt to their new surroundings, however harsh they are.

Audio

A DD 5.1 track is on offer, recreating every explosion and whizz of space combat in crisp surround sound. Again, since this was made back in the 1980s, it`s good to see a crisp and clear audio track, and Enemy Mine does deliver. The main audio stream is good, although there is the odd bad patch.

The action starts on a space station (a la Planet of The Apes), and then goes into a claustrophobic space battle, culminating in Dennis Quaid`s character crashing on Fyrine IV. The thing is, the action is never well, action-packed, and it feels as if budget restrictions stopped this battling Star Wars for its space sequences (I`m talking about the original trilogy, as obviously this couldn`t beat the new trilogy`s CGI).

Features

The extras include:

Extended scene
Theatrical trailer
Behind the scenes

The extended scene, for some unknown and puzzling reason, is only availabe with a German soundtrack, so try as I did fiddling with my DVD remote, it would not change to English. I presume this means that for some bizarre reason it is in German, but there is the chance that my player suddenly took some amphetamine which made it go into German, although the main feature and subsequent extras worked fine. Extended it is, although from what I can see, it adds little to the plot.

The trailer is the standard affair, and the so-called `behind the scenes` is a mere collection of 4 (yes, just 4) photo stills. A great insight indeed!

Conclusion

Enemy Mine has more substance than I thought it would have, and although it does contain some good points and a well-structured plot, it does lack in some key area. For one, Douglas Quaid`s character is not explored enough, there is no information supplied on him, he`s just there because he has to be there. Secondly, as mentioned before, the action also lacks, partially due to the choroeography. And lastly, Enemy Mine is showing its age, as the lacklustre effects don`t increase your viewing pleasure.

For all of its misgivings, there is a good movie buried within, and Quaid does give a fairly good performance as the stranded soldier.

Disc wise, it`s nice to see 20th Century Fox giving a movie from 1985 a chance, but the extras do need some work, as I`m sure the movie does have a following of some kind. The main theme throughout the review is that the movie (and disc) does put some effort in, but when push comes to shove, it lacks the punch to be a re-watchable movie. Original in some areas, dull in others. A pity.