Totally Biased Fan Review:

Overall, I was pleasantly suprised by this film. After seeing the 3.2 (out of 10) rating on imdb.com and reading the scathing reviews my expectations were pretty low. I enjoyed the subplot involving Mike's (Corin) journey through the desert to try to reunite with his father and grandfather. Along the way he joins up with Travis (Jack Palance), a half-crazy desert dweller straight out of a Mad Max movie. This portion of the film was reasonably well-written and entertaining.

The real weakness in this picture is the convoluted plot involving the mission to the sun and the evil machinations of IXL Corp. The scenes with credible suspense and excitement don't quite make up for the lack of character development and poorly explained motivation of the villian. With the exception of the three actors listed below, the rest of cast offered less than stellar performances. Either they're freaking out unconvincingly (bad overacting) or are so blase you wonder if they just took a massive dose of Xanax.

Corin was 18 or 19 when he acted in this film and he stands out despite being a part of large ensemble cast. His only screen competition comes from Heston and Palance (legendary actors who had plenty of experience trying to turn turds into gold prior to this project).

The Good:

• Great special effects - some sequences compare to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Richard Edlund was nominated for a Saturn Award for the special effects on this film.
• Charlton Heston kicks a guy's ass in a bar and says "Dammit" with that Heston delivery.
• Jack Palance is awesome.
• Corin's performance is solid and he was having a good hair month.

The Bad:

• Cheesy dialog.
• How many times can things on a spaceship break? Tedious.
• I know sex sells, so if a guy was reviewing this he's probably list the Bio-gene woman's shower scene as a plus. However, repeated FLASHBACKS to the scenes where she's nekkid are pretty gratutious and indicate a desperate attempt to spice this thing up.
• Teaque's henchman (the hilarity of his Billy Idol haircut killed any menace).
• A lot of absurd science that will piss off nerdy types.

The Ugly:

• Film was disowned by Director Richard C. Sarafian - hence the Alan Smithee* director credit.
• The climax of the film is very abrupt with special effects that are crappy compared to the rest of the movie. Its almost like they ran out of money and hired some 12 year old with a Commodore Amiga to patch together this scene and the title credits.

Recommendation:

Stargate SG-1 and sci-fi fans will probably enjoy this one. Solar Crisis is not the terrible film some say... just a lot less than it could have been considering its $55 million budget! Definitely add it to your Netflix queue. The combination of Corin with Heston and Palance was enough for me to spend $10 to buy the DVD.

* Alan Smithee (also Allen Smithee) is an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968.