Dark Star
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Movie Reviews of Dark Star
Movie Review: Don't give me any of that intelligent life crap, just give me something I can blow up
Summary: 5 Stars
For the first 20-25 minutes of Dark Star, I sat here thinking this could well be one of the most awful science fiction movies of all time. By the end, though, my tune had changed rather drastically. I would say the film is brilliantly funny despite its treasure trove of bad movie qualities. It is definitely uniquely absurd, the rare science fiction black comedy that actually manages to deliver. Undoubtedly, some viewers will label Dark Star a disaster and wonder how anyone could like a single thing about it. If you appreciate droll humor and are willing to conform your own thinking to that of the film (rather than waiting for it to conform to your expectations), you're liable to be in for a most unusual treat here. In case you haven't noticed, this is indeed a John Carpenter film. Carpenter co-wrote (along with Dan O'Bannon), directed, and produced it. Don't be expecting a Hollywood theatrical production, though. Dark Star is by and large a student film brought to life by Carpenter and O'Bannon. It was later picked up for a theatrical release (for which an additional 15 minutes or so of action was filmed and added), but the whole movie was made on the smallest of budgets. Some of the special effects aren't bad at all, surprisingly enough, but there's no mistaking the fact that Carpenter and company had to make due as best they could in scene after scene.
Here's the premise. It's the future, and the crew members of the Dark Star have been sent out on an extraordinarily long mission to blow an array of unstable planets throughout the galaxy to smithereens. I'm not sure these guys were perfectly sane to begin with, but twenty years in space, trapped inside a cramped spaceship, have definitely taken a toll on each of them. Now the ship's captain (and all of the toilet paper on board) have been lost to an unfortunate radioactive leak (but let's just say Commander Powell is gone but not forgotten in the deep freeze unit), and Lt. "Just give me something to bomb" Doolittle has taken command. Sgt. Pinback (Dan O'Bannon) - who may or may not be a real astronaut to begin with - isn't too happy about this, but his concerns are predominantly voiced in a series of insane video journal entries. The only thing Boiler (Cal Kuniholm) really seems to care about is trimming his facial hair, and Talby (Dre Pahich) has isolated himself in the ship's observation bubble. There is also a pet alien on board - basically a beach ball with hands - and its escape from its room leads to all kinds of trouble (not to mention one of the longest, most comically absurd sequences you're ever likely to see involving Pinback and an elevator shaft). Bomb Number 20 keeps getting lowered from its bay and prepped for launch and detonation, which wouldn't be such a bad thing if the bomb weren't harder and harder to convince that it's responding to faulty signals. Yes, the bombs on board the Dark Star are sentient, and Mother (the ship's computer) has a heck of a time talking the cheerfully gung ho Bomb Number 20 back into its bay each time it is wrongfully triggered. In fact, as the film reaches its climax, Doolittle himself has to personally engage the bomb in a profound existential debate in an attempt to save the lives of everyone onboard.
With almost no budget to speak of and some highly questionable acting, Dark Star is a film that some will equate with spiritual purgatory, but those with an appreciation for dark comedy will find themselves completely won over by this unique film project, which I would describe as a student film with aspirations of kooky grandeur. If you're like me, you'll want to watch this film again and again - but you might have trouble convincing any of your friends to do the same. I think Dark Star is bloody brilliant.
Movie Review: Dark Star - Absurdity at its finest
Summary: 5 Stars
I think some people are missing the point of Dark Star -- the plot point most often repeated is that these guys are in search of "unstable planets" to destroy in order to preclude colonization. But the unspoken truth is that their criteria for selecting the supposedly "unstable" planets set for destruction is incredibly thin. The result is that these four extremely bored, long-suffering (twenty years in space) bureacratic-type hippies are actually selecting perfectly fine planets, each one probably supporting life, and marking them for destruction -- mainly because they were sent on the mission with a total of twenty interstellar bombs, and they will be allowed to return home after all twenty bombs have been used to destroy planets. So basically, they're just in a hurry to get it done and go home. The movie picks up around bomb number 19, and the final bomb #20 is the one that decides to blow itself up in the bomb bay, due to the alien's tampering with the computer system.
This whole concept of four spaced out dudes travelling around the galaxy looking for perfectly good planets to destroy, for virtually no purpose besides destruction for destruction's sake, is, I think, the main driver of the absurdity of the movie, and is the main point of the underlying commentary being made by the filmmakers. Compare this to the corporate greed in Cameron's Avatar resulting in the destruction of the Navee, or the corporate bloodthirstiness later displayed in the Weyland-Utani corporation's search for the highly destructive life forms in the Alien series.
Also not being noticed by many on this forum: while it has been said that Dark Star is a 2001 parody, there is one scenario where the beachball (alien) traps Pinback in the elevator, which is resolved with a direct parody of the sequence in 2001 where commander Bowman lets himself into the Discovery using the explosive bolts. In the case of Dark Star, it's Pinback, fat stomach stuck in the tiny elevator hatch, who uses the explosive bolts to eject himself from the non-functional elevator, his anger towards the alien imitating Bowmans determination to shut down Hal 9000 after releasing himself from being imprisoned in the pod with no space helmet. The elevator sequence in Dark Star has to be one of the most technically advanced and effective scenes ever designed. It's also funnier than sh&t!
For me one of the other funnier sections of this movie is Pinback's video diary in which he claims -- whether as a schizophrenic delusion, deliberate falsification, or perhaps even personal truth, we never really find out which -- to not actually be Pinback, but a lab technician who was mistaken for Pinback and accidentally launched into space on the mission. Dan O'Bannon's Pinback characterization is almost Firesign Theatre material (for those of you that are familiar with that popular 60s/70s progressive comedy troupe!)
Another hilarious scene worth mentioning is when Boiler, arguably the most macho of the bunch, reaches his limit of sanity, and decides to use the ship's laser for target practice on some metal plates, right inside the ship! Pinback realises this could kill everyone if the laster pierces the hull and the two of them get into a wrestling match over the laser. Pricelessly absurd and over-the-top!
At any rate, this is a fine, fine funny movie. Definitely check it out if you like Science Fiction, comedy, 2001, and absurd humour.
Movie Review: Cheepnis
Summary: 5 Stars
Four seventies style burn outs roam the galaxy in what seems like a weaponized version of a Volkswagen bus searching for unstable planets. Their government mission to destroy these planets with the help of a HAL style computer (undoubtedly running MS) and artificially intelligent bombs.
Anyone remembering the cartoon Colonel Bleep might appreciate Dark Star for the same reason Frank Zappa might have enjoyed it... cheepnis. Dark Star drips cheepnis from the special effects to the choice of monster (pet actually).
The attitude taken by every facet of artificial intelligence (you can't have self realization without attitude) is similar to that of bureaucrats throughout the centuries and typical of today's corpopath. It's very difficult to argue with artificial intelligence as anyone ever having dealt with a government employee can tell you. When you're in space no one can hear you scream... or curse. Easily as disorganized and unaccountable (even to itself) as any 'official' operation Dark Star's mission should be a belly laugh for anyone ever having to argue with an automatic banking machine for their money or otherwise discuss reality with an electronic entity.
The biological intelligences consist of:
Boder - disinterested, self obsessed Texan style narcissist
Pinback - insecure and friendless, overweight, neurotic, arrested adolescent
Doolittle - lieutenant leader who spends time reminiscing his surfing day in Malibu
Talby - reclusive, philosophical observations/navigational officer
pet alien - mischievous beach ball with claws
The discussion with the smart bomb regarding Phenomenology is priceless.
"What is the one purpose in life?"
"To explode of course!"
If computers and artificial intelligence ever discover religion and decide to become born again we're in very serious trouble.
Movie Review: Early Brilliance
Summary: 5 Stars
Much like George Lucas' THX-1138, Dark Star had its beginnings as a film school project which was later expanded into a full-length movie with the help of later investors. However, while Lucas became far less serious when he started working with big budgets, the opposite phenonmenon occured with Dark Star's creators Dan O'Bannon (later scripter of such hits as Alien and The Abyss) and John Carpenter (later director of such hits as The Thing and Halloween). In fact, Dark Star often seems to make fun of elements found in Carpenter and O'Bannon's later works, as if they knew what directions they would later be taking and decided to parody themselves before anyone else got the chance. For example, there's an alien that looks like a blown-up beachball bouncing around the ship and causing trouble, providing a very silly alternative to the insect in Alien. Of course, other classics are billiantly parodied in this movie as well, especially 2001 with its out of control, intelligent computer and in the scene of astronauts floating off into space. Much like Monty Python, the humour works on many levels. In addition to slapstick, you get rather intelligent and philosophical humour. Not all of it works, but there are enough hits to make up for all the misses.
Given the original budget of the film, don't expect a visual spectacular. Comparing Dark Star to the creators' later works is like comparing Lord of the Rings to Peter Jackson's first film, Bad Taste. This first film has a sort of roughness and lack of polish to it which really emphasizes its moments of brilliance. Too bad the film isn't longer.
Movie Review: Hippie-era humor at its finest
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw "Dark Star" at a mid-1970s sci-fi convention, not long after it had come out. I was a kid back then, but I was instantly hooked, and 30+ years later I still appreciate the intelligence and mordant, dark humor of the script. The film is decidedly anti-establishment, with a crew of shaggy, longhaired astronauts working as science grunts for an expanding galactic empire, blowing up "unstable" planets to clear a path for colonization.
Although people often compare it to "Star Wars" (which came out a few years later), "Dark Star" is much more a precursor of the "Aliens" series, in which everyday people work for and chafe against vast, anonymous, amoral bureaucracies. As in the "Aliens" films, the crew of the Dark Star live in a cramped, sweaty, claustrophobic environs, where the vacuum of space is filled with frustration and paranoia. The confrontation with the damaged, sentient thermonuclear explosive recalls, of course, HAL in Stanley Kubrick's "2001," but whereas "2001" was a very serious film, with Kubrick seeking to blow people's minds with his kaleidoscopic filmmaking, "Dark Star" is a satire, tempered by dark comedy and outright farce. It's a very funny, very intelligent film, definitely worth picking up! (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)