Lest this thread turn into a "bash-the-movie" fest, I will put out a warning. That said, there's always room for honest discussion, as long as it doesn't degrade into needless "I hate the movie" or " the movie sucks" type posts. If you (generic you) don't like the movie, that's fine. A lot of people don't. That doesn't somehow make you special. If you have some sound thoughts on why though, Inteligent discussion is very much welcomed.
I was disappointed by the WC movie, but strangely enough it had nothing to do with Freddie Prinze Jr or Matthew Lillard (I actually think they played their rolls well). The whole Pilgrim thing I thought was interesting, but never properly exploited (seems like it was thrown in as more of an afterthought, or for sequel preparation).
People pick up on the pilgrim thing constantly, and I can understand it to a point. We only really ever see half of what was intended with all the pilgrim hate. All the missing traitor scenes were supposed to be the payoff and without it I can see how it might feel tacked on just to put some kind of conflict between Blair and the other crew.
Keeping the Kilrathi sparse on screen time angered alot of people, but I didn't think it was such a bad idea because it hearkened back to the design of WC1 (the Kilrathi were almost never seen expect to taunt you in combat, and a couple of cut scenes). I do wish though that the Terrans and Cats threw some taunts at each other during combat though.
Origially there would have been more kilrathi scenes including an extended combat sequence on the Concom. However, I don't think people's complaints were that we didn't see them enough as much as that they didn't like how they turned out looks-wise. The design was good in theory but just didn't work right when they were translated to practical effects. They were too big and didn't move right.
The downsides were:
1) The movie confused the hell out of me, not in the plot itself, but more to do with the time the movie took place. At first it seemed like it was going to be set just before WC1 with Maverick and Maniac arriving on the Claw for the first time. Then "Bossman" gets killed and I thought it was supposed to be set during "SM2: Crusade." After that I passed it off as a separate "movie continuity" like Resident Evil.
I think the film needs to be set where it was. From a fan perspective I don't get the gripes here either. In most peoples minds Wing Commander is Blair's story and if you are going after a film audience you pretty much need to start at the begining. THe only other real option (that would potentialy have divided fans more) would be to go back to the start of the war with different main characters, with possibly a young Tolwyn and Paladin showing up.
The movie as-is is the story of Blair and Maniacs first days on the Tiger's Claw. It's nothing more. There's a few things that might have been nice from a fan standpoint to have clarified but there's literally nothing more detrimental to the continuity than was introduced by WC4 or the switch to live action in WC3. There's a number of ways to explain how Bossman can possibly still be alive weeks later when the Vega Campaign is underway. I ask you this: If Bossman is dead, how did they get his fighter back intact? It might have been better not to have to ask the question at all but it in no way somehow ruins everything.
It's a matter of principle that the movies events *are* canon. This has nothing to do with how much we like or hate the movie or how well it did at the box-office. The facts are that things change looks from game to game and it did with the movie too.
2) The design of the ships. I went in expecting to see familiar Wing Commander starfighters and capships rendered on the big screen. I found the movie designs to be bland and not very appealing.
They purposfully took all the WW2 movie clichés and translated them to a space setting. That's why the Rapier's gun is supposed to be reminicent of big prop motored WW2 fighters. While I don't necessarily like the rapier's design, I think it works as intended and I think it does what the movie needs. It's supposed to look more utilitarian than sleek. Plus it isn't the same design as the game rapier anyway. It's a different older fighter, per the handbook.
I think the worst thing is that many of the cons were completely unnecessary. The time setting could have been easily avoided by placing it between "SM2" and "WC2." Personally I think it would have been nice to see the events that lead up to the Tigers Claw's failed strike on K'tithrak Mang.
On the Terran side there would be talk of the general war and flashbacks to the success in Vega, and talk about the new Firekkan allies.
On the Kilrathi side they could have showed the aftermath of loosing the Sivar and the fall out from the interrupted Sivar-Eshrad ceremony. Thrakhath's furry and hatred of the pilots of the Tigers Claw and his scheming to destroy them, and how it lead to the development of the stealth technology would have been great.
The last scenes of the movie could have been Blair's patrol assignment and return to see the the Claw ripped apart by Strakha, then Blair getting rescued, and his subsequent court marshal where nobody believes him, but can't prove him a traitor.
That all sounds fine for a sequel.
Anyway, the short version is I expected a lot of the WC movie (especially since it was directed by Chris Roberts), but in the end it felt to me like another Hollywood hack job. Just some big wigs attempting to cash in on the Wing Commander franchise without properly respecting the source material. Maybe someday Wing Commander will get the great big screen treatment it deserves, or maybe someone will make a squeal to this one that is both interesting and sorts out the plot questions of this movie.
Well, it
*was* hacked to bits... Chris may have done it but I question what kind of direction the producers must have given him regarding removing the traitor subplot. Plus, why do people continue to listen to Test Audiences?
The script could definitely have used some tightening though. The first draft was very Star Wars-ish with Palading talking like he was channeling Obi-wan. Thankfully it got away from that somewhat in subsequent drafts but there should have been at least one more draft (in my opinion) to improve some of the dialogue. Plus the denouement goes on too long after the Concom raid... This gets even more obvious without the traitor subplot. The removal of the films climax moves the climax to the kilrathi fleet jumping in one ship at a time.. . Kind of anticlimatic. Whoopee.
I'd really like it if someday Chris manages to get the five million he wants to go back and finish the longer version of the movie. THat way we get to see what was really intended.
From there I'd love another WC movie. I don't see it happening soon though.
