AD said:
I think that most people who don't like it, don't have a clue about what it is that dind't like so they lash out.
Don't even try reading Roger Ebert's review of the movie. It's basically him saying "Stanley Kubrick died this week, so
Wing Commander really sucks since its not enough like
2001"
AD said:
There *are* some really odd edits
The movie is very badly edited. You pointed out the worse offender - the fade out between Rosie's death and Angel confronting Maniac. Theres also a couple other things that weren't established enough (Sansky looking at his school photograph, or his injury on the bridge) or were just established badly (Paladin coming out of nowhere to torpedo the Kilrathi ship).
AD said:
The other thing people mention is the direction.
Well, with rare exception, if you don't like the movie - you can blame the director. An example of an exception would be David Lynch's
Dune, where Lynch had a much longer cut (not to be confused with the recent Alan Smithee edit) and the studio jumped in and edited the movie against Lynch's adament wishes (hence the "Alan Smithee" name attached to the extended version). However, no such interference was involved with
Wing Commander. Yes, I blame the scriptwriter more than I'd ever blame Chris Roberts - but the fact of the matter is that Roberts agreed to shoot the script. It all comes back to him.
I think Chris Roberts has a good eye for directing and he knows how to get good performances and a great crew behind him. He just needs a little more work to find his way. Not every director pulls a Terrance Malick and makes a masterpeice on their first feature film.