MILLENNIUM
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This adaptation of John Varley's short
story "Air Raid" is downbeat and surprisingly cliched. This
is a minor film with a 1960s matinee sort of feel, in spite
of a little interesting time paradox plotting. Rating: low
0.
MILLENNIUM is one of those film projects that seem to take forever to come to fruition; then the fruit turns out to be a lemon. I happen to like some lemons but they are not to everybody's taste. Years ago, there were rumors that somebody was going to base a film either on John Varley's novel MILLENNIUM or the short story the novel was expanded from, "Air Raid." Well, it came out finally based on the latter but named for the former. Varley himself is credited with the screenwriting, though it should be noted that screen credit is dubious. As far as I know Varley has no experience screenwriting and the script is really very different from the short story. And rather than the accomplished and creative story-telling of a popular science fiction, MILLENNIUM has more the feel of mediocre matinee science fiction films of the 1960s and in particular Ib Melchior's THE TIME TRAVELERS.
[Minor spoilers follow, but no worse than were in the coming attraction.] This downbeat science fiction film starts with a spectacular collision of two airliners and the resulting crash. Enjoy the special effect. It is the only one in the film both ambitious and convincing. Bill Smith is the bland name of the even blander Federal agent sent to investigate the crash. Smith is played by a bland Kris Kristofferson. Smith runs into the chain-smoking Louise Baltimore (played by Cheryl Ladd). Baltimore is not exactly what she seems to be. Instead she is a visitor from a thousand years in the far future where she wears a punk hairdo distressingly like what you are already starting to see in New York City. Baltimore is on a mission involving air disasters. Just what she is doing is part of the mystery.
The script for MILLENNIUM needs some clarification. There is an apparently unintentional ambiguity in the story-telling. The script clearly tries to clarify which interpretation is correct, but does so inconclusively and unclearly. With the exception of a few half-hearted humorous moments, the writing is all very downbeat and at the same time hokey. The film's vision of the future is as hopeless as it is hopelessly unconvincing. The film returns to 1960s science fiction film conventions such as having a convenient scientist along to explain the idea of the film. Then there is an attempted love interest between two stars as animated as a Ken and Barbie doll and whose love is just about as interesting to the audience. Some of the time paradox play does work; some comes off as really stupid. In short, MILLENNIUM is easily better than some other adaptations of real science fiction stories--films such as NIGHTFALL and NIGHTFLYERS--but it is far from being a winner. I rate it a low 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
att!mtgzx!leeper
leeper@mtgzx.att.com
Copyright 1989 Mark R. Leeper
.
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