by Curtis Edmonds -- blueduck@hsbr.org
It wasn't all that long ago, you'll remember, when they announced the casting for The Bonfire of the Vanities. Those of us who were fans of the Tom Wolfe novel cringed: Tom Hanks as Sherman McCoy? It was clear to me, at least, that William Hurt was the best choice -- the only logical choice -- to play the part of the antihero stockbroker. Fortunately, the casting gods were on watch when Hurt was cast in the Macon Leary part in The Accidental Tourist, two years prior.
I mention this to say that casting is hard. I realize that. But it doesn't take a casting god to see that Lost in Space would be a much, much better movie with someone else as Professor Robinson instead of William Hurt, someone who wasn't as good of an actor, someone who could contribute to the movie's high-camp style. Lost in Space is not a William Hurt movie, it's a Matt LeBlanc movie -- nonserious and superficial. By casting the serious and laconic Hurt in the lead, the movie makers do Hurt and themselves a disservice.
Hurt is not the only thing wrong with Lost in Space, but he's a good starting point. I can see William Hurt in an intelligent, well scripted movie about space travel -- like Contact, let's say. Unfortunately, that's not what Lost in Space is. This is a strictly for fun movie -- a silly, over-the-top sci-fi effects fest, with very little in the way of plot or storyline or coherence. The movie is at its best when it's at its dippiest -- when the crew is fighting evil mechanical spiders or hurtling through hyperspace. Most of the performances add to the overall silliness: Lacy Chabert as a pouting teenager, LeBlanc as the gung-ho Tom Cruise wannabe fighter pilot, Gary Oldman as the cowardly-yet-evil Dr. Smith. All these people are guilty of overacting, yes, but at least they've picked a movie where overacting is an asset rather than a problem. LeBlanc is a great deal more entertaining in his meaty part than anyone had a right to expect, and Oldman is creepily effective as Dr. Smith. (The other two main actors, Mimi Rogers and the luminous Heather Graham, have characters that are so underwritten that they don't get a chance to overact.)
The problem with Lost in Space is that it's not consistenly silly. The plot is simple enough: Robinson family gets lost in space and encounters wacky adventures. But apparently the scriptwriter felt guilty about writing such silliness and decided to add some depth -- exploring the relationship of Hurt's Professor Robinson character to his dead father and brilliant son. There's entirely too much time spent on these irrelevant subplots and not enough time on action and wackiness. And the action and wackiness sort of bog down in the last reel as it is, as the plot throws in some meaningless mumbo-jumbo about time travel.
The last thing we see in Lost in Space (before the horrid seizure-inducing end credits, the worst thing about the movie) is the image of eight-year old Will Robinson on the bridge of the Jupiter 2 saying, "Cool." Lost in Space works when it's cool, when it speaks to the inner eight-year-old in all of us that likes explosions and mechanical spiders and eye candy. I know it sounds weird to be criticizing a movie for not being completely superficial and mindless, but there you go. Lost in Space is Dumb, but it should be Dumber.
Rating: B-
Stephen Graham wrote:
> >thanks -- btw, did you get my review of Lost in Space? It wasn't ever > >posted, and I've been having some email problems... > > Don't recall seeing it but I'll have to check my index. > > Stephen
-- Curtis Edmonds blueduck@hsbr.org
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