Rent Lost in Space (1998)

Disappointing SciFi - Lost in Space review by GI

This attempt to reboot the iconic 60s TV series with a three film series failed despite it looking rather good and with a topnotch cast including William Hurt, Gary Oldman, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Jared Harris and Matt LeBlanc. The main reason is a poor story that tries to cram in too many storylines without really getting to the depths of any of them. The film's prologue is ill-conceived with an attempt at a Star Wars vibe and this could have been ditched. It looks like a video game scenario and is relatively pointless. There was also a silly alien monkey thing, which not only looks like a rubberised drawing its presence is entirely pointless too. If the story had focused on a space exploration narrative albeit with the added tension of being lost this could have been a great science fiction film and the sequels would possibly have followed. What we do have is a weak film that lacks the depth and gravitas of others of this period. A shame as rekindling the main idea of the TV series was a good one especially upgraded to a cinematic film (even the later TV series reboot lost its way!). Anyway here we have a future Earth dying and a mission led by John Robinson (Hurt) is off into space to confirm a planet is habitable for humans. He has his family with him and a miltary gung-ho pilot (Leblanc, not totally convincing in an action hero role). A terrorist ends up stuck on board (Oldman) and through his actions the ship ends up lost in space and they then get involved with an abandoned space ship, a desolate planet and some time warp issues. The cameos by various actors from the 60s TV series pop up and Edward Fox has one too. Overall this is a disappointment despite some interesting visuals and a couple of exciting set pieces. A new Lost In Space film would potentially be a good idea if the right story can be told sadly this just isn't it.