CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Wyatt
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Staci Frederick
Blistering performances.
baronphoenix-924-133416
This is obviously a very low-budget independent film, but it's orders of magnitude better than most movies of its type. The story is pretty cliché, but solidly told; the actors are good (not great, but good) and the SFX are respectable for the era and budget. Pentan (the lead character) is an artificial human who wants to be free. Her escape from the rat race is far more difficult that yours or mine, but her motivation is stronger. Most of us are wage slaves, she is a real slave, and I was rooting for her from the start. I didn't like the fact that the antagonists are pure blackguards – they never waver nor question their own motives – they are driven by profit and refuse to give an inch. I can't say there are any surprises in this video, except that it's better than you might expect, and I'd like to see what it would look like with a decent budget and top grade actors.
hocfocprod
I happen to like miniature F/X when done well and while this movie sort of tips its hand that you're looking at miniatures, I liked the overall visual feel. I think some of the F/X were probably handled with very early CG mixed in (if anyone knows I'd be interested to know). There are some decent "dog fights" between the spaceships and a few good action sequences.Overall, where the movie's lower budget showed through in my mind, was with the audio and acting. The one thing that can'e be chalked up to it having been done over 20 years ago is the acting. At times it just screams "B-movie!", but as another reviewer said, that adds to the charm. If you like older sci-fi and movies with their own stylized atmosphere, you'll probably enjoy this film.
macmillan-3
At first glance one might think this is going to be just a cheap SF B-movie, but if one considers how it was made (practically "in the backyard"), it is simply fantastic. A lot of care went into the production, even with the very limited constraints these independent filmmakers were working in, and one can notice this.One thing: this is not a movie of the "Spielberg-Lucas-etc.-Roller-Coaster-Ride-with Special-Effects"-kind, so if you expect something of that sort, you will be disappointed. Though it comes with an action-style plot, this is almost a quiet movie - which is one of its charms, if one can appreciate that.The story, about an female android seeking freedom and teaming up with a space pilot to find a lost alien spaceship, battling an evil corporation on the way, is no big deal, but quite nicely done, human and believable in its context - more than can be said about some multi-million-dollar-productions. The acting sometimes is a bit on the heavy side, but strangely this somehow adds to the atmosphere this film manages to produce (rare in a SF-Film nowadays), and even helps in creating a sense of wonder, which you wouldn't expect in a movie on that budget ... The special effects are done with miniatures and they are in in their way almost stylish, so that you know you're looking at models but you don't care; one can admire what has been done here with a extremely tiny budget and how the filmmakers even managed to achieve a certain visual consistency in their film. I bought this video by chance, not expecting much, and now find that I've seen it several times already and will continue to see it again from time to time, because in its own unpretentious, not-quite-professional way it manages to take me into another world of infinite possibilities, and what more could one ask from an SF-movie?
romlc475
My friend Kevin was the stunt coordinator for the film, so I lucked into being invited into town for the Kennedy Center premier of this film. I had read a copy of the shooting script (back when the title was still PENTAN) and had visited the sets on an "open house" night for some of the sets. I was wholeheartedly intrigued with what I was hoping would be a great low-budget SciFi film. What I saw on the silver screen was what could have been a great pitch film for a bigger budget release, but with much of the miniature effects very poorly done, the film was doomed. With the advent of digital filming and home-grown CGI, I'd love to see this film remade. The story had great potential, but alas not the budget to grow beyond a low-grade B-movie. With a little polishing on the script, it would have made a great multi-part episode for a show like the Outer Limits or some other SciFi anthology...even a 4-hr miniseries.