Cathardincu
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Greenes
Please don't spend money on this.
ChicDragon
It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
Skyler
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
Leofwine_draca
As straight-to-video trash goes, this title isn't bad. It at least has plenty of action going on to stop it from ever becoming boring (probably the biggest sin of all in my book). Sure, the low budget is apparent and the plot is a cheap rip-off of just about any film you care to mention - although particularly the phrase "Die Hard in outer space" springs to mind - but the acting and action is serviceable if not original.In a low budget vehicle, only cheap actors will do, which is where leading man Olivier Gruner comes in. Gruner is the veteran of a whole slew of no-budget sci-fi knock-offs in the late '90s, with generic titles like AUTOMATIC, SAVAGE, and MARS. This is my first exposure to the actor and he comes off quite well as the physical hero, although his character, Raymond Stokes, seems to be lacking a few brain cells here and there. Gruner may not be the most intelligent or charismatic of screen heroes, but he's quite likable in his own way, and fits the bill for this kind of job. Besides you have to like any actor who doesn't take himself entirely seriously (Gruner practises ballet at one amusing point in the film).Elsewhere in the cast, Alicia Coppola plays the female lead, easy on the eye and actually displaying some intellect for a change (she's the one who actually has a clue what to do). Ken Olandt is the bad guy, but he's a) too nice and b) too young to pose that much of a threat. Although the fact that the bad guys actually have personalities and are real people, not just mindless thugs as in so many other films, must give this film some kind of kudos. Eagle-eyed viewers will also spot an ageing Craig Wasson (the lead in De Palma's BODY DOUBLE) popping up early on as Gruner's corrupt superior.Some of the special effects in this film are surprisingly good, even if a little too obviously done with computers. The spaceships look nice and the warp effect is quite impressive, and they even throw in a passable STAR WARS-inspired dogfight between two ships at one point. The action consists in the time-honoured tradition of having the bad guys get picked off one by one by our hero, and the various death scenes are varied and interesting. There are a few gun battles and one (good) physical battle to keep things moving along, as well as lots of lame jokes and dialogue which manages to be funny some of the time. It also has to be said that I didn't see the ending coming, where nobody trusts anybody and the heroes take the cash for themselves. Allover, VELOCITY TRAP is a passable thriller, not inspired or exciting, but fun to watch if you're in the right easygoing mood.
Breck
I have by now resigned myself to the fact that cinematic science fiction is almost always inferior to the written version (witness "Starship Trooper(s)"), but the geniuses who made this monstrosity seem to think that all you need to make a science fiction film are special effects, a formulaic plot, and gobble-de-gook dialog. No actual SCIENCE needs to appear anywhere in the story. This is fantasy, not science fiction. It's no more scientific than "Lord of the Rings" or "Merlin."The writers are also lazy. The story opens in the "Devos 3 System." Normally, this type of nomenclature would mean the third planet from a star called "Devos." There is no star named "Devos," but the writers are apparently too lazy to look up a real star. Later, the story shifts to a "moon" that is "7.5 light years" from Earth. A moon of what planet? A planet around what star? There is no star 7.5 LY from earth. Again, why not just take a minute or two to look up a real star and use that? (Wolf 359 is about 7.75 LY from here.) This film seems to be aimed at underachieving ten-year-olds (most of the ten-year-olds I've met know that explosions can't be heard in a vacuum.) If you don't fit into this narrow demographic, skip this movie. Rent "Battlefield Earth" instead- at least Travolta's travesty can be viewed by adults as unintentional comedy.And if you're looking for real science fiction and not just fantasy, try your local book store.
geoff-29
Don't get me wrong, this is a bad, bad movie, but there are some redeeming qualities. Funny on purpose is the Carmen montage. Funny by accident is the anti-chemistry between Jorja Fox and Ken Olandt, as well as the prop gun that falls apart during a battle (Gruner carries on like nothing happened).I was able to watch it all the way through. In the category of "scifi movies you've never heard of", that's not too shabby.
{goat}
Velocity Trap, is a better than avrg movie. The affects combined with the character acting, pulled off by virtual unknowns, truly carried the movie. Alicia Coppola, who played Beth Sheffield the navigator, performed an outstanding job! She was tough, funny, and believable. In watching this movie I enjoyed the association between characters more than I did the plot.