The movie? I thought it was pretty funny at times especially for a Sci Fi movie. "If you're looking for something COMPLETELY different to watch, then Dark Star might just be the film for you! Made in 1974 by John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon as their senior film school project, Dark Star eventually got noticed by some key people in Hollwood. After a bit of grooming (an extra 15 minutes was shot and added to the original 68 minute length), it was released to the public where it has established many cult followings over the past three decades. Created as a tongue-in-cheek homage to Stanley Kubrick's 2001, Dark Star follows the adventures...or lack thereof...of four astronauts who are entering the 20th year of their mission to seek out systems with unstable planets and blow them up. There was a fifth astronaut (their captain) but he was killed in an accident that fried him as well as the ships entire stock of toilet paper. You quickly learn that this is a job that even the Maytag repair guy couldn't handle. In the twenty years they've been out in space without a single trip home, they've only managed to find and blow up 19 planets which means they only work about one day a year. The rest of the time they just goof off. And even on the rare occasion they do get to work blowing up a planet, it takes little time and the work is mostly done by the intelligent and obedient (mostly) bombs they deploy. You might think that this could drive a person stir crazy and...you'd be right. This is where Carpenter and O'Bannon won me over, however. Seeing the crew picking at each other and slowly going bonkers is priceless. There is also an alien life form to be dealt with. No, it's not intelligent...at least not overly so; it's just a pet that one of the crew members brought on board. If you've ever owned a dog or cat, much of the extended scene with the alien will ring very true to you. Many have described Dark Star as being a movie about "Hippies in Space". To some extent, that's right on the mark. They all have long hair and beards and some of them are quite...far out, dude. But the crew aren't truly hippies. They're really just normal guys stuck on a ship with no toilet paper, no razors (apparently) and a LOT of free time on their hands. To get a glimpse into the earliest work by two of my favorite guys in Hollywood is a real treat, but for it to be this good is a bonus. As a film school project, they had virtually NO budget for the movie, but they pull off some VERY impressive special effects given what little money they had as well as the lack of technology in the early 70's. My only real dings on the movie are minor but, collectively, they do keep the movie from getting that fifth star. Firstly, the acting is not all that great. But in a comedy, that's not overly important. Also, the effects, while impressive for the time & budget, do get cheezy at times. The way they create the alien is WAY cheezy but that also adds to the humor (you'll know exactly what I mean when you see it). Lastly, and most importantly, the ending of the movie doesn't really work for me. In some ways it's quite poetic, but I think it just brings too much of that hippie element into play." http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/c...://www.moviesforguys.com/movie.php?review=599
