Star Raiders: The Adventures of Saber Raine

I have to give this movie one star, even though some of the acting and effects aren't terrible. It's just that I don't understand why anyone would make a film that looks like another Star Wars rip off from the 1980s in 2017. There's absolutely nothing original in the plot, the sets, the make up, the acting, the dialogue, etc. Etc. Etc. We've all seen it dozens if not hundreds of times since 1977. There's nothing here for anyone as far as I could see. The only reason I watched it was it was being treated by RiffTrax.

I did not expect much when I started watching this one and it did not fail to deliver the not much. A film obviously trying to capitalize on the success of the more recent Star Wars films, but you know, with a lower budget so we get 75% of the movie set on a planet that looks a lot like some woods on Earth and not remotely resembling an alien world. We also get Casper Van Dien in the lead so not much else to say other than it is not very good and for a movie called Star Raiders it is very unclear who the star raiders are as no one raids a single star!

The story, well, Casper is Saber Raine and he stops people killing an alien at the beginning of the film and it is eye rolling the whole story with that so lets continue with the real story of a brother and sister kidnapped! They are being held captive by a Darth Vader like enemy who shows he has the ability to choke the two siblings and really does nothing sinister beyond that and does not even participate in any of the final action scenes. Well this trio of heroes lands on a planet and enlists Saber Raine's help, but they do not really need it too much as they are already on the planet that the siblings are on, how convenient and it saves on budget!

The film tries to do an interesting twist, but it is not all that interesting, because, you know...the movie isn't very good. The weapons frequently hit people and do nothing to them. I kept expecting fat dude with half sunglasses to die as he gets hit dead on three or four time, but doesn't faze him a bit! The villain is still trucking and he lost the top part of his head so maybe their race is just really tough?

The film is just not good and at the end you can tell they clearly expect to have a sequel as there is not too much that gets wrapped up at the end. Not sure if they are going to make this sequel or not, from what I see here at IMDB no sequel has yet materialized. With films like these though, i always wonder how they get made in the first place. I know people do go fund mes, but I just cannot see people donating to have crappy movies made, but not to people who actually need help.

Badly directed, badly cast. Well lit and nicely shot, but it's DOA. The less said about the writing, the better. I like science fiction, and can overlook a lot, but this movie is a disaster.

Casper Van Dien and Cynthia Rothrock used to be people... and now they are reduced to this kind of barely student film fluff. The Special effects look like something a Nerd would produce to get his work rejected by the Asylum. The acting is sub-standard. The only thing to speak for it is that the creature effects are kind of good.

The movie had a very dense plot for a movie that was hard to follow, but it involves a bad guy who wants to conquer the galaxy. Most of the film is the actors walking around a forest pretending it's an alien planet. The sets are cheap as well.

Think of Battlestar Galactica/Buck Rogers in the 25th Century melded with the 1930s Flash Gordon featurettes. That gives you the type of campy, laughable plots, special effects, makeup, and acting in this film.

The props are the equivalent of low budget 1950s sci-fi films. Facial prosthetics equal the quality from lower budget 1960s productions. Augment that with rudimentary CGI. As to acting, anticipate an overall C- grade. Casper Van Dien delivers as usual an engaging character performance, give him a B. Acting in other roles such as the Princess and the female guardian sent in search of her are of a similar level. The other roles spiral downward from there with C grade acting down to failing E - that goes to the man portraying the prince. His overacting and overly exaggerated facial expressions are over the top bad.

So, don't expect much. There is no edge of your seat suspense, no "OMG that's impressive" moment. Think of it as a Saturday afternoon kids film diversion.