Assault on Dome 4

any film bearing the words a sci-fi channel original production should immediately be burned. This is quite possibly the dullest movie campbell's ever starred in. It's incredibly boring and hard to watch (and thats in comparsion to stuff like Moontrap and Waxwork 2!)

stay away! stay far away!

This is the kind of movie that assures Bruce Campbell of his cult status. The movie is downright awful, but Bruce shines by overflowing with his characteristic cockiness. If your interested in story, special effects, good screen writing, or little things like a cohesive plot or originality, then pass on it; but if you appreciate the over-the-top idiocy of a pure guilty pleasure B-made-for-TV movie, then this is definitely a must see.

I love the movie because of the sheer balls it must have taken to produce: The dialog is awful. The characters are cut-and-dried stereotypes. The entire movie seems as if it was written overnight. It was awesome.

I wasn't expecting a huge amount out of Assault on Dome 4 in the first place, but as I like Bruce Campbell I thought there might be some entertainment at least. And although I do not deem Assault on Dome 4 a good movie at all, there were some entertaining parts. All of them provided by Bruce Campbell, the villain is the movie's most colourful character and Campbell's gleefully enjoyable(even if a little hammy at times) performance and some sharp one-liners help. The movie also isn't shot too bad. Unfortunately, while Campbell is great, the rest of Assault on Dome 4 just doesn't match. The special effects are cheaply constructed, and audibly it is an uncomfortable mixture of loud and murky. Campbell's witty one-liners show some bright spots, but the rest of the script is clunky, the inclusion of literary quotes was just clumsy writing, rather than sharp with lowbrow and bordering on childish humour. The story is plodding and by-the-numbers with nothing suspenseful and thrilling at all, even the action-y sequences look tired. Of the characters Campbell's is the only halfway believable one, the rest are so stock and bland with one of the dullest heroes of any movie seen recently or ever. The direction is flat, and the rest of the acting including Joseph Culp- I'd also go as far to say especially so- is just lazy. Overall, Bruce Campbell is great and hugely enjoyable but the rest is not worth bothering with. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Assault on Dome 4 could have been a completely disposable Die Hard in Space movie made on a Sci-Fi Channel budget, however, it is made all the more memorable for the fact that its villain is just Bruce Campbell but evil. He chews the lack of scenery up a treat even when he's given some truly awful dialogue, but Campbell manages to make it all work. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the rest of the film. It keeps intercutting the main Die Hard plot with an unnecessary and dull trial which is all happening after the fact so there's zero stakes for the majority of its runtime, most likely a consequence of it being made for TV. The music in the film is lots of simplistic synth work and the sound mixing is shoddy at points. The direction feels locked down and restricted, lacking any form of energy, all resulting in a meandering pace even at 90 minutes. However, despite these flaws, the film is entertainingly chaotic from beginning to end, more than worthy of a watch kicking back with friends and a few beers.

Oh and Jack Nance, Eraserhead himself, turns up in a small role that is comparable to that of Marvin from Die Hard 2.

Like most people (I would imagine) that have seen this film, my only reason for doing so was the fact that it stars Bruce Campbell. It's a good job Bruce is on board too; otherwise this cheap mess would be a complete dead loss. It's clear that the film's main influence was the classic action flick Die Hard, and indeed Assault on Dome 4 is basically a carbon copy of said film, except instead of being set on a skyscraper, it's set on a research facility somewhere in space. Bruce Campbell plays Alex Windham; an intergalactic terrorist. He breaks out of jail (it's supposed to be a very high security prison, but in my opinion the security is rather lax) and escapes into space along with a load of other convicts he has freed. They set their sights for Dome 4; a research facility that Alex wants to capture and use for his own special research program. Meanwhile, and unbeknown to Alex, Chas Moran - an ace 'peacekeeper' (futuristic cop) is visiting his wife, who happens to work at Dome 4. The terrorists take the place hostage, while Chase attempts to bring them down on his own.

I am extremely glad that Bruce Campbell is in this film; his scenes are really the only ones worth watching and he does seem to relish his role...but if I'm honest, he was the wrong choice to play a terrorist. He spouts off one-liners and its lots of fun, but he doesn't look like a terrorist at all. On the other hand, Joseph Culp, who plays the 'hard as nails' hero, doesn't look the part either! ...so the whole thing is a bit difficult to swallow. Still, there's plenty of fighting and shooting (maybe even too much) and some of it is decent; although director Gilbert Po would do well to lay off the slow motion. The plot itself does basically run in exactly the same way as Die Hard does, so anyone who's seen that (which should be everyone who has seen this) is likely to know exactly where it's going to go. A major problem for this film, though, is the fact that it's so difficult to like the hero - Chase Moran is just dull, and I found myself cheering on Bruce Campbell's terrorist for most of the film. Anyway, the ending is not too bad and while this film is cheap and hokey, it's worth a look for Bruce Campbell fans.