Savage Planet

Now, given that this movie was made for the Sci-Fi Network (now the SyFy Network), and that I had previously seen a number of other movies made for this network - all of them being terrible - my expectations were very low when I sat down to watch "Savage Planet". But I was just *stunned* by how bad this Canadian-American co-production was. The special effects are some of the worst I've ever seen in a movie, using real cheap CGI that looks nothing like real life. But the movie also has a stupid script, with a story that just has the protagonists moving around for most of the movie, alien animal life that looks exactly like grizzly bears on earth (and apparently ONLY grizzly bears - no other animals are seen in the entire movie!) The actors apparently knew they were in a turkey, because no one even tries to give a good performance. I know that the movie might sound like some kind of a camp classic, but it is simply so bad it's bad. It actually makes some other SyFy network movies look decent by comparison!

I saw this on the night it premiered on the sci-fi channel, expecting for some mindless monster-violence fun, (ala Sabretooth, Dinocroc, etc.) unfortunately I found this movie to be plagued by confusing plot lines, maddeningly boring and stereotypical characters and a monster so dull (not to mention almost impossible from an evolutionary probability standpoint) that it didn't keep me interested during a single part of the movie. The CGI/blood and gore was awful, which can be expected from a Sci-Fi original, however the decision to mix what I suppose was meant to look like live-action footage of this creature's equivalent on Earth was overwhelmingly corny. Above all, and forgive my redundancy the creature was totally dull and unimaginative. Prehistoric alien monster bears. Laughable premise and still poorly done.

Calling this abomination bad doesn't do it justice. It's beyond bad, it's downright Ed Wood. Action scenes which look like they were filmed by some kid with a handycam in his back yard. Horrible junky props. Special effects which are so incredibly awful you laugh out loud at them.

I gave it a two, and it only scored that high because they at least managed to find a good-looking cast, and the first one to die wasn't who I expected.

If (like me) you don't mind watching the occasional garbage movie just to see how bad things can get, this is worth a view. Everybody else should run away.

Yet another unimaginative monsters-chase-humans flick created for the SciFi Channel. I won't reveal the monster for fear you might laugh yourself into a coma. A scientific team with soldiers teleports to a far off planet (a la Stargate) to find a plant that will produce enough oxygen to save Earth, which is choking on its own pollution. The gear everyone carries looks like toys and the canvas tents and cots don't seem very futuristic. Things go wrong, the team is stranded, and the monsters pick them off as they make their way to the back-up teleporter device. Every so often the Director of Photography shakes the camera to tell us the planet is unstable. In between the "excitement" we're treated to some fairly lame interpersonal dialogue. Sean Patrick Flanery makes the best of the dreadful script. The special effects are about as cheesy as you can get. Otherwise, it's a great romp.

A guy gets his hand cut off and falls down a hole into some goo and his arm regenerates in a really silly looking way. Then a bear murders him. This all happens in the first five minutes or so of movie, so i wouldn't really consider it to be a spoiler. As for the way that his hand grows back, lets just say it looks bad. And I mean, worse CGI than the cut scenes for the PC game Fallout, which came out in '97. Anyway I would honestly have to say that "Sabertooth" was a better movie.

Just think about that statement. If Sabertooth is better than your movie, WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT YOUR MOVIE?

I gave this movie a 3 because it had SOME funny parts, and i have certainly seen far worse, but they actually tried to give it a happy ending, which would lead me to believe that they were actually being serious about it. Actually being serious about a movie that is worse than Sabertooth? Big no-no.

Definitely watch this movie if you like seeing the same shot of a bear's face over and over again with people screaming in between zooming in and hardly any science fiction other than as a poorly designed plot device to put the main characters in an isolated environment with bears.