Ferocious Planet

What amazes me the most about this movie is that there are actually people thinking it is a good movie. Really? Ferocious Planet is a complete waste of your time, a waste of money that could have been spent in making something watchable. The story itself could have been good if you only had a good script writer. It could have been good if you had decent actors. But really, this acting was awful to watch. terrible actors! Not one good actor in the whole movie. Terrible lines, so cheesy that you wonder who would write something like that. He can't seriously not be making a living out of this. One thing is for sure, I won't ever forget about this movie, because the only things you remember are the real good movies and the dramatic failures like Ferocious Planet.

Gosh! Why all the bad reviews? It's a made-for-TV movie that could easily be turned into a series. I know John Rhys-Davies makes a cameo appearance and is killed off 5 minutes into this movie about sliding into a parallel dimension and the cast's frantic attempts to return, but there's no reason he couldn't be brought back for a TV series with that same concept. Heck, we could call the show "Sliders." OK, sarcasm mode off.

The acting was fine. The CGI, while limited (budget I suppose) was OK. However, the script was pathetic. I couldn't even find a credit for who wrote this. Was it unscripted or was the writer too ashamed? We get to hear one of the characters ask "are you tapping that?" The only possible purpose of the line at that point in the story was to demonstrate that the writer knows 21st century locker-room lingo. Hm... maybe that's it: it was written by a high-schooler.

Aside from the cheap lines, why do hack writers have to create military personnel incapable of following orders, otherwise intelligent adults suddenly incapable of cooperating and yet other adults in a life threatening emergency suddenly deciding that THEN is the time to hatch a transparent money-making scheme or wander off alone to examine the flora and fauna? The "don't poke the alien" line is funny, but several people manhandle the alien. While there's a certain satisfaction that one of the idiot characters gets what he deserves as a result of alien poking, it made absolutely zero sense.

With some good writing this have been a watchable -- even though rehashed -- film. I know I could have personally made something better of the writing. As it was, for the lack of any appreciable budget for decent writers, this film is a total waste of time.

There are a few problems with this TV movie from the emasculated Syfy Channel. I throw up a little in my mouth when I have to write its new name. Overall it's watchable and a traditional Radiation Theatre film. Here are some fun things about Ferocious Planet which I like to call The Quasi-Ferocious Planet.

Most actors had American accents at the beginning but the Irish started coming out toward the end. CarrieFisher-idice!

So this is John Rhys-Davies' new career. Show up for the 100K. Film a scene or two and get killed? He's done that like nine times. I wish I had a job like that.

Apparently there is only one type of creature inhabiting this forest on this random parallel universe. No bugs,snakes or creepy things to give us some cool jump moments. Too bad. Oh well, there was this mushroom but it didn't really do anything.

"We're out of time" is said so often I was truly convinced they were out of time.

The writer(s) apparently loved Jaws, Jurassic Park and Alien as a kid (who didn't!) Too bad writer(s) couldn't find a more appropriate place to use the homage line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat".

The science of how they got to the F. Planet in the first place was unintelligible, like a madman writing on a wall. It was a view scope to other dimensions that suddenly became a transporter device because . . .

Using only one creature (who looked like a Swiss Army Knife) mixed with the unusually high body count resulted in fewer creative kills. Just a Dinosaur with razors everywhere on its body.

Must say the effects were better than an average SyFy crap on a stick. OOps threw up a little again.

In summation, too many missed story opportunities and it drags towards the end.

So I leave you this advice: Don't poke the alien.

Okay so you're probably a fan of Stargate Atlantis and you saw that Joe Flanigan was in this movie. And then you noticed that Joe was playing a colonel and that you might see some of that old John Sheppard magic.

Well don't bother! Because this movie sucks! If this movie was on the other side of the Earth Stargate then Jack O'neill would send a nuke to make sure it never got through! And you would thank him for doing so.

This movie has no redeeming qualities. it is a bad movie with bad acting and bad cgi. The main plot could have been developed given decent writers and some competent actors. But I guess that would have made too much common sense. I do not understand how these films get released?

This is a very bad movie so do not waste your time. I have given it three stars one for Joe and one each for the sound and camer guys who did their jobs. Remember curiosity killed the cat!

A scientist endeavors to prove the existence of parallel dimensions by inventing a machine that provides a view through a portal to some of these alternate dimensions. During a demonstration of the device, something goes awry, and a bunch of people find themselves in the middle of what seems like an earthquake. But the reality of their situation is far worse. The machine has teleported them all to the dimension they were watching. From the title, you can guess the alternate universe is not where most people would want to spend their vacation.

One of SyFy's better efforts; the action is well handled, the creatures are designed and animated well, and the acting is above average. There's an ironic twist near the end, but too many clues make it pretty obvious long before the twist is revealed. The parking meter bits were actually clever, although the explanation for them was goofy.

The weakness is the formulaic approach: the characters are eliminated in the usual one-by-one manner of these type of movies, usually just as they say or do something stupid. It's usually obvious who's going to get it next, especially the clichéd knuckle-headed greedy guys in the group.

All in all, not bad for a TV movie and considering the weak theatrical releases out this summer, and the ticket prices that look like they were set by a big-oil executive, watching this for free is the better option.