Retrograde (2005)

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Combine "The Terminator" with its travel back in time premise to save the future and "Die Hard" about one many against many gunmen, and you have the basics for Christopher Kulikowski's unconvincing but entertaining sci-fi saga "Retrograde" with Dolph Lundgren battling to save Earth from a global biological disaster with some maniac zombies thrown into the mix. There is nothing wrong with the plot, but Kulikowski has to work on such a threadbare budget that the film fails to grab you where it counts. John Foster (Dolph Lundgren) and a space ship full of heavily armed soldiers, including Dalton (Joe Montana) are dispatched from 200 years into the future to Antarctic where a ship is trapped in the ice. They see a meteor land in the frozen wastelands and tromp out to collect samples, little realizing the tragic mistake that they are making. Talking about tragic mistakes, Renee (Silvia De Santis of "Artemisia") leaves her toddler to take off on this historic voyage. Later, as she lies dying in the snow, with their ship sinking, she knows that she made a mistake. Of course, heroic Dolph saves the day, not once but twice! Gary Daniels co-stars but is wasted. The close-quarters combat fights register as lackluster. Presumably, they didn't have a stunt coordinator or they wanted to make double sure than nobody got hurt. Nevertheless, the thesping is quite good and the crew of the ship look like they actually know each other. Overall, "Retrograde" is an imaginative but shoddy movie because the budget doesn't make its science fiction believable. The settings are okay, but the special effects are less than special.

Even though not on Region 1 DVD, it's worth a look if you like Dolpgh Lundgren movies. It's basically a sci/action movie about time travel to the past to save the earth. Dolph Lundgren is a scientist in this one believe it or not. This seems like a made for television movie, it's a low budget film. What this movie lacks in plot, it gains in action. The space crew wear uniforms that look like motorcycle leathers. Surprised that this didn't have a US release considering how popular direct to video movies are. I also recommend The Mechanik (The Russian Specialist) , starring Lundgren as well. I bought the Region 5 PAL DVD, it has a few trailers (in Russian though). Full frame and 5.1 English Audio sound.

Yesterday I bought this DVD on sale in Blockbuster (Rio de Janeiro). The price was less than US$ 4,00 for an used DVD (called "previously seen"), which is very cheap for Brazilian usual prices. Unfortunately, I have just watched 10 minutes of the awfullest movie I have ever tried to see. Simply unbelievable how a producer can put his or her money in such a flick. Further, why the Brazilian distributor Europa bought such a garbage to distribute in Brazil? Meanwhile, in Brazil we have many important movies that have not been released on video or DVD, such as the work of Yasujito Ozu or "Fahrenheit 451" of Truffault. I saw another brave IMDb user that was capable of watching 30 minutes of this trash, and I would like to congratulate him for his courage. I would like to indicate this flick to "The Jerk of the Daily Votes". My vote is one.Title (Brazil): "Retrograde"

I'm not sure, if I can write a review of this movie. But still I'll try. First: I watched about 30 minutes of it. I couldn't watch any longer. Second: it's terrible. For everyone who's gonna see it anyway, I must say: The movie has very low-budget special effects & very bad acting (just awful). When I say very low-budget I mean VERY-VERY cheap. I've seen video games with better computer graphics. The acting… I'm not sure anymore, if this is the guy who acted in Universal Soldier or Punisher. This is not even acting. It's like a school performance… And I'm not talking about such things like fights or shootings in this movie… - no comments. There is scene in Retrograde where all characters in a spaceship fell on the floor because of the spaceship's twisting... In space!!!! Just think about it… So that's what I can say about first 30 minutes of this film. You may consider it as review of Retrograde's first 30 minutes. 1 of 10.