Slipstream (1989)

Perfectly adorable

Fantastic!

Absolutely amazing

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Mark Hamill, in this movie, showed that he can play an insane psychopath. Obviously, he has been miscast playing anything else. Bob Peck, who plays the fugitive, puts in an amazing performance. His facial expressions as he learns to have feelings are amazing. This is a strange movie, with a few twists, and the effects are not too good, but the aircraft Mr. Hamill flies is cool.

Slipstream is far better than the review rankings indicate. The film is a nice break from today's frayed sci-fi kill the monster or be killed plot lines. Slipstream fits in more with the likes of Asimov, Bradbury, or Dick. Sure, there are some familiar plot points like a dystopian near future, environmental devastation, societal collapse, human movements back into nature (actually, sounds a bit like right now, huh?). Intriguing, though, is the common mode of transport, ultralights. With the shifting of the jet stream to cover more of the planet and closer to the surface, the pilots use these "slipstreams" to get around as ground transport is nearly obsolete. And these elements are kept nicely in the background, providing a tapestry for the story, which is a basic cop chase, double crosses, introspection, and interesting character (one of which is an android) interactions. It is worth watching the film for the flying scenes and the key exterior locations alone -- Cappadoccia, Turkey, and Malham Rocks UK. Director Steven Lisberger (Tron), Music Elmer Bernstein, Cast includes Bob Peck, Mark Hamill, Kitty Aldridge, Bill Paxton, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Kingsley, F. Murray Abraham? Come on! Get it!

Futuristic for certain, poorly edited for certain, beautiful on location photography for certain, acceptable acting by name cast for certain, uneven score for certain, surreal adventure for certain, disjointed storyline for certain. What is not so certain is the entertainment value of "Slipstream". The movie seems to have a polarizing effect, in other words love it or hate it. I suggest that the stunning visuals are memorable, while the entire screenplay is so jumbled, that it is easily forgettable. The image of a human carrying kite will stay with me long after memory of the film itself has faded into oblivion. - MERK

The quote above just about says it all for "Slipstream". I should have bailed out of this film after the first half hour, but decided I ought to be fair and give it a chance. I won't watch it again, so if anyone with the temerity to do so can get back to me with the number of clichéd lines in the movie, I'm sure it will set a record.Some otherwise fine and talented actors got mixed up with this clunker; Mark Hamill portrays a futuristic bounty hunter and Bill Paxton is his quarry. Paxton's character has hijacked Hamill's prisoner, an android taking his name from the poet Byron (Bob Peck). Tasker (Hamill) shoots Owens (Paxton) with a dart containing a tracking device so he and his companion Belitski (Kitty Aldridge) can keep tabs on the pair. The real question though is why didn't he just fire the device at Byron thereby cutting out the middleman.If you enjoy scene after disjointed scene with tedious characterization and artsy fartsy pretense, then I suppose you'll find something of interest here. But you can't convince me that the film makes sense on any level. Scenes of a futuristic Stone Age make way for high society snobbery, but the pinnacle of poor taste is reached when Paxton's character is displayed following a night of revelry with hickeys all over his torso. If anyone thinks there's some hidden meaning here, you're really stretching.Patiently waiting for the frame proclaiming "The End" to come into view, alas, even that was denied. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then so is understanding; this movie had neither. Yet there was a single redeeming feature as the closing credits began their run - an awesome view of a half dozen hot air balloons. Apparently the film was keeping them afloat.