The Fate Of Humankind Rests In One Person’s Hands…
Starring: Brigitte Nielsen, Richard Moll, John H. Brennan, Roger Aaron Brown, Fred Asparagus, Michael Paul Chan, Sam Raimi, Craig Fairbrass
Director: William Mesa
1995 | 90 Minutes | Rated R
“So, you want to make a deal?” – Kyla
Galaxis aka Terminal Force aka Galactic Force aka Starforce (how many different ways can you try to sell the same movie???) would have fit right in with many films from the 80s. Too bad it was released in 1995.
As ruthless Kyla (Richard Moll) and guerilla fighter Ladera (Brigitte Nielsen) each try to be the first to find an all-powerful crystal, the galaxy’s future hangs in the balance.
Galaxis opens with some Star Wars inspired space fighting with some pretty awesome explosions and some rather shoddy space ships. In reality the ships themselves look fine but the effects used to make them look like they are flying through the sky are really bad. These early scenes use a lot of models to create the desired effects. Personally, I like model work. Sometimes it is really noticeable but I would take mediocre models and practical effects over mediocre CGI anyday. Don’t get me wrong though, some of the effects are downright terrible by today’s standards. The best worst example is when a small child transforms into a stop motion robot
Galaxis has a kind of so-bad-it’s-good quality to it early on but once it starts giving its “actors” time to act it goes down hill fast.
Brigitte Nielsen is a friggin’ Amazon. She is taller and probably stronger than any of her male co-stars. She wears a leather ensemble that she likely pulled from Elektra’s closet or as the movie puts it a “neo-gothic surfer” look. To say this look is unflattering to her figure is an understatement. The chest piece gives Nielsen cleavage on the top and bottom of her boobs. Some of you are thinking this sounds sexy. Not so much.
She also walks around with a huge blaster rifle on her back at all times. Nobody seems to mind that she is, for instance, walking into their club with a huge weapon strapped to her back. Only in L.A…
Richard Moll’s Kyla is a formidable looking bad guy except that his armor makes his head look so tiny it made me laugh every time he was on screen. And apparently the film makers never stopped to realize that Kyla is clearly a girl’s name. Kyla’s powers are seemingly given to him at random. Whatever effect the “special” effects crew thought would be cool got thrown in. You want lightning bolts? Zap! You want fire? Flame on! Want to see a girl disappear? Bam, there you go! Want to see a guy turn into a skeleton? Shazam!!! Them bones, them bones gonna fall to the ground.
Galaxis had the potential to be something of a cult classic but the major bogging during the mid portion of the movie hurt that possibility. Had it kept the exciting pace all the way through instead of just the beginning and end it would have been a much more entertaining movie. Still not a good movie but it would have been fun.
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