Movie Review: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME (2012)
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME is the latest offering in the BSG Universe. A franchise spanning from the 70’s, with a reimagined series in 2004, BSG is an awesome Sci Fi adventure story that can be considered a pioneer of Science Fiction on television. Last year we got to see a prequel to this universe, which was made as webisodes, compiled into a full-length feature film later on. Here is my Review of full-length feature film version of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME.
Blank Page Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
BSG: B&C is a very small feature, with a tight running time, a simple story and a basic premise. The BSG Universe is essentially the story about a war between 12 planets of humans, or colonies, and a race of machine robots known as Cylons. The twist is that the Cylons were actually created by the humans, and then turned on them. The story starts after the destruction of the 12 colonies by the Cylons, forcing the remaining survivors of the human race to flee on ships into space, vanguarded by one remaining warship known as Battlestar Galactica.
The previous shows, especially the 2004 reimagined series (read my Review here…) focused heavily on the moral and technological implications of humans creating machines that want to wipe them out. Unlike the typical robot apocalypse, there were also heavy-handed themes about spirituality and religion. B&C does a great job of avoiding these serious and uber deep themes in its story, and keeps things relatively simple and straight forward.
The star of this story is a young William Adama, who, in all previous Series was the Commander of Galactica, an older authority and father figure. This time around we get to see the first mission of young Adama, and his brash and impulsive temperment prior to becoming a seasoned and experienced Military commander, part of his youth that has until now, only been hinted at in the past Series.
A cocky, arrogant and almost too good of a pilot, Adama is relegated to a simple escort mission for his first assignment as a pilot on the legendary Battlestar Galactica. Little would he know that his simple assignment would become a full-blown covert espionage trip, on which hinges the entire war.
Disney needs to pay attention to how BLOOD & CHROME was made in regards to their plans of making 1 STAR WARS movie every year. Given the massive almost 40+-year-old mythology and universe of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, BLOOD & CHROME keeps the story simple, focusing on one character with one story and keeping us engaged in that story alone, without trying to bring in the rest of the universe and its history into it. There are little to no inclusion of fan favorite characters, (or their relatives) Easter eggs or other subtle nods and winks to the veteran fans of the franchise. BLOOD & CHROME works because it’s not crazy over the top riveting and doesn’t try to be more than it is. This is probably due to its small budget and the format in which it was made. As a feature length film, it’s a cohesive story that would be entertaining to both franchise fans and newer audiences.
Luke Paqualino plays the Young Adama, and despite his lack of emotional range, he does it well. His inexperience as a leading man makes it that much more believable that he’s an inexperienced and hot shot rookie pilot. Like much of the other actors, the deliveries are a little flat, and at times over the top, but it’s expected of a small budget feature that almost borderlines a B movie. Especially the green screen sets and indie filmmaking techniques employed.
There are some brief moments of awesomeness by some veteran actors, some of who have actually appeared in the previous BATTLESTAR shows. John Pyper-Ferguson (CAPRICA) appears as an unhinged sole survivor of a special ops team left alone on an Ice planet. Jill Teed (SMALLVILLE) plays a Captain of another Battlestar on a secret mission. Sebastian Spence, from the awesome canceled show FIRST WAVE and a recurring actor from the 2004 BSG, plays a random pilot with a brief but sweet sub plot as well.
BLOOD & CHROME is a great example of an episodic film continuation of a large franchise done right. It is a prequel from the other stories, however, it benefits from being focused on one character and one basic story without getting too complicated for the sake of complexity.
Links:
My Review of The Original Battlestar Galactica
My Review of Battlestar Galactica 2004
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