Lost In Space Review

Will the fate of our world be that of doom if we continue down our current path? That's what Lost in Space depicts as it uses this plot device to jumpstart the picture. From the point of view of the history of the cinema nearly two decades after the release of this movie, this movie delivers a sci-fi adventure with Commissioner Gordon, Joey Tribbiani, and General Ross at its center headlining it. This film takes place in 2058 when the world is suffering from pollution and mankind’s only hope is to send the Robinson family up into space to the habitable planet Alpha Prime to prepare it for colonization. There's one problem though and that's a terrorist organization intent on sabotaging the mission and getting to Alpha Prime first. William Hurt portrays John Robinson, the head of this mission, Matt Leblanc portrays Major West who must pilot the mission, and Gary Oldman as Dr. Smith, the “saboteur”. This film has many qualities which stand out upon viewing.

At the heart of this story, the film is about family. The family dynamic presented is very well executed dealing with the Robinson family consisting of kids who don’t want to leave their planet, a wife loyal to her husband but at the same time aware of his shortcomings, and the husband John who is devoted to saving Earth but is so wrapped up in his goals that he loses sight of the importance of spending time with his family. Even Major West who so reluctantly accepts the mission to pilot the Robinson family helps bring in a feeling of unity as after he initially clashes with the job he eventually accepts his role on the team or family in order to survive. The performances of all the main leads are very authentic and gripping making for a fun time. LeBlanc’s performance of West as he charmed Robinson’s eldest daughter felt authentic and played out well. The relationship wasn’t one sided though as the daughter was portrayed as a smart brainy type not afraid to put Major West in his place. As the story moved forward to Alpha Prime things escalated with time travel and a twist with the villain at the end which provided some poignant and exciting moments. The film even with its pros isn’t without its flaws.

The movie takes a serious approach but at the same time has a lot of light-hearted moments some of which work and others that don’t. When these moments collapse a sense of cheesiness envelops the picture. Also, the CGI isn’t that stylish looking and doesn’t look that realistic. I understand this is a 90s movie but I still think it could have been pulled off better. The villain Dr. Smith wasn’t the strongest despite a strong performance by Gary Oldman. The film tells us he was recruited by the terrorist organization but other than that there doesn’t appear to be a strong motivation for him. The film isn’t the strongest in the end with Dr. Smith having turned into a crazy looking spider for a not well-explained reason and the pacing could have been better managed.

Overall though even with the film’s shortcomings, it's still fun to watch. The movie has a couple of character arcs which are pulled off well enough and the characters are written well enough and performed well enough to not let the viewer feel bored. This film can feel a bit hokey at times but it's almost a million times better if you pretend this is one of the bad movies made in the Friends universe starring actor Joey Tribbiani. The action delivers thrills and relates to a topic that plagues our society today, pollution. Overall I think this movie is a movie that is OK but which is fun and a worthy pastime even with its shortcomings. I am assigning Lost In Space a score of 6.5/10.