The film Supernova lives up to its stellar namesake. It is explosive and unrestrained, wildly gaseous but with flashes of brilliance -- and above all, good fun, provided you don't scrutinize it too closely.
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| Supernova -- The explosion of a very large star. Such explosions may reach a brightness level a billion times that of our sun. |
Nova -- A star that attains a sudden brilliance and then gradually grows fainter. |
Blue giant -- A type of star that is massive and luminous, and which will eventually become a supernova. |
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The movie opens with uncharacteristic tranquility. We are on the Nightingale, a medical starship with a small crew of somewhat bored professionals. Ping-pong, computer chess and weightless sex are the main diversions. The captain watches cartoons from the 20th century as study for his dissertation.
The crew's newest addition is Nick Vanzant (James Spader), ex-military copilot, who's here on probation following rehab for use of the mind-altering drug Hazen. Nick's examined by the starship's doctor, Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett), who contemptuously advises him to drop his above-it-all, antisocial ways.
"Smart as God and a lot less nice."
A little brandy, a lot of bad luck
Just as Nick begins warming up to the crew (including Kaela, who turns out to be easily charmed by a gift of pear brandy), a distress signal comes in from a supposedly abandoned mining colony. Not only is the colony situated on a rogue moon in uncharted space, the signal just happens to be from Karl Larson, Kaela's one-time boyfriend and "worst nightmare."
In order to reach the colony in time, the Nightingale crew must strip down and climb into sterilized pods for a dangerous "dimensional jump" -- a mode of transportation that provides great speed at a psychedelic price: furious sparks and blasts interspersed with "surrealist" flashes of faces and body parts.
When the ship arrives, its captain (Robert Forster) is horribly fused with his glass pod and the ship is out of control and beset by debris. Furthermore, they're caught in a blue giant star's powerful gravitational field.
Nick manages to stabilize the vessel, but now it's a race against time. In just over 17 hours, the star will suck them in unless they find a new fuel supply.
James Spader: once again boldly going into some strange places.
Enter the malign stranger and his blob
Worrisome as all this is, the problems are just getting started. A shuttle approaches from the old mining colony, carrying the 20-something Troy Larson (Peter Facinelli), Karl's son (or is he?), whose smirking demeanor conveys such malevolence it's a wonder the Nightingale crew doesn't immediately place him in detention.
Troy practices his bad-boy charm on Danika (Robin Tunney), an attractive paramedic, arousing the jealousy of her boyfriend, Yerzy (played with simmering anger by Lou Diamond Phillips). But soon Yerzy finds something else to be preoccupied with -- the pulsating luminous blob stashed in Troy's shuttle.
Significantly, the blob is artificial, evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Troy regards it as "treasure," to be sold. Nick, sensing extreme danger, wants to toss it out the airlock. Yerzy takes a middle path, blissfully caressing it with his hands.
And while Nick goes to the abandoned colony to search for fuel, Kaela begins to grasp the truly momentous potential of the mysterious artifact, and its connection to those eponymous stellar explosions -- supernovas.
Robert Forster may be familiar to space fans for his role in Disney's The Black Hole (1979).
More stunt people than actors
Sorting all this out requires much slashing and gouging, bursts of laser fire, impromptu departures through the airlock, parrying the romantic yearnings of the ship's computer and -- ultimately -- violence on a cosmic scale.
The special effects required to depict all this are adept, from celestial rumblings to bodily self-regeneration. Stunt people -- more numerous than the actors -- skillfully convey the ferocity and flexibility of the desperate combatants.
The speaking cast puts in a gamely professional performance. Spader plays Nick with a suitable cool aplomb, while Tunney shines as the worried, ingenuous Danika. Bassett successfully tosses off some of the film's more absurd phrases ("smart as God and a lot less nice") and conveys a sense of Kaela's troubled past.
Among the other actors, Wilson Cruz is convincingly gentle as Benj, a crew member with a special attachment to Sweetie, the ship's computer (voice of Vanessa Marshall). Phillips, as Yerzy, fluidly shifts between rage and bliss, but Facinelli is merely adequate in portraying a character that could have taken on a greater interest and depth.
Several of the roles are truly thankless. Robert Forster, as Captain Marley, says little beyond "kill me," and Eddy Rice Jr., face never seen, wordlessly shuffles around as Flyboy, the robot janitor.
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