Jungle Rodents Rage War

Battle Rats

(1989/Hong Kong)

‘‘These bastards are ingenious’’

A pernicious Vietcong commander hits at the heart of the American army, using all manner of employs to kill their soldiers on duty in Vietnam. Captain Rosenblatt’s division has one of the worst death rates in ‘Nam. He wants to bring an end to the terror reign, and flush the commander out of his subterranean network of tunnels. Under the commanders leadership the Vietcong have a lethal advantage as they strike and then vanish back beneath the ground. Those that follow in after them soon become just another statistic for the army to write home to their loved ones about !.

An elite force of tunnel rats is headed up by Captain Rosenblatt and they are immediately put through their suitability paces at Battle Rat boot camp. Jack Gilbert stands out as Sergeant Burns, and is soon alongside Captain Rosenblatt and fellow tunnel rats foraging for tunnel activity for real. An insidious entry point is beneath the village of innocent Vietnamese families, and they are as callously taken advantage of by the malicious Vietcong. It’s dark, dank and dangerous beneath the surface with intruder triggers lining the way, as the American soldiers discover to their detriment. Venomous snakes are coiled and poised to strike. Hairline wires are triggered to set off explosive grenades in close proximity. Underfoot traps pressure set to give way unveil a spiked demise, and lurking in the dark are the Vietcong readied to attack with their knives.
Those that fall are either killed or taken to the Vietcong commander, strung up before him and tortured. One particularly nasty scene sees the commander forcefully poke his two fingers into the eye sockets of a squealing soldier, and in a close up shot the eyes pop out with eyebrow raising disbelief. Not even spinach saves this ‘Popeye’ !.

Captain Rosenblatt continues to push his team back into action. Each time his soldiers strike fast and successfully on land where they are the dominant fighting unit, but each course of aggression is met doubly so when the Vietcong vanish back to their jungle holes. Despite the very heavy loses the American soldiers do learn of the commanders outside assistance, as operations aiding his brutal campaign point to fellow communist states Russia and China. These sympathisers and war mongers have a transportation trail that feeds through the intricate tunnel system. Having attained plans, and acquired information during their ill fated tours of duty into the labyrinths, Captain Rosenblatt leads his men on a do or die assault mission. Their objective is to flush out the commander and once inside, under his order, no one leaves until they blow the tunnel systems sky high !.


Captain Rosenblatt goes off on a one man mission to kill whilst Sergeant Burns locks and unloads with bloody abandon in order to just stay alive. It’s another explosive outcome delivering a barnstormer of a bullet ridden, blood and guts conclusion. With the commander and his multitude of loyal Vietcong subordinates well and truly flushed from their lair by the organised assault, the bowel of iniquity gets well and truly rear ended by an offensive enema directed to wipe them all out !. Time then for a rebel rousing Vietcong shish kebab, with spare ribs and plenty of red sauce to satisfy even the most ardent of Action fans.

Movie Rating: 7/10

Review Paul Cooke / Source Japanese NTSC VHS

Battle Rats (1989)

Director Briggs Benjamin, SR.

With Jack Gilbert, Corwyn Paul Sperry,

Mylene Nocum, Paul John,Louie Katana,

Tony Lao, David Geberson & Albert Dominguez

Filmark Get Set, Tomas Tango ...

Battle For The Treasure

(1988/Hong Kong/Thailand)

‘‘There’s only one way to deal with this situation, and that’s my way !’’

A priceless jade jewel, representing the imperial power of the Kamir Dynasty, is the National Treasure of Kampuchea and is sought by the Vietcong. The treasure must be returned to the Kampuchean Princess Yeung as it represents the life force of the Kampuchean people. An elite team of American special forces retrieve the gem and act to get it safely out of the country until after the war, to then return it to its rightful owner.

After an opening fracas, that sees the American force attacked by the Vietcong, the jade jewel is hidden away by one of the assisting Kampuchean fighters. The loyalist to the princess and the Kampuchean people is however taken prisoner, and tortured for information about the gems hiding place. Back in the urban city the surviving American soldiers seek help in the form of Roger Kane, the number one cop in the Kampuchean force. He is introduced James Bond style, as he assists the local police in staving off a hostage situation, entering the fray by jet pack. He’s a hero with a head for heights and a back pack that is kitted out with quick firing weaponry. The perfect man to assist in procuring the National Treasure and safeguarding the Kampuchean princess.

The Vietcong leader, known as Gibbs, holds prisoner the only man with knowledge of the jades whereabouts, and in order to get him to talk audaciously sends an under cover team to abduct Princess Yeung. Roger Kane and team are soon in the thick of it and find themselves having to immediately act to rescue the princess. Kane takes to the sky in a micro-light aeroplane, giving chase to the kidnappers escaping by train. The thrilling escapade gathers momentum as the chase continues both over land and water. Very well staged Action by the stunt coordinators, setting the stall out early for more of the same to come. The highlight of which is a multiple micro-light sky battle with guns, that extends down into a fully fledged ground battle involving hand combat, sword crossing, and a bullet ballet that includes a bad guy with a rocket launcher. At one point even a harpoon is deployed to stop dead in his tracks one of Gibbs right hand men. Now that really hit’s the spot !.

The frequent full on battles are the sustenance of the movie, as bazooka bearing baddies slug it out with kick ass girls with guns as well as the unflappable Roger Kane and crew, stealing thunder and striking like lightening against Gibbs and his organised bandits. This is most definitely your typical Action laden Tomas Tang produced shebang !.

Kane and his team align with the Special Action Group in order to rescue the princess and regain the National Treasure which has been uncovered by Gibbs dastardly means. The team set about infiltrating, and ultimately storming the Vietcong jungle base in order to achieve their objectives.

The inevitable all out final battle ensues, resulting in more crowd pleasing entertainment filled with gun Action, stunts aplenty, and some stylish slow motion sequences that showcase the on screen conflicts and mass destruction majestically. Jaws will drop and smiles will ensue as Roger Kane once again takes to the sky via a jet propulsion pack, kitted up with ammunition to spare as he strikes from above.

This is explosive entertainment all the way, and just when you are left breathless at all the on screen Action there’s a double dose to surprise at the end. It’s yet another highly enjoyable, silly excursion from the Filmark studio, and to top it all this one has a ‘‘You’ve got to be kidding’’ showdown, with an elephant against a helicopter !.

The names Tang, Tomas Tang !.

Movie Rating: 8/10

Review: Paul Cooke / Source Japanese NTSC VHS

Battle For The Treasure (1988)

Directed by Burt Peterson

With Joey Ryan, Randy Donner, Bert Brooks,

Stephene Mitchell, Norman Linn, Pat Carver,

Ted Evans & Tom Richards

Korea Killer

Zzikhimyeon jukneunda

aka The Record

(2000/Korea)

When a final grade teenage student is constantly picked upon in class, due to his allergies, an attractive female class mate stands up for him, and later invites him along with her friend for the weekend at a secluded summer house retreat.
Their break is disturbed in violent fashion as they are attacked by a group of fellow class mates, who break into the residence and stab the poor young man whilst video taping the events.
What appears to be an unprovoked and vicious attack by the group of males is soon revealed to be an elaborate hoax that the girl was in on, but when the victim of the hi-jinks is discovered to be dead the group of friends are left in a state of shock, and the body along with the taped video evidence has to be disposed of.
There is an incredibly well done visual effect as a coin is thrown into the air to decide upon where it lands, in a pre designated pattern of chosen methods of getting rid of the body, before it hits the ground revealing the course of cremation. The body is laid to rest in a freshly dug open grave, and the video tape is slipped into the trouser pocket of the teenager. Gasoline is poured over the inert form and then set fire to, but in true The Burning (1981) fashion the boy leaps out of the grave, clearly still alive, and runs past the screaming group only to fall off a cliff face, plummeting ablaze into the river below.
In classic horror folklore a year goes by and the sister of the unaccounted for teenager is asking around the school for information, when one of the females responsible for his disappearance evades an attack by a mysterious knife wielding figure, sporting an orange cagoule, a note is left which details a web site that plays the film from the tragic night.
The themes of many western horror stories are played out to recognisable celluloid notables such as, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) & Friday The Thirteenth (1980) but it is with a pleasing variation in recognition in finding a Korean made outing which doesn’t just plagiarize its predecessors, but actually emulates them as well as injecting several elements of conceptual identity all of its own.
When the almost self advertising near fluorescent orange garbed stalker seeks revenge these teenagers aren’t the normal sit back and be picked off one by one variety, as they go about finding the oppressor in the manner of attack being the best form of defence. This leads to several encounters that actually do not culminate as you might expect. With a juicy smattering of bloody moments and some genuinely well set up sequences, along with the young array of down to earth and non irritating actors on display, as well as several shapely and attractive Korean hotties, The Record is actually an enjoyably rewarding viewing investment worthy of your time.
The expected finale with double end sequence is typically silly, yet in a fun way as the killer is unmasked, but it is the closing moment that delivers the true fan reward in delightfully over the top nonsensical fashion, leaving you with that corny self satisfying sigh of non committed appreciation for such audaciousness. Just for The Record go discover this disc for yourselves, and don’t be discouraged by the so called groovy brigade who dismiss this as just another stalk and slash film, because beneath its obvious veneer is another low budget Korean Killer movie that dares to be a cut above.


Movie Rating: 6/10

The Record (2000)
Review: Paul Cooke / Source NTSC Region Free DVD
Director Gi Hun-Kim & Jong-seok Kim
With Seong-min Kang, Eun-hye Park, Jae-hwan Ahn,
Min Jung, Dal Bae, Jun-Hyeong Bae & Chae-young Han

Batoru Gâru Babe Slays 'Em Dead

Battle Girl

The Living Dead In Tokyo Bay

(1991/Japan)

‘‘You guys are so gross’’

A meteorite spirals through the Earths stratosphere on a collision course with Tokyo Japan. With Godzilla on a break, off the back of astronomical summer blockbuster box office takings, its down to mankind to sort this one out. Mind you, just because the season is a little chilly, doesn’t give Mothra an excuse for not lending a wing !.
The inter galactic Rock hits Tokyo Bay, and if you can smell what it’s cooking you are one jabroni lovin’ horror fan that’s been waiting a very long time for this one to surface. Finally The Living Dead In Tokyo Bay has come back out, on DVD.
Okay, sure there’s some juvenile WWE Dwayne Johnson tomfoolery you just had to groan through, but it’s actually not totally misplaced. What’s this candy assed Jabroni jabbering about you ask !?, well its know your role time, and it just so comes to be that starlet Cutie Susuki was a famous female wrestler. Maybe not anywhere near as big as The Rock, but what’s a noodle compared to the might of his stroodle !?. Here though, as super suited enhanced Battle Girl, she can layeth the smack down and become the peoples champ.
When the meteorite hits, the after impact takes out buildings and people alike, killing hundreds of innocents. The after effect of the blast leaves Tokyo Bay enveloped in a dense smog, bringing darkness to the area and turning daytime into night. In come the armed special forces, replete with Michael Jackson protective face masks. They are soon entertaining a Thriller night as the very recent dead rise up as marauding Zombies.
The scientists deduce that those killed in the blast have been infected by a chemical reaction between a heavy metal, associated with the meteor rather than a sell out appearance by Kiss legend Gene Simmons, and nitrogen in the air. The combination creating what they describe as a Cosmo-Amphetamine, which integrates itself into human DNA, transforming the recent dead into Zombies. (Cautionary Note from on line seller ZomBoy: Cosmo-Amphetamine is currently not available on Ebay, and for legal reasons herewith stated allegedly never has been).
There is an electro magnetic pulse fence erected around the perimeter between Tokyo City and the Bay region. Its instantaneous and conclusive purpose is to stop anything living, or otherwise from breaking free out into Tokyo itself. The set ups effectiveness is shown in the demise of a straggling dog, who is fritzed like a Homer Simpson animation cell lit up for Christmas.

Colonel Kirihara is in control of military operations within Tokyo Bay, at least he was until he went missing. His daughter Keiko is roaming around the bay region, seeking out a contact point to take instruction from her father. She finds secure sanctuary and within receives a very recent recorded message from Colonel Kirihara. He informs her that he is heading up a rescue operation for the survivors and plans to take them across the water to an island safe haven, free from Zombie activity. He warns her of renegade military, and a faction called the Human Hunter Unit. They are Zombie soldiers, an intelligent hybrid already evolved from the immediate effects of the blast. They kill freely whether still living human or the un-dead, and they can use weapons !.
Keiko’s father Colonel Kirihara bestows upon his stoic daughter a military designed battle suit to enhance her fighting abilities, and protect her from retaliatory assault. Kitting up in the lightweight, practically impervious, super compound rubber robo warrior outfit she is ready for Action. It finds her immediately as exiting the safe room she is hit upon by one of the super Zombie soldiers. A nifty display of feet and fists from Keiko, swiftly followed by a garrotte to the throat, and a follow through beheading. A spray of Zombie blue blood gushes forth, and Battle Girl is born !.
With Colonel Kirihara off the scene Captain Fujioke has taken leadership of the military Autonomous Security Unit within the cordoned off Tokyo Bay area. He proves to be one militant psycho soldier, believing it his patriotic duty to lead Japan into a brave new world. To turn the Cosmo-Amphetamine against the rest of the planet and create an army of Japanese super Zombie soldiers. A new race of superior beings.
Within the bowels of a central conglomerate building he has set up his scientists in a laboratory, experimenting on both the living and the un-dead. What he creates is a super serum from the Cosmo-Amphetamine. When injected directly into a recently killed subject it reanimates them, infusing their genetic makeup with a cocktail that enhances them in every way.
There’s an odd mishmash of characters and themes perhaps taken inspiration of from John Carpenter’s Escape From New York (1981). An organised gang of youths driving around the Bay region in a single decked fortified bus, picking off Zombies and doing a roaring trade in supplies from food to weapons, are amongst the oddities that Keiko encounters. Later in the movie, however, they team together in common alliance against the despotic Captain Fujioke and his zealot Zombies. The bus battalion refer to themselves as The Battle Kids, so it is appropriate that they eventually align with Battle Girl !.

Watching Cutie Susuki in Action as Battle Girl is worth the price of admission. Her real life wrestling ability affords her the ability to pull off some incredible moves, and most likely than not doing all of her own stunt work. At least one of the super Zombies she comes up against is clearly a fellow professional wrestler, as the two women pull off a nifty array of signature moves against each other. Amongst the more bizarre of the mutated monstrosities that Keiko has a run in with is a garish looking gargantuan, sporting a full set of sharp metal teeth and a matching steel clawed hand. Things get a little fraught towards the destructive finale and there is more than a fair smattering of blood letting, and limb lopping along the way.
Its all very silly but in an entertaining way, that with a sub seventy five minute duration delivers enough to sensibly not outstay its welcome. Battle Girl come closure has that to be continued feel about it, but although a sequel was not forthcoming it is not inconceivable in the current Japanese video shot market place, that someone will pick this up and breath new life into Battle Girl. With the glut of outrageously gory Anime styled movies being made and doing so well, what could be done with the character and the world she inhabits today is boundless. An ultra-violent, all Action live shot Anime, emblazoning Battle Girl across our screens once more, is a mighty Wrestlemania moment to die for. Now, just bring it !.

Movie Rating: 5/10

Review: Paul Cooke / Source: NTSC Region 1 DVD

Battle Girl: The Living Dead In Tokyo Bay (1991)

Director Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu

With Cutie Suzuki,Kenji Otsuki & Kera Hayase

School's Out ... Forever

The Final

(2010/USA)

‘‘We all have a point where we can do the unimaginable’’

Rising up against their fellow taunting students, America’s angst ridden High School teens take arms… and fingers, and tongues, and other body parts, in a gruelling indictment of what is all too worryingly now less atypical of today’s troubled youth !. Picked upon, and persecuted to snapping point, teen geek Dane and his forlorn friends make a pact to turn the tables upon their egotistical and plain spiteful classmates. They intricately prepare to unleash their pent up frustrations upon their antagonistic peers at the class fancy dress party. A night time affair at a remote location, where all that lays between fun and freedom is a two mile hike through the surrounding woods. Their vehicles left at the edge of the locale and transportation to the venue provided.
As the party begins all partake of the alcoholic punch, unbeknownst to them hat it is laced with a narcoleptic potion that puts them all out cold. When the dazed students awaken they find themselves all chained together in the main room of the party parlour. One mezzanine level above them, lording it over the banister down upon them, is the small group of disgruntled pupils. All are garishly garbed in perverse fancy dress, mirroring their inner disturbed state, and identities hidden behind freakish masks. Amongst the twisted sartorial dress code are a zipper faced scarecrow and a leather masked SS officer. Dane addresses the petrified partygoers by way of a voice distortion box, residing within the snout of his bulbous gas mask guise. Amongst his sullen soliloquy he chooses a cutting and aptly poignant sentence, ‘‘Now it’s your turn to ask, why us !?’’. What follows is Dane and his empowered geek posse calmly and collectively exacting pain and torture upon their now pitiful fellow high school students. Pleading for their precious vanity in the tortured face of souls stripped of their own dignity. These now empowered teens apply the lesson of humility to an attentive class of cowering, self obsessed charlatans. Their tools of the trade are not easel and chalk, nor notepad and pen, but bullet and gun, secateurs and cattle gun !. The shed blood of the petrified pupils the ink with which to etch the intent of their vitriolic adjudicators.
Without particular prejudice Dane freely allows his comrades at arms to inflict harm upon the flinching teens, as several are maimed and disfigured for life at the hands of their disturbingly tranquil captors. The cattle gun flails chunks of flesh from face and limb. A faux beauty face pack soon turns pretty into painful and disfiguring purgatory. Prior to this night of nastiness the evangelical Emily turns evangelist of evil, as she all too proficiently displays her panache for the art of acupuncture. Her needle is against a bullying boy who she literally goes for the throat at as she pushes needle, upon needle into his thorax region until his cries are muted !.The overseeing Dane is so resolute in his plan of action that even the escape of one of the students out into the adjacent woods is met with disdainful mockery of the abject attempt at freedom. Even with a head start the foot fleeing youngster has no chance at all, as even the woods are set with traps, and the odds of reaching the two mile perimeter is lessened by a chasing pack of quad bike and motorcycle riding avengers.
Back at the residence of revenge Dane focuses his vehemence upon high school football jack Brad, the biggest braggart of them all, and here in the face of adversity a whimpering coward. Forced to choose between slicing off all of his own fingers or cutting those of one of his fellow female pupils, he elects self preservation. His spineless principle empowers Dane to an extreme act that leaves Brad in a state of paralysis, and those viewing most likely rigid in their comfort chairs at the sudden brutality of the assault. This is no precocious parody on prerequisite teen horror flicks, but a frightening preamble taken to the extreme as torn from the very newsreels of today’s society. Harsh and harrowing, yet at the same time absurdly evocative like a designer substance perverting the line of reality. Take in with caution, and heed its meaningful mockery of life imitating reality TV before this madness takes a true shape and form. The boundaries of desensitisation are alarmingly being torn down, and even this as a form of entertainment is far from being, The Final.

Movie Rating: 6/10

Review: Paul Cooke / Source Region 1 NTSC DVD

The Final (2010)

Director Joey Stewart

With Marc Donato, Lindsay Seidel, Travis Tedford,

Jascha Washington, Whitney Hoy, Justin Arnold,

Julin Jean, Eric Isenhower, Hunter Garner,

Mark Nutter & Preston Flagg

Monster Bugs Abound

Star Runners

(2009/USA)

‘‘We’re gonna need a lotta ammo’’

Connor Trinneer, aka Commander Trip Tucker III from Star Trek Enterprise, goes boldly into un-chartered space and ends up on a planet overrun with oversized mutant bugs. Phasers set to stun wont get the job done here, it’s heavy assed artillery and size fifty boots required to squash these ‘B’ movie beasties.

Trinneer is Tycho ‘Ty’ Johns, a galactic swashbuckling smuggler, who along with friend and fellow likeable rogue Lei Chen (James Kyson-Lee, perhaps best known for his role as Ando in the hit TV show Heroes), stay under the radar of the totalitarian planetary authorities. They wheel and deal to survive, helping those who need it along the way, avoiding conflict but more than able to stand their ground in a tight situation.

Their bodacious bravado is brought to a halt when Universal Police principal Bishop, an autocratic overlord with overtures of Darth Vader without James Earl Jones’ voice, reins in their space craft by deploying an intricate stinger trap. Cornered by a measurable fleet of Universal Police space ships in a well planned pincher movement Ty and Lei Chan have no choice but to give themselves up. They have been an irritant to Bishop for some time, but he has stretched his resources at this time to ensnare his nemesis in order to put his particular skills to use for his own nefarious gain !.

Bishop offers Ty and his cohort a way out of doing hard time penal by getting them to acquire a very special cargo of a containment crate. They are to locate and retrieve the crate, not open it, and return to Bishop as a priority. They have no choice but to accept his terms. Bishop of course ensures that the two men and their craft are well tagged in order to keep tabs on them, should they be foolish enough to make a run for it.
Ty calls upon his underground contacts for information about the ‘crate’ and any unusual activity surrounding what is clearly a hot item. Its not long before he and Lei Chan locate their commission, and of course all of the extra baggage that comes with it. Ignoring the rule of do not open the crate Tycho Johns and Lei Chan are soon baby sitting a female brought out of frozen animation. This is no ordinary young woman of course, as she just so happens to be the only living survivor of a planets extinct populace. An entire race wiped out in experimental genocide by an intent full Bishop, a couple of decades earlier.
Released from her suspended state, and coming to terms with her surroundings as well as to her two emancipators, the anxious young woman reveals her identity as Asta. It is soon clear that she is no ordinary human, but one imbued with extraordinary abilities. She is able to harness her inner strength to generate an energy powerful enough to expel from her very being, and hone as a directional weapon of pure energy with directional force. An exceptional being and a highly prized asset to interested parties aware of her existence. Those interested parties being Bishop and the rebel forces, and with Pandora’s ‘crate’ now opened Ty and Lei Chan make a desperate space flight for freedom. They board a passenger flight, but are soon fired upon and the captain of the ship is killed. Time for Tycho Johns to take the helm !.
Ty’s vaunted skill as a pilot affords him, Chan, and their new found super chick passenger Asta, a head start but one that is doomed to eventual failure due to the overwhelming class of spacecraft pursuing them. Ty takes a great risk to gain further advantage and hit’s the hyper space jump button in un-chartered space. What waits on the other side of the jump is a freefall into the gravitational pull of a mysterious planet. Surviving the crash Ty and companions, along with a handful of fellow passengers, gather themselves and head towards a complex on the horizon. As they seek out shelter, behind them the bodies of those who did not survive the crash become food for the planets non human inhabitants !.
Hold back the grin of anticipation, call upon the Sci Fi hand book of many a great TV series, and sign up to the Starship Troopers (1997) ethos of entomology, ‘cause its time for Gunfight At The Big Bug Corral. Yes indeedy, good old Connor Trineer didn’t spend all that time on the Enterprise dreaming of being a star blazing buccaneering hero to turn down the opportunity to kick alien butt, head on here. Within the under belly of the complex its off world experimental central and natures itty bitty bugs have become monstrous atrocities, the size of small animals, but un-reliant on humans to hand feed them but rather feeding upon them !. These critters are fast, furious and nifty at removing human heads with their over sized pincers and incisors. Keep your eyes peeled and whatever you do don’t look up as these scuttling beasties are like Spider Man without the costume. They tear through the lower end credit cast like Freddy Krueger frantically wet wiping after a spicy Mexican. This is a meal deal that the monstrous munchers don’t get too often, with visitors at a premium.
Bug busting aid comes in the form of pursuing rebels, forming an uneasy alliance with team Tycho against the leggy legion of creatures. Big guns and bullish bravado bleed out as frequently as the mounting corpses, with Ty laying down the law with the aptly phrased dialogue, ‘‘You point a gun at me again, bugs will be the least of your problems’’. Freedom fighters, fortune seekers, pernicious profiteers, gung ho savants and carnivorous bugs collide in a glorious SyFy Channel showdown. It’s a big step up from the usual run of the mill fare churned out for TV. The effects are good and the bugs are very well done. There’s ample splurges of blood letting and the lead cast are giving their all in what clearly was a fun production to turn up for work on. In collaboration with UFO (Unified Film Organisation) the Sci Fi Channel has delivered a bug blast of movie enjoyment. Good to see UFO head honcho Phillip J. Roth amongst the roster as one of the films producers. He has been delivering solid entertainment value in the Action / Sci Fi genres for many accomplished years now and Star Runners is testament to that.
Seek this one out then fellow Sci Fi citizens for a bug fest frenzy that’s out of this world.

Movie Rating: 6/10

Review: Paul Cooke / Source SyFy Channel

Star Runners (2009)

Director Mat King

With Connor Trinneer, James Kyson-Lee,

Toni Trucks, Aja Evans,

Velizar Beniv & Michael Culkin

Slick Swiss Sci-Fi

Cargo

(2009/Switzerland)

‘‘What happens to those who find out they’re living in a simulation ?’’

An intelligent and highly engrossing Sci-Fi movie from Switzerland, with visual and audible working parts analogous to a fine Swiss time piece.

The future of planet Earth seems destined to the desolate dusts of oblivion. A plague of epidemic proportions has swept the globe and all forms of life are dying. The once green and prosperous world is now barren and bleak. Mankind has reached out to the stars and vast space stations orbit the Earth, as well as farther reaching planets. The technology to use light speed now exists in this future time, along with the ability to safely use cryogenics to suspend life on long destinations.

Orbiting planet Earth is a space station the size of Manhattan, its vitality lighting up the dense darkness of space like New York city at night time. This Metropolis is where the remnants of mankind’s majority now exist. There is still sickness and disease but thanks to the global governmental system there is a perfect life to strive for on the perfect world of Rhea.

Blade runner (1982) like giant screens fill the minds of the populace with hope of a better life. Work for the system and commit to the cause and the reward may be a place in the Shangri-La that is Rhea. But, at what cost and to what end ?.

Doctor Laura Portmann (Anna-Katharina Schwabroh) signs up on a four year contract as a medic aboard a cargo ship. Her dream is to acquire passage to join her sister Laura, and her son and daughter, at their picturesque homestead on Rhea. Along with a minimal crew Laura is designated a cryogenic split shift with the rest of the ships compliment, their destination deep space Station 42.

Like any government this future one is targeted by militant factions looking to bring them down. The space lanes and cargo traffic have been hit often with what is broadcast as terror attacks, and acts of major sabotage. The leader of the activist group is Klaus Bruckner, deemed an infamous terrorist and enemy of the people. For the protection of outgoing cargo transportation sky marshals are designated to the teams. Aboard Laura’s ship is assigned Samuel Decker (Martin Rapold). His authority over rides even the captain of the vessel in time of threat to the ship and crew.

The cargo ship is transporting material to build a new space station, and part of the crews daily routine is to carry out routine diagnostic checks, to maintain optimum efficiency in arriving at their destination in good time. Three years and eight months into the journey Laura Portmann’s shift is underway, and an unanticipated turn of events begins to play out.

Laura goes about her daily routine carrying out the necessary checks and procedures, interspersed with a regular fitness routine and occasional message relays to her sister. Her video diary is to share her thoughts with her niece and nephew, living in the perfect haven of Rhea with their mother, Laura’s sister. The delay in response takes weeks, but is still very much welcomed as a distraction from the cold dankness of the huge space sarcophagus she is travelling within. One day, however, a message she sends is responded to literally moments later. How can this possibly be !?.

As the days go by Laura’s solitary shift gives her cause to explore the ship a little deeper than before. An unusual patter of clanking sounds leads her to a high security restricted area. She feels ill at ease, and even more so when she believes that she sees movement through the thick glass window panel of the heavy duty steel restraining door. The captain of the ship and the sky marshal are pulled out of cryogenic suspension, and together the three of them investigate beyond the door. It is the main entrance to the cargo compartment, where what is being transported is stored. The climate control temperature beyond the door is well below freezing !. Due to the size of the bay the three of them are designated by the captain to split into three, in order to each take equal portion of the nine sectors to investigate. Portmann raises concern that all of them should stay together. Her concerns are merited moments later as she witness the free fall decent of her captain dropping to the ground a multitude of metres below her. He is dead upon impact. His condition verified back in the medical lab by Laura as she verifies his cause of death from fractured skull and multiple fractures to the spine. What she also discovers during the autopsy is that the captain has an artificial eye !.

Upon removal she connects the eye to her computer and is able to reconstruct the last few moments of what the captain saw before his tragic fall. What is displayed upon the screen is sight of a containment area that reads Biohazard !.

Investigation of the cargo by Portmann, Decker, and two other members of the now fully awakened crew, Vespucci and Prokoff, reveal that rather than construction materials the transported cargo on board is actually humans !. Doctor Portmann insists that one of the containers is taken back to the ships medical lab for further investigation. Against the judgement of the once second in command and now newly self appointed Captain, Anna Lindberg, Laura pulls the occupant out of artificial suspension. What she awakens is a young girl, and what she discovers is that this innocent child is hooked up to a computerised highway. A world of tranquillity, completely opposite to the dark void environment that humanity is existing in. Could it be that this young girl and the mass multitude of fellow cryogenically entombed people are all part of a linked hub. A community of the persistently sleeping, yet consciously aware in a state far removed from reality !?.

The now in charge designated captain Lindberg does her own investigating and discovers that whilst everyone else was confined to the assigned configuration of their cryogenic chamber rota, it seems that sky marshal Samuel Decker has been freely coming and going during the entirety of the ships durational undertaking. She confronts him and accuses him of sabotage. He is placed under arrest and forced back into cryogenic sleep for the remainder of the journey. Before he is hauled off he tells Portmann that they are not headed for Station 42, but in fact are bound for Rhea !.

Soon after Laura asks auxiliary crew member Miyuki Yoshida to use her expertise with computers to do a search of the ships logistics. She reveals that they are indeed not destined for Station 42 at all. More alarmingly she confirms that a ships pre-destined flight path cannot be altered once it is computed into its binary coding, therefore their flight plan has not been changed during the journey. Wherever they are destined is not what they were informed of at the outset !.

A short time later one of the crew turns up dead, and Decker is once again free from his cryogenic containment. There must be someone else on board the ship !.

The look and feel of this relatively low budget production is exemplary. Hollywood blockbusters afforded this attention to detail at likely twenty to thirty times the cost would be proud of the outcome. The effects are actually cleverly kept at a minimal, but when deployed are exceptional. The majority of the film centres around the Cargo ship and its occupants. The handful of characters helps keep things taught, as all of them are to a degree suspicious of the other. The central roles are that of Doctor Laura Portmann and space marshall Samuel Decker. As the movie progresses Deccker’s true purpose for being aboard the transportation ship unravels. Portmann is striving for the dream that all of humanity is seeking, a perfect life upon Rhea. The government is feeding the surviving populace a dream, something to strive for, but also manipulating the truth. In a true global ongoing plight to keep balance, even in this future time, the message seems to be that man has learned little from his past failures.

Planet Earth is described as being completely bereft of being able to support life, yet an under lying factor of hope plays out throughout the movie. Is Earth’s re-colonization now more of an economical downturn for a thriving government than an ethical priority to re-establish a birthright ?. Is the creation of a fantastical environment this futures addiction, no better than drugs ?. This then is indeed a thought provoking Science Fiction movie bordering on future science fact. Eerily enigmatic in its allure and cerebrally stimulating in its demure transience between reality and pseudo actuality.

Come the finale Laura holds the key to unlocking the true ecosystem structure of Rhea, and its blinding beauty holds the future of humanity within its diffident dystopia.

Seek Cargo out wherever you can, be it at a film festival or late night showing at a small town cinema venue, but if you can do see it on the big screen. To be cinematically enveloped by true sound and vision is the very best way to experience this tremendous slice of succulent Sci-Fi nourishment.

Movie Rating: 7/10

Review: Paul Cooke

Cargo (2009)

Director Ivan Engler & Ralph Etter

With Martin Rapold, Anna-Katharina Schwabroh,

Michael Finger,Claude-Oliver Rudolph,

Regula Grauwiller, Yangzom Brauen,

Maria Boettner, Pierre Semmier,

Gilles Tschudi & Noa Strupler