SUPERNOVA revolves around the crew of medical vessel Nightingale who answer an emergency distress call sent directly to them from an abandoned moon orbiting a blue giant.   Once there, the ship is damaged and loses most of their fuel and must wait for the dimensional drive to recharge (with 11 minutes to spare).   They rescue the mysterious Troy (Peter Facnelli) who has brought aboard an ancient alien artifact which contains transdimensional matter which can make people younger and stronger in addition to other properties.

 

SUPERNOVA had a troubled production history and it is only half a good movie which has great production design, special effects, music score, and actors (like James Spader, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Angela Bassett).   The first 50 minutes are great, but the last 40 minutes are a mess which makes wonder what would have happened if MGM stayed out of trying to make the movie with him.   SUPERNOVA was the result of too many cooks in the kitchen where a movie like EVENT HORIZON got everything right.  I wish SUPERNOVA was able to tap more into the Pandora’s Box parallels with the transdimensional matter object though.   Maybe if the studio wasn’t trying to rework it every day (or let Walter Hill do his reshoots), SUPERNOVA might be a better film.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The retrospective featurette has interviews with actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Robert Forster, and producers Daniel Chuba and Jack Sholder as they talk about the problems with making the moving and the editing of it from Walter Hill walking off the project after the first edit after MGM refused to have him to do some reshoots first before the first test screening and Francis Ford Coppola coming to edit it.   You will also hear about how James Spader campaigned and prepared for his role in the movie.

 

14 minutes of deleted scenes are rightfully cut even though they do give a little extra clarification to parts of the story, but they were rightfully cut.  Also included is an alternate ending which still has the same problems the theatrical ending had.

 

Also included on the blu-ray is the theatrical trailer, but it would have been nice to see some of the spoilerific TV spots for it on this disc.   Rounding out the disc are previews for LIFEFORCE, INVADERS FROM MARS, and THE MELTING MAN.

 

FINAL ANLYSIS:  SUPERNOVA could have been a good movie, but creative meddling dooms the last 40 minutes.  The Scream Factory blu-ray is top notch though.

 

This review is ©1-27-2015 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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