Den of Geek Looks Back at Wing Commander Again

Den of Geek has posted a new article that reviews the Wing Commander Movie to see if "time has been kind to it." I still remember the premiere like it was yesterday, so it's strange to think that there are film critics out there now who were just in elementary school (or younger!) back in 1999. The author in this case is a fair bit older than that, but it's always interesting to see people's perspectives on the movie today in a brand new context. They appear to be fascinated by the mix of relatively modern CG juxtaposed less stellar physical effects. There's also an acknowledgement of the fine international cast, but it's layered in some disappointment at the lack of the game series' fun actor lineup. Check out the full article here. Den of Geek has also posted a retrospective on the Wing Commander games last year as well.

Even in 1999, the sight of iffy scale model effects and rubbery aliens rubbing shoulders with relatively fresh CGI must have looked curiously archaic to cinemagoers of the time, and it feels as though the filmmakers themselves knew this. In the midst of all the likeably kitsch space operatics, there’s one brief, isolated sequence where the film turns into The Matrix: as a space ship goes into hyper drive, we see a couple of bullet-time shots of characters frozen in awkward positions. It’s a moment of quintessentially late-90s style that probably looked quite trendy at the time, but now looks just as quaint as the rest of this deliriously camp would-be blockbuster.