Now, I am not someone who wandered out of his genre and happened to see this movie by accident. I love science fiction -- old, new, I think most of it has something to offer.
This film would be the exception. Some films are fun because they're cheesy (Event Horizon), and some are great because they're thought-provoking (The Day the Earth Stood Still). Silent Running is an obnoxious portrayal of a hippie who should never have been allowed on a space ship to begin with.
The premise here has a lot of promise; had the characters been more believable or the film itself less... well, there are a lot of statements that fit here. Politically skewed, weakly written, off-balance, utterly implausible (even for a sci-fi flick)... the list goes on.
I had heard of this movie as some kind of milestone for science fiction. It is not, and should not be considered such; it's hard to even take this movie seriously, as it is obviously meant to be. It also fails as a campy popcorn flick, which it was definitely NOT meant to be, because the message is so overbearing that most of it is just painful to watch, regardless of whether you agree with it.
I absolutely do not recommend this movie; it has no redeeming value -- not for ecologists, not for pacifists, not for anyone short of Greenpeace supporters on downers. Avoid this, for your own sake.
This film would be the exception. Some films are fun because they're cheesy (Event Horizon), and some are great because they're thought-provoking (The Day the Earth Stood Still). Silent Running is an obnoxious portrayal of a hippie who should never have been allowed on a space ship to begin with.
The premise here has a lot of promise; had the characters been more believable or the film itself less... well, there are a lot of statements that fit here. Politically skewed, weakly written, off-balance, utterly implausible (even for a sci-fi flick)... the list goes on.
I had heard of this movie as some kind of milestone for science fiction. It is not, and should not be considered such; it's hard to even take this movie seriously, as it is obviously meant to be. It also fails as a campy popcorn flick, which it was definitely NOT meant to be, because the message is so overbearing that most of it is just painful to watch, regardless of whether you agree with it.
I absolutely do not recommend this movie; it has no redeeming value -- not for ecologists, not for pacifists, not for anyone short of Greenpeace supporters on downers. Avoid this, for your own sake.