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Wing Commander

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It is Earth year 2564. The Confederation is engaged in a brutal war with the vicious, bloodthirsty alien race, the Kilrathi. The Kilrathi have captured a computer navigation device which they plan on using to jump behind enemy lines and attack Earth. Only three brazen young space pilots and their elite fighter squadron stand in the way of their planet's destruction.

Christopher Blair (Freddie Prinze Junior) is fresh from the Academy, but his inexperience belies his incredible navigational skills. He has a genetically inbred gift - an innate feel for the stars and for space-time itself. Blair's buddy, Todd "Maniac" Marshall (Matthew Lillard), is a brash, irresponsible fighter jock with a slightly crazed gleam in his eye. He likes to do things his way, and if he breaks a few rules, so much the better. Their Wing Commander is the strong-willed and beautiful Jeanette "Angel" Deveraux (Saffron Buffows), the leader of the fighter squadron. Deveraux's laser-like focus and leadership skills mask her growing attraction for Chris.

With nothing but their own rebellious ways in common, Deveraux, Blair and Maniac will come together to face a seemingly invincible enemy... with the future of mankind at stake.

Also starring Tchéky Karyo as Paladin, Jürgen Prochnow as Gerald, David Suchet as Sansky and David Warner as Tolwyn.

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Kaboom!

Wing Commander is, as you will no doubt be aware, the movie version of the game (and that's a nice change in itself). There are heroes, battles, spaceships, explosions, dying, sex and better than sex (don't ask me how, I'm just quoting): everything you need for a fun time at the movies. And Wing Commander is nothing if not fun.

Freddie is cute and earnest all at the same time, Matthew does this Tom Paris cute-but-angstful thing, Saffron is the motherly bitch goddess. Throw in an assortment of small time and first time movie actors and you have the rest of the cast. Not that they're bad but you can always take time out to play Isn't he the guy that was in...?

There's not much more that I need to say. The effects are cool, the action is hot, the explosions are excellent. What more could you ask for?

And having posed a question I will now answer it. The one giant nitpick I have with Wing Commander is that it seems to be taking place under water and up in the air as well as out in space. You can hear bullets being fired, see vapour trails from rockets and everyone pretends to be in submarines. It's a big mish-mash of every war genre you can think of but if you can get over that, you'll love it.