Enemy Mine

[Alpha_Geek]

It's a decent, under-sung little movie. Very well-intentioned, brilliantly played by both leads.

Why Quaid never became a huge star in the vein of Ford, Gibson, Hanks or Cruise totally baffles me.

I concur, both actors did a great job! Quaid has some substance abuse issues at pivotal times in his career, IIRC.

I once missed a chance to hear him performing with the Texas Tornados in Tallahassee in the early 90's. Probably would have been interesting.

 

[Spider]

"Trouble!"

"What kind of trouble?"

"THIS kind!" Bam!

Loved that scene. LOL

 

[LitmusDragon]

^^
Copied twice, by my memory, on Star Trek the Next Generation as 'The Enemy' and on Enterprise as 'Dawn.' Are there more examples that I'm missing? The Unas storyline (there was even an episode called Enemy Mine!) on Stargate SG-1 was similar as well.

Darmock, also on TNG. As Picard pointed out in the episode though, this is a very old story.

 

[propita]

I really liked the movie overall. And the sfx weren't the point, so who reallly cared, as long as they did the job.

I rememeber the first tiime I saw it that the ending was a bit different from the book. Offhand, can't remember--the jist was the same but I liked the book's version more.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

Just watched this again the other day. Great film.

Although, yeah, the space SFX are insanely bad. I had totally forgotten. It's like BSG TOS bad.

The makeup and creature effects, by contrast, are pretty good, particularly for the time.

I agree with you, it is a great film but there is no way that the visual effects of the original Battlestar Galactica are as bad as the effects in Enemy Mine.

 

[Harvey]

Are the effects really that bad? I can't say I remember one way or another--I saw the film about six months ago for the first and only time. But I don't remember them being that harsh. Perhaps there are screen captures or an appropriate youtube clip of something particularly terrible?

 

[Myasishchev]

Just watched this again the other day. Great film.

Although, yeah, the space SFX are insanely bad. I had totally forgotten. It's like BSG TOS bad.

The makeup and creature effects, by contrast, are pretty good, particularly for the time.

I agree with you, it is a great film but there is no way that the visual effects of the original Battlestar Galactica are as bad as the effects in Enemy Mine.

Heck, the space effects on Star Trek TOS don't date as badly as Enemy Mine's. In EM's defense, TOS generally attempted far less.

Are the effects really that bad? I can't say I remember one way or another--I saw the film about six months ago for the first and only time. But I don't remember them being that harsh. Perhaps there are screen captures or an appropriate youtube clip of something particularly terrible?

The opening sequence is the worst offender. It reminded me immediately of "Jews in Space" from History of the World Part I (well Part II ), except a bit shoddier. The space station seen much later, however, looks okay.

And I want to reemphasize that the creature effects on the planet date very well. I'd say they wouldn't be out of place in a film from the early 2000s (now they'd be entirely CGI, of course, and very possibly look worse, but for less money ).

 

[Reverend]

Enemy Mine is a classic and I think Quaid is one of the most underrated actors around. I still have fond memories of Inner Space and Frequency is probably the most elegant time travel story I've ever seen.

As for Louis Gossett, Jr., he set the standard for "alien" acting for years to come. Award worthy IMO.
A bit of trivia for those who've never played Half-Life 2; does this alien's voice sound familiar?

 

[Jolaris]

The movie does have a few good points, but the short story the movie is based on is better...

 

[Mysterion]

The movie does have a few good points, but the short story the movie is based on is better...

I was just going to ask if anyone here had read the novella that the movie was based on.

If you can find it, get a copy of The Enemy Papers by Barry Longyear. It has the original story, a couple more stories in the same setting, a translation of the alien's holy scripture (the name of which escapes me at the moment), and an interesting essay by Longyear on the origins of the stories. It's out of print to the best of my knowledge, but worth hunting the used book dealers for.

There is also an interesting novelization of the film co-written with David Gerrold.

 

[Vonstadt]

A charming little gem of the Science Fiction film industry.

The Book is simply marvelous as well and fills in a bit more on the BTA and the war with the Dracs. Though I like the ending of the film, the books ending is just as charming.

The effects werent the best but they were okay for the time and well as mentioned werent the point of the story. Back then most films had a -plot- , not just big explosions

Nice to see this film is remembered from time to time

Vons

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

The movie does have a few good points, but the short story the movie is based on is better...

How about the movie the short story is based on, "Hell in the Pacific"?

/\"Hell in the pacific".
A WW2 movie with Lee Marvin.

Gah, you beat me to it!!

It's a great story though that lends itself to updating, I think. Stargate, Star Trek, etc, the point of the story is timeless and has a great message.

 

[M'Sharak]

Are the effects really that bad? I can't say I remember one way or another--I saw the film about six months ago for the first and only time. But I don't remember them being that harsh. Perhaps there are screen captures or an appropriate youtube clip of something particularly terrible?

The effects are the least important part of the movie and are adequate for the purpose, provided the viewer is able to exercise a little imagination.