I’m re-reviewing the Lost In Space reboot movie for two reasons: the first and main reason is that this year marks the twentieth anniversary of its release in theaters. The second reason is the upcoming premiere of the rebooted reboot of LIS on Netflix, which has got me thinking about this much maligned version. Based on the popular 1960s TV series by producer Irwin Allen (who also gave us Land of the Giants, Time Tunnel, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, among other flights of TV fancy), Lost in Space was--as its name implied--about a family getting lost in the vastness of space while on a mission to settle a far off planet.
It’s based somewhat on Swiss Family Robinson, by Johann David Wyss, which was first published in 1812. That book has been turned into several films and a 1970s TV show over the years, but the original 1960s Lost In Space is the only project that gave the story an SF spin. The Robinsons in the 1960s series were portrayed as a warm and loving family unit, with the patriarch, John Robinson (played by Guy Williams) and his sidekick Major Don West (played by Mark Goddard) coming off as being supremely calm and confident heroes. When the you-know-what hit the fan, John and Don would quickly work out a solution, or a plan of action, that would resolve the problem and keep the family safe and alive to get lost another day.
The 1998 film makes the major mistake of making the Robinsons a dysfunctional family, with constant squabbling between the kids and even with John and Don threatening to duke it out when they don’t see eye to eye. By having the original Robinson family be a solid family unit that always looked out for each other no matter what, they became very appealing characters for a viewer to hang out with--as opposed to the ’98 versions, which has young Will asking his mother if they could dial down the oxygen in Penny’s sleep chamber, and Penny asking the befuddled Maureen if they really needed to have Will to wake up at all.
It would be different if the ’98 Robinsons grew to become a loving, caring family unit at the end of the film, but there’s no real evidence of that happening. Oddly enough, the film overall has a very dark soul, constantly veering off into nightmarish scenarios--filled with death and destruction--that only further serve as a turn off for the viewer. It’s probably no surprise that the writer of this film is Akiva Goldsman, who famously (or infamously) helped to briefly end the Batman cinematic saga in the 1990s with his ridiculous scripts for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Goldsman also served as an executive producer on Star Trek: Discovery, another recent SF reboot that suffered from stilted, scatter-shot writing in its first season.
While the script for Lost In Space ’98 wasn’t much to write home about, the casting was a different matter. Getting renown character actor Gary Oldman (who recently won an Oscar for best performance in a fat suit) to play the villainous Dr. Smith was a great idea. Despite the cringe worthy lines he’s given to deliver (“Trust me, Major; evil knows evil!”) Oldman makes the most of his part with just a look or an expression. He fills his Dr. Smith with a strong sense of menace that not even Jonathan Harris, the original Dr. Smith, could achieve (although he came close in the first season, which was much more serious than the over the top campy flavor of the second and third seasons).
One would think having Oldman in the cast would make others like Matt LeBlanc look bad. But, well, I thought LeBlanc actually gave a solid performance as the jut-jawed Don West, here. But what’s interesting is that Mark Goddard, the original Don West, was given the glorified cameo role of the unnamed General who’s LeBlanc’s commanding officer, and Goddard is so good here that I almost wish they’d recast him back in his original part as Don West. Marta Kristen (Judy in the original series) and Angela Cartwright (Penny in the original series) are given smaller parts as reporters, while June Lockhart (the original mama Maureen) plays Will’s school principal. Dick Tufeld, who did the voice of the original LIS Robot, also does the voice for the new version of the robot here.
I actually liked the new version of the Robot, which was a big blue machine that looked pretty badass--until he was destroyed and replaced by a more dopey-looking version that tried to emulate the original’s design and failed. William Hurt and Mimi Rogers are very bland as John and Maureen Robinson, while young Jack Johnson is very good as their son Will (one nice touch this version has is making Will a science prodigy). Lacey Chabert and Heather Graham, as Penny and Judy Robinson, respectively, make the most of what the script offers them, which isn’t much. Goldsman’s script sidelines the female characters for most of the climatic action, reducing them to either reacting to stuff in fear, or cheering on the men.
After twenty years the effects, which are mainly CGI, don’t look very good--particularly painful is the little “space monkey” that Penny adopts as a pet. This creature looks like an unfinished figure used in the pre-visualization footage when they needed an unrendered blank figure to stand in for something; it looks that bad. Not much of this film really holds up, other than it provides a part for Lennie James, who would go on to be famous for his role as Morgan in The Walking Dead. Jared Harris, who played the older Will, would be better known for his roles in Mad Men and The Expanse, among others. He is the son of legendary actor Richard Harris. This version of Lost In Space doesn't have much to offer, especially given that people have the choice of watching the classic series (as well as the new one on Netflix), other than being an obscure oddity that can serve as a warning of how not to revive a popular TV show. --SF
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