'Commander' stays grounded

A galaxy far, far away, intergalactic space battles, brash, hotshot pilots and power hungry aliens, Oh my!

The "Star Wars" trailer is absolutely stunning. Seeing a brief glimpse of what George Lucas has in store for us is worth the $7.50 alone. Sadly, however, movie theaters won't run the two and a half minute film strip on continuous loop for two hours.

Instead, in theaters this week, the "Star Wars" trailer (a.k.a. "Wing Commander") follows with 110 minutes of pure, imitation Bantha fodder. With its horrible, worse-than- "Seaquest" special effects and irredeemable script, Chris Robert's "Wing Commander" already makes a strong case for the worst film of the year, coming across as a cheap, sci-fi war film, without any of the wisdom of "Star Trek" or the charm of "Star Wars."

Courtesy of 20th Century FOX Freddy Prinze Jr. comforts an injured Matthew Lillard in "Wing Commander."

Based on the video game of the same name, "Wing Commander" follows the space odyssey of ace pilot Christopher "Maverick" Blair and his rag tag counterpart Todd "Maniac" Marshall, played by "She's All That" stars Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard. Aside from the fact that their names sound like hick radio disc jockeys, both are poorly drawn caricatures as they deal with everything from interracial sex, racism, death and blasting evil Kilrathi cruisers.

Struggling through the awful dialogue and the more laughable scenarios, the actors put forth a semi-decent effort as Prinze Jr. maintains his innocent charm contrasted with Lillard's usual goofy presence. The combined onscreen presence of the two bring the only likable quality to this space disaster originally slated to be released direct-to-video.

Blair and Marshall eventually team up with a command ship on a mission to fight the Kilrathi, a foxlike alien race hell-bent on destroying the universe. Leading the fight squadron is Jeanette "Angel" Devereaux (Saffron Burrows), whose wonderful, English accent ends up ... you guessed it ... being used in a soppy, laughable romance with Blair.

As the battle between the Kilrathi and the humans delves deeper into space, the space travel dialogue about jump coordinates, hyperspace, outer shields and navcom detectors gets thicker and thicker. What the hell are these people talking about? More so, who really cares?

For all it tries to be, "Wing Commander" gets disgustingly preachy in its attempts to deal with "spacism" as tension rises among the young squadron because Blair is "half-pilgrim." Pilgrims are racially unaccepted in this galaxy.

While Blair fights his past, Marshall enjoys a little romance with fellow pilot Rosie Forbes (Ginny Holder), who adds the only funny line of the film, claiming, "It's better than sex with myself."

One can only wish that "Wing Commander" made an attempt to live up to that. While the very, very mildly entertaining first half is barely passable, the film's latter half proves boring and predictable. Watch for the foxy Kilrathi, whose hilarious stuff animal-like appearance produce jubilant laughter.

If you go see "Wing Commander," make sure to arrive early to see the "Star Wars" trailer. And remember, you probably won't get your money back if you ask for a refund.

03-16-99