Day: January 24th, Movies: 25

Enemy Mine was a film that I was aware of, but that I never watched. There may have been a few scenes that I had seen before, but I remember never being that interested in it. This allowed me to watch it for the Genre-ary Sci-Fi DailyView.

According to IMDB, “At the height of the devastating intergalactic war between humans and the bipedal reptilian humanoids known as Dracs, the earthling single-seat fighter pilot, Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid), and the saurian pilot, Jeriba Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr), engage in a furious dogfight. As both sworn enemies crash-land on the desolate, inhospitable planet, Fyrine IV, they will have to put aside their hatred for each other, share knowledge and experience to fight the forces of nature and, above all, work in unison to survive. Can their forced coexistence and uneasy camaraderie pave the way for a genuine inter-species friendship?”

The film feels as if it is split into two distinct sections. The first part is the relationship between Quaid and Gossett Jr. and the second part is with Quaid and Bumper Robison who played Zammis. The first part was decent as the chemistry between the two lead actors was strong. The second half became a bit messy as the story devolved into a series of plot contrivances.

I did like Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr and their characters. Both of them did a great job during the time when the two stranded pilots were slowly learning about each other and learning to trust each other.

Some of the passage of time felt inconsistent. I wasn’t sure how long they were together or how much time they actually spent with each other. Though it may not be the most important aspect of the story, it did had me thinking about it as I watched, which is not ideal.

The culture of the Dracs was fascinating and seemed to be laid out effectively. The strength of the race was important to make sure there was a contradiction to the human race. There was a lot of creativity in the development of the Dracs and that carried the film for the first section.

The second part felt rushed and was disappointing. I would have liked this story to move in a different direction than what they had chosen.

Overall, I found Enemy Mine to be a passable film that I enjoyed parts of. There was nothing that completely turned me off.