Directed by Rob York
Screenplay by Rob York & Scott Baird
Starring Brandon Ray Olive
Whitney Palmer
K. Danor Gerald
D. L. Walker
Matthew Mercer (Voice Only)
Nicola Posener (Voice Only)
Recently I picked up Magellan on DVD from WalMart, which is apparently an early WalMart release.
I liked the Key art and the premise seemed good. I knew going in this was low budget, but that is not always a killer for me – as it is for many people.
Popping in the disc I saw Arrowstorm Entertainment, the same company behind the Mythica series (I loved the first one – need to watch the rest). That gave me some hope.
Some hope, not complete hope as it seems. Not entirely misplaced, but only just.
Magellan is the story of Roger Nelson, USAF (Captain or Commander?), an astronaut who finally gets a mission to the stars. One that requires him to leave his wife behind for a decade. NASA has discovered alien transmissions – three of them – originating within our Solar System.
Nelson is sent out to investigate and find the sources of the transmissions. He is aided by two A.I.s (voiced by Matthew Mercer and Nicola Posener).
This is basically a one man show carried by Brandon Ray Olive as Roger Nelson.
I will get this out of the way right now: The best and worst thing I can say about Magellan is that it is an average film at best. Not good, but not terrible either.
In fact (and this may sound odd), it is better than it should be, but not good as good as it could have been. Magellan has some very lofty ambitions (2001 anyone?), and really reaches to be an intellectual sci-fi tale. It just falls short.
As I mentioned above, this is a low budget affair – and it shows. In this case, there are a number of scenes where the budget is a killer. The CGI for the space scenes are very badly done, coming in looking like early nineties CGI.
The scenes on the moons on which Nelson lands on are terrible, and none of them look convincing.
The set scenes for the interior of the Magellan – although small and sterile looking – are believable and passable.
Worse than the low budget is the low quality acting – specifically from Whitney Palmer (as Nelson’s Wife) and K. Danor Gerald (as Nelson’s direct superior). Their time on screen is fortunately limited – as is their performances – but when they are on screen it is painful to watch.
The screenplay is one of the stronger parts of Magellan. The plot and purpose of the story (discovery) is very good and at times engaging and thoughtful – if not thought provoking. But there are some things that drag the story down.
The biggest point is Nelson’s wife and the relationship shown. It doesn’t work on any level. A plot point where it is mention she sent him a message and hinted that it is not good and she tried to delete it, is dropped for no reason and seems to have been forgotten. Since it was presented for the time mentioned as important, then never used, it would have been better served deleted from the film.
The ultimate strength of this film is Brandon Ray Olive – who carries this entire film on his shoulders. He appears in 99% percent of the film by himself – a lone astronaut on a ten year mission. He gives a fair, even handed and mostly believable performance, if at times shaky.
My biggest problem with this whole thing is Roger Nelson’s rank, which changes from Captain to Commander numerous times. It is specifically shown that he is United States Air Force (USAF). That would make him a Rank of Captain. NOT Commander. USAF does not use the Rank of Commander, only the Naval Services do.
In the end Magellan ultimately disappoints, never quite living up to its goal, but trying. It presents an interesting premise and ideas, but never fully develops them.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Sci-Fi and film festival buffs may be engaged. Others not so much.
The ‘so bad, it’s good’ crowd, won’t find too much here.
RATING: 5
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