Big dumb action movie, but enjoyable

This film is basically a mix between Independence Day, Tora Tora Tora, Battlestar Galactica and Das Boot (including token scenes of Jürgen Prochnow staring at the ceiling). It is a big, dumb action movie that jumps from one random action piece to the next. It's a fairly predictable yet entertaining movie that at least tries to have some semblance of character development and stakes for the plot.


I've never played Wing Commander but based on the relationship between some video games and their movie counterparts, I can see how people could be incredibly annoyed if the movie throws a bunch of worldbuilding and beloved characters under the bus. As a standalone movie, however, I'd say it's not that bad.

It has some threads that never go anywhere. It has a bunch of space combat that disregards any semblance of physics. Many of the effects look very dated (but the some of the practical effects help). It throws every sci-fi and action movie trope it can at you. I mean, a space carrier full of space marines and starfighters gets space depthcharged on a space rock by space aliens in a space war.

But at 1 hr 40 min it does a nice job of not overstaying its welcome, provides passable dogfighting and space naval action, functional acting, and a mostly coherent plot. I think it deserves better than the 4.1 it's working with at the moment. It's in the solid 6.0-6.5 territory as a movie separate from any games or external influences. It deserves at least a D.