Firestar: First Contact

Director - David Kent-Watson (The Eye of Satan, Lethal Impact)

Starring - Cliff Twemlow (G.B.H., Tuxedo Warrior), Charles Gray (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Paper Man), and John Wyman (Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Fourth Arm)

Release Date - 1991

Genre - Sci-Fi

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I've seen a lot of "action" flicks that was lacking action and one thriller that was surprisingly fun.  However, I was not expecting to see a sci-fi flick as I make my way near the last few films in the Bloody Legend: The Cliff Twemlow Collection. I thought Firestar was going to be an action flick centered around some sort of military plot but it wasn't until I was putting the disc in that I realized I had missed the First Contact portion of the title.  This actually made me very excited to check it out.  I knew it wasn't going to be a new favorite but it was nice to take a step away from the action flicks.

     The film follows a space crew that finds themselves in trouble after they destroy an alien spacecraft.  They are the first in the history of mankind to come in contact with intelligent life while traveling the solar system and decide to blow them up instead of peace negotiations.  Those on the crew is then tasked to return to the place where they destroyed the craft to collect the debris but on the trip home they find out their vessel has been breached by a creature of unknown origin.  

     Firestar: First Contact is probably the most ambitious of the films in this set.  It has a lot of promise even though it borrows heavily from the classic sci-fi horror film Alien.  Sadly, the same issues from the other films plagued this one resulting in another film that looks good on paper but is difficult to finish.  The acting in this one is a little better than The Assassinator but that's not saying much.  The characters are generic, the cast struggles with their volume control, and almost all the scenes lack emotional depth.  The story for this one does play off of Alien for the basis but it features a lot of sci-fi drama that was quick to remind me of early Star Trek episodes.  We have a lot of drama, a huge sci-fi set up, yet the film struggles to gain traction.  It's almost as if it was written to be a short and somewhere through production they decided to film some filler scenes to bloat the runtime.  Finally, this film does have some blood, a decent looking creature costume, and some wild visual effects that are laughable at best.  While it's not the most gruesome film in the set, it does offer up the most blood and effects for fans of that sort of thing.  Overall, Firestar: First Contact is one of the most ambitious and bold entries in this box set.  While I did like some of it, the film still fell flat.  If you cut about 30 or 40 minutes of the film's runtime and left most of the last leg of the film intact then you would have something a bit more enjoyable.  However, as it is this is one I have to recommend skipping unless you dig this kind of thing like I do.