This review is a part of my Bill Paxton Project, an attempt to watch and review every piece of film the man did during his lifetime.
For the record, this little sci-fi flick has a hell of a pedigree. Slipstream comes from the director of Tron and the producer of Star Wars. Starring Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Bill Paxton (Aliens), and Bob Peck (Jurassic Park), with additional appearances by Ricco Ross (Aliens), Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter), Ben Kingsley (Ender’s Game, Species, Iron Man 3) and F. Murray Abraham (The Orville, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World).
Man, what the fuck happened? This is a post-apocalyptic film in which man’s pollution caused the Earth to revolt, and a terrible wind called The Slipstream swept civilization away. That’s all the background we get. Apparently, the only technology left comes in the form of little airplanes that can surf the Slipstream. Oh, and a human-like android (Bob Peck) and some guns. Paxton plays a scrappy scoundrel named Matt Owens, who steals a prisoner from a cop named Trasker, played by Mark Hamill (sporting a beard long before Star Wars: The Last Jedi). The prisoner, we discover, is an android who killed a man and wants to be punished, but also wants to reach robot heaven. Matt soon makes friends with his robot traveling pal, and he and the robot make love to some lucky ladies. Trasker kills a bunch of people, then the robot kills Trasker and wanders off to find robot heaven. Matt decides the best way to save humanity is to re-invent hot air balloons, which somehow are the perfect thing to fly about in a killer windstorm. Matt also keeps the lady cop who was Trasker’s partner, cause everybody deserves a happy ending.
Seriously. I’m not shitting you, that’s the basic plot. If I wrote that, I’d be drug-tested.
Fine performances from the leads, including Paxton in one of his earliest starring roles. Bob Peck is fun to watch, especially when he is crawling through a fake jungle hunting his woman – you almost want to say out loud, “Clever girl”. Hamill obviously has a swell time playing the basic villain of the story, no doubt a fun departure from good boy Jedi Luke Skywalker. I could have gone a lifetime not seeing what Hagrid would look like taking a bath, though, and still been a happy soul.
Performances by the actors aside, there is nothing to redeem this hunk of cheap post-apocalyptic environmental messaging. It’s dumb, let the wind blow it away.
