Reviews of movies & TV shows NEVER MADE

Instead of simply writing a brief description of the show, as with the "Best movies NEVER MADE" and "Best TV shows NEVER MADE" threads, actually write a critic's review of a movie that was never made. Go more indepth, and give an opinion of how good the movie is.

I would start, but there's a very good TV show on now I want to watch, so I'll come back later.
 
Okay, now here we go:


2061: The Shrouded World (1992)

This third installment in the Space Odyssey series, based on Arthur C Clarke's novel, is quite clearly more in keeping with its immediate predecessor 2010 than the original film 2001. Anyone who goes to see this film expecting another 2001 will definitely be disappointed; judged on its own merits, however, 2061 is an impressive, engrossing and quite enjoyable science fiction film.

The cast are excellent all round: standout performances are Roy Scheider as Dr Floyd (reprising his role from 2010, now under heavy old-age makeup), Rutger Hauer as the morally ambiguous scientist Dr van der Berg, and James Sikking as Captain Smith - the brief voice-only cameos of Keir Dullea and Douglas Rain as Dave Bowman and HAL are also a pleasant surprise. Special effects are decent - there is nothing groundbreaking in the same sense that 2001 was, but they do make for very beautiful images of Europa and Halley's Comet.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Snake Plissken (1984)

The titular character, played by Kurt Russell, returns in this sequel to the 1981 movie Escape From New York. In the previous film, the dystopian future in which it took place served only as a vague backdrop for the main plot of Plissken having to escape with the President of the United States off Manhatten Island. Snake Plissken brings it to the forefront, with Snake now once again being forced to help the United States government - this time in a secret plan to make themselves the final victors of the ongoing Third World War, at the turn of the millennium - while flashbacks in the style of The Godfather Part II shed some light on the character of Snake and explain just how he came to be the man he was when we first saw him.

As well as Russell, Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasance return as Bob Hauk and the President of the United States respectively. Isaac Hayes is missed, as the main villain of this film is not nearly as memorable as the Duke of New York. There is a feeling throughout the movie that it is aspiring to be something it doesn't reach - the tight budget shows itself on numerous occasions, and there is the odd cheesy moment that pulls the viewer out of the film. But one of the main strengths of the film is Kurt Russell, who plays the character of Snake with absolute verisimilitude and even manages to convince you that his eyepatch doesn't look silly.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5
 
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