DVD review: Recon 2023: The Gauda Prime Conspiracy (2009)

After 20 years of intergalactic war, humanity must make a final stand against the Ma'har invaders. Dispatched to the treacherous deserts of Gauda Prime. Lieutenant Sharp (Andy Bradshaw) and his unit must find and destroy the enemny´s central weapon, the dreaded Ma'har dream machine. The obstacles are daunting - giant mutated creatures and an army of zombiefied sand troopers stand between the unit and their objective. They must thwart a devious politician and her hideously disfigured mercenary, the face.  Political intrigue will prove as challenging as the monstrous fauna of Gauda Prime but Sharp´s team are humanity´s only fighting chance against the deadly Ma'har armada. Recon 2023: The Gauda Prime Conspiracy is written by John Fallon and Christian Viel who also is the director. Bad acting, even more intentional comedy than in the earlier films. The camera work and editing is semidecent. There isn´t much action and the actionsequences that are there are pretty boring. There is some gore, both practical and computer gendered fx. All aliens, spaceship, dropships and so on are CGI some look decent and others look pretty bad...
There is a 70's Blaxploitation flashback that is TOTALLY out of place and overlong, but fans of T & A will appreciate it as it features plenty of nudity.
This review is based upon the region 1 DVD release from Critical Mass.
Rating: 1½ out of 7. Recon 2023: The Gauda Prime Conspiracy is more comedy than action in a sci fi setting and it ain´t good comedy. It might work as entertainment for the moment but I was looking at the clock several times while watching it, yes it´s that boring....

/JL

DVD review: Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident (2007)

New lieutenant Sharp (Andy Bradshaw) leads a new unit of tough, witty and trigger-happy space marines through the perils of Mezzo, a hostile ice planet in order to destroy a underground Ma'har facility. What they will encounter wil defy their imaginations as they tackle giant man eating snow worms, an underground city of Cyborgs, a slew of murderous alien entities and maybe, finally, the ever elusive Ma'hars. Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident is written by William Alexander, John Fallon and Christian Viel. It´s a film filled with clichéd characters, the super bad female soldier, the tough leader, etc. One of the creatures (a floating creature with one eyeball ) is very similiar to one in John Carpenter´s Big Trouble in Little China. The camerawork and editing is amateurish. There is comedy, both intentional and some untintentional due to bad acting, bad fx, bad dialogue and some hilarious situations. The actionsequences are bad, party due to editing. They fail to excite and it´s pretty boring when characters shooting at each other from 10 feet away can´t seem to hit one another. The setting of the ice planet is pretty nice. There are lots of computer gendered spaceships, dropships, aliens, robots, a cyborg and backgrounds. There is some gore but sadly it´s mostly badlly computer gendered gore. There is some nudity and the stunningly good looking Gillian Leigh is back as Fooks.
This review is based upon the region 1 DVD release from Terra Entertainment, it´s unrated.
Rating: 2 out of 7. If you take it for what it is Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident is decent entertainment for the moment so give it a chance you might enjoy it.

/JL

 Gillian Leigh as Fooks



DVD review: Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre. (2004)

In the year 2020, the Earth has become a barren rock from radioactive devastation. Protected by the Galactic Marine Infantry, (GMI), the remaining human race, struggling for survival on a distant star, is terrorized by the evil Ma’har alien race. While on a reconnaissance mission in the Caprini system, Sergeant Sharp /Andy Bradshaw) and his GMI soldiers discover the Ma’hars hidden laboratory where they’ve been creating a horrific breed of terrorists. The aliens’ new bio-weapons are reproductions of mankind’s mythical creatures - zombies, werewolves, vampires… Sergeant Sharp and his elite squad find themselves in an action-packed battle with the bloodthirsty monster assassins. But, the greatest danger of all may be from a former GMI soldier with a grudge, who now works for the deadly Ma’hars. Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre is written William Alexander, Allan Barnes, Andy Bradshaw, Allan Yuk-lun Chou and Christian Viel who also is the director. We get some not so decent acting from some members of the cast provides some unintentional comic relief. The camerawork and editing is semidecent... The gung ho Galactic Marine Infantry is obviously inspired by the colonial marines of James Cameron´s classic Aliens, one look at them and you´ll see what I mean but to be fair they actually look pretty cool in their uniforms, body armour and so on. Sady the action isn´t very exciting and is sometimes downright boring. There is very little gore so I won´t comment on that, the creature designs aren´t very good, they use both practical make-up fx and computer gendered creatures. CGI is also used for the spaceships, dropships and robots, some of it looks pretty decent but some look really bad. There is a moment of T & A in the first scene of the film and I wish we would have seen more of the stunningy beautiful and sexy Gillian Leigh who plays the character Fooks.

This review is based upon the region 1 DVD release from Maverick Entertainment Group, according IMDB the title is Power Corps and it´s registered under that name.
Rating: 2 out of 7. Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre is ok entertainment for the moment but not much more than that.

/JL

 Gillian Leigh as Fooks