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Stranded
Fox // R // April 20, 2004
List Price: $9.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
When I was assigned Stranded to review, I was informed that it was a Fred Olen Ray-helmed space flick starring Ice-T. Apparently some signals got crossed at DVD Talk Central, perhaps the same interference that led to the crew of the Belos being stranded during mankind's inaugural trip to the red planet. Stranded, lensed in Spain and released internationally under the title Náufragos, chronicles the failed voyage of six explorers. Among them are captain Andre Vishniac (José Sancho), engineer Luca Baglioni (Vincent Gallo), doctor Jenny Johnson (Maria de Medeiros), geologist Herb Sagan (Danel Aser), pilot Susana Sánchez (María Lidón, who also directed), and astrobiologist Fidel Rodrigo (Joaquim de Almeida). It's uncertain what caused the crash -- Martian gravitational anomalies, perhaps -- but the net result is unambiguous. It's a twenty-six month trip from Earth, and the meticulous planning that goes into such a launch leaves little margin for error, to such an extent that even a slight complication could cause a delay of a year. Even if a rescue mission were to be mounted immediately, help is a long way off. With their captain fallen and only enough supplies to sustain two of the remaining crew members for any length of time, difficult decisions must be made, and those who are cast out soon make an unprecedented discovery. Science fiction is a label that's generally not terribly descriptive, typically action or horror with some sort of futuristic or otherwordly bent that garners it that alternate label.
If a character is relentlessly chased by ghouls in a haunted house, it's considered a horror movie. If the same movie were set in a space ship with acid-spewing aliens scattered everywhere, it's suddenly considered sci-fi. Stranded doesn't have any point-of-view shots from a feral creature chasing down a hapless member of some isolated crew, spacecraft whizzing past stars at incomprehensible speeds, or epic battles with laser beams tearing across an unfamiliar sky. I think of science fiction as offering a sense of discovery, and Stranded attempts to capture that. It's a drama, really, placing its emphasis on characters rather than glitzy special effects. That's also why Stranded fails; if I dislike the characters or the actors portraying them in this sort of film, it's difficult to appreciate much else. The most obvious complaint is that the acting is decidedly mixed. Maria de Medeiros, who many viewers will likely recognize from her small role in Pulp Fiction, handles herself capably, as do Joaquim de Almeida and, to varying degrees, Vincent Gallo as a narcissistic scientist. Virtually everyone else, though, is awful.
The performances are flat, stilted, wooden, and apparently under-rehearsed. Stranded opens with a newscaster prattling on about the Ares mission, s-l-o-w-l-y and ineptly reciting dialogue from what's presumably an off-screen cue card or teleprompter, setting the pace for much of the acting throughout the film. That Johnny Ramone puts in a more convincing performance in his tiny role than two of the film's leads is pitiful. The biggest offenders by far are Danel Aser, who struggles with each and every line, and María Lidón, who would've been much better off staying behind the camera. The pervasive presence of such awkward acting continually took me out of the movie. Perhaps allowances should be made in that this is a film with a predominantly Spanish cast and crew. Some of the distractingly looped dialogue seems to suggest that Stranded may have been shot in the classic European style, with actors speaking different languages or at least fumbling through one, with a singular language constructed in post-production. Regardless, I can't feel engaged by a film when I concentrate more on the poor delivery rather than the dialogue itself. It's not helped by the fact that much of the dialogue is repetitive -- Herb harping on incessantly about water, for instance -- and riddled by lengthy pauses. The modest production values are understandable, given the limited budget and the nature of the script. Special effects are largely limited to exterior shots of the Belos and the Martian surface, using tinted filters and some occasional compositing to pass a portion of the Canary Islands off as the red planet. The general premise is sound, but the execution falters; spotty acting, questionable dialogue, and plodding pacing leave little to recommend about Stranded. With a more capable cast and a more polished screenplay, Stranded could have been a much more memorable genre entry or, if condensed by half, an exceptional installment in an anthology. Taken on its own, though, I'd pass, especially given Key DVD's shoddy treatment of the film on DVD.
Video: Stranded was filmed at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and, judging from the distorted lens flares from flashlights in one shot, with anamorphic lenses. Many, if not all, of the European DVD releases of the film preserve its intended aspect ratio. Key DVD has opted to mercilessly crop it to 1.33:1, resulting in many exceedingly cramped compositions and even some awkward, mechanical pans across the frame. Only the opening newscast sequence and the interminable credits that follow are properly letterboxed. Would the market for a dialogue-heavy European science fiction movie really be turned off by letterboxing? Since the DVD doesn't have any extras to speak of, shouldn't there be ample room to include both widescreen and cropped presentations? With the emphasis Stranded places in its later moments on the awe the Martian landscape inspires, it deserves a wider frame. The botched aspect ratio is even more disappointing since the quality of the presentation otherwise is rather nice, generally appearing crisp and detailed.
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Audio: At least the Dolby Digital stereo surround track (192Kbps) is handled better. There isn't an awful lot happening sonically aside from the dialogue, limited largely to electronic bleeps and hums in the downed spacecraft and the somber, string-laden score by Javier Navarrete (The Devil's Backbone), but it all comes through well. There's also quite a bit of channel separation, certainly more than I typically expect from a track without discrete surrounds. It's not demo material by any stretch, but I'd imagine this track sounds much the way it was intended. Closed captions and a Spanish dub are also included.
Supplements: The only extra is a 44 second trailer. The DVD also includes a set of static 4x3 menus and twenty-four chapter stops.
Conclusion: Although I don't want to sound dismissive of science fiction movies that strive for something more than computer-rendered aliens and interplanetary battles, Stranded just isn't a particularly well-crafted film. I wouldn't have recommended Stranded as a movie with any great enthusiasm regardless, but I absolutely can't recommend such a poor DVD release. Skip It.
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