THE FILM:

My barely thirteen-year-old self had no idea what went on behind the scenes of Supernova when I bought a ticket at the box office in January 2000. Walter Hill (The Warriors) directed the infamous sci-fi dud, but a post-production power struggle at MGM saw Hill remove his name from the film. After a disastrous, effects-free test screening, MGM hired Jack Sholder (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge) for reshoots, then brought in corporate board member Francis Ford Coppola to edit the film. The version that limped into theaters was further marred by a PG-13 rating, and Supernova is every bit the mess it should be after such an acrimonious post-production period. There are hints of a better movie here - one with creepy, genetic-mutation themes - but what unspools remains a dull, poorly edited and borderline incoherent disaster.

I applaud Shout! Factory for releasing independent, unique and cult-classic films on Blu-ray, though I'm not sure if Supernova falls into any of those categories. The film remains more curiosity than cult success, though I was interested to watch it again after nearly fourteen years. Medical ship Nightingale 229 receives a deep-space distress call and "dimension jumps" toward moon Titan 37, which leaves poor Captain Marley (Robert Forster) splattered about his protective chamber due to an equipment failure. Co-pilot Nick Vanzant (a younger, buffer James Spader) and medical officer Kaela Evers (Angela Bassett) discover floating debris has damaged the ship, expending most of the remaining fuel, and that a nearby black hole threatens to engulf the Nightingale within 24 hours. Further fucking up everyone's day is the man (Peter Facinelli) who sent the distress call, a sinister miner from Titan 37 who smuggles an alien artifact aboard the ship.

The interesting tell-all on the new Blu-ray reveals that scenes meant to be placed in later parts of the film were repurposed for earlier exposition thanks to the actors' unchanging costumes. That may explain why Spader and Bassett get down to some zero-gravity business minutes after mopping up Forster's brains off of the floor. Not to mention that the footage is actually from a sex scene between Facinelli and ship paramedic Danika Lund (Tobin Tunney). Coppola apparently is responsible for the roughly 90-minute cut that hit theaters, and it feels like he and the three other credited editors went through chopping and hacking away anything resembling fat to make a lean movie. That didn't work, and, while the running time is fairly brief, Supernova can barely tell its story with all the rough chopping and scene scrambling. The studio made the filmmakers cut the project to a PG-13, which required further obvious trims. This is odd, as somewhere along the line an intentional decision was made to shoot a number of sex and nude scenes, and the film at times leers at its young actors. The R-rated version restores some of this cut footage, but the haphazard re-editing screams of a pure publicity move to sell the original DVD.

The smallest traces of a more intimate project remain, and Supernova might have worked as pure drama with a sci-fi undercurrent. The alien matter, a giver and taker of life, is seductive and dangerous, and I wanted to see the crew forced to make tough decisions and fight with each other over its presence on the ship. Instead, Facinelli turns into a cardboard villain who never really frightens, though the actor seems to enjoy the part. I blame the script for the lack of tension, and the poor narrative development and terrible editing rob any sense of claustrophobic fear that might otherwise exist. The low-budget, character-centric film never really made it into production, and likely left the building with the film's first canned director, Geoffrey Wright. Sholder came on for a time before MGM hired Hill, who did the best with what he had. After Hill left the project, Sholder tried to save the film by ramping up the action and suspense - probably the lesser of two evils - but was denied funding for several planned sequences before Coppola came on to assist.

There are parts of Supernova undeniably from Hill: The tough-as-nails characters and lack of development recall Hill's projects like The Driver and Southern Comfort, but Hill's rugged direction does not work for the material. No character is particularly likeable or interesting, and the entire Nightingale crew seems capable of handing their rowdy houseguest. The late-game horror elements echo Event Horizon, but Supernova features none of the terror or haunting imagery from that underrated film. There are a couple of decent effects in Supernova, but nothing impressive enough to overcome the film's numerous problems. Most of the parties involved freely admit Supernova is an ambitious failure. The film is more case study than entertainment, however, so plan accordingly.

THE BLU-RAY:

PICTURE:

The 2.35:1/1080p/AVC-encoded image is not impressive. I guess no one really gave a shit at the studio when storing the film, and the elements are very dirty for a post-millennial release. There are blips, dirt, scratches and other anomalies present during the entire running time. This is a really dated source caked in the edge enhancement and noise reduction used to make standard-definition DVDs looks crisp and clear. Fine-object detail does get a boost in HD, so there is some improvement over the previous releases. Contrast appears boosted and unnatural, which results in blown-out highlights and skin tones that alternate between too red and too white. The grain structure varies and often appears very noisy and inconsistently natural. None of this is Shout! Factory's fault I'm sure, but the elements provided by MGM do not a good Blu-ray experience make.

SOUND:

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is similarly unimpressive, which is surprising given the film's near $100-million budget. Clarity is the biggest problem, as the soundtrack has a tendency to feel crowded and overly blunt. Dialogue is occasionally clipped and ill-balanced with effects and score, a problem exacerbated by the overreliance on the front channel. The surrounds are used occasionally for environmental effects and during a few action sequences, but the rear performance is middling. The mix is often loud, but it lacks refinement. A 2.0 English DTS-HD Master Audio mix is also included, as are English subtitles.

PACKAGING AND EXTRAS:

This single-disc release includes the R-rated version of Supernova. The disc is packed in a standard Blu-ray case with dual-sided artwork. The best thing about this release is The Making of Supernova (25:01/HD), a newly created retrospective with cast and crew interviews. As expected, a number of key players like Hill, Bassett, Spader and Coppola do not contribute. You do hear from Sholder, producer Daniel Chuba, Forster, and Lou Diamond Phillips. The players are very honest about the film's flaws and offer evidence of what went wrong. Each holds Hill in high regard, though neither Forster nor Phillips blames Sholder for the film's ultimate failure. Now that a decade and a half has passed since the release, it's nice to hear some honest criticism of the film. The disc also includes vintage bonus content. You get an Alternate Ending (5:27/HD); several Deleted Scenes (14:40/HD); and the film's Theatrical Trailer (2:18/HD). Be sure to watch the trailer, which is a hilariously bad attempt to make the movie look like an action comedy, complete with awful puns and taglines.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Sorry, folks, Supernova remains a bad movie, though I enjoyed digging through Shout! Factory's new retrospective with some very honest interviews about what went wrong. This notorious sci-fi flop went through several directors and a post-production showdown at MGM that saw Walter Hill leave the project. The end result is a poorly edited and very dull mess without focus or tension. The Blu-ray's image and soundtrack fail to impress thanks to dated source material, and the retrospective alone is not worth the price. Skip It.

William lives in Burlington, North Carolina, and looks forward to a Friday-afternoon matinee.