Search - 2103 - The Deadly Wake on DVD

Gotta Love It Deadly

Georges A. Jabardski | Vancouver | 05/28/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Malcolm McDowel is great in this gutsy small picture with big ideas. Cora Fell (Hidie Von Palleske) tells a haunted mythical tale that links us to times past of pirates and ghost ships, but this is the future and its even darker. In a world where the sky burns orange under global warming even the ocean seems a desert, the ship is navigated by an ugly-cute neural-implanted 90 yr old "baby" in some cyber-knetic fluid. Everyone on this ship is mad, like nuts, some just show it earlier than later. Michael Pare plays it nicely (he's the bad guy and McDowell the good guy), in fact they all play it straight. I'm sure the filmmakers (the team of Daniel D'or and G. Phillip Jackson, I think they're the same folks who are doing TV's Starhunter) know they are working with low cash, you can see them wink at the audience, but instead of all being toung-in-cheek, they don't cop out, they have fun with the film. Mackenzie Gray is also convincing as a nutso first mate, an explosives expert with a bad case of the nerves. I for one also really liked Gweneth Walsh (Star Trek -where she also confronted McDowell), she's the sexy manipulator without being typically overt about it, except she was overt about looking like she was having fun. Very nice cybernetic killing machine the ultimate fem-tek fatale I say. I'd like to see this picture with a bigger budget and tighter editing. Good movie overall."

This is deadly alright...

FlashbangBob | Victoria, Australia | 07/01/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The only thing giving this movie a 1 instead of a 0 is that Malcolm McDowell's acting is excellent. However not even he can save this film from disaster. The director must have been really distracted when he worked on this one because it is just a conglomeration of scenes that were thrown together with very little continuity - reminiscent of bad '70's movies. Even worse, both the actors and director appeared to be making it up as they went along which probably showed how bad the original script was.

It's not even worth discussing the story line although it revolves around a futuristic corporation called the Proxate Corporation who put together a crew of dispensable people to carry a dangerous cargo on an old container/slave ship to Nigeria. This ship's computer is a baby kept in a glass jar and wired into one of the crew via USB 12 or something. The company should have been called the Prostate Corporation as the entertainment value of this movie is on a par with an examination of the same name.

I honestly can't find one scene that I could say was well made and made any real sense in the context of the movie. I only watched it to the end as I had a touch of the bird flu and this movie reminded me that there were people out there who were actually worse off than me - Malcolm McDowell in particular. I won't hold this against him as he's a great actor and every great actor is entitled to one bad movie in their career and this one is a doosie.

So, unless this is the only movie your shop hires out or you're male and you're doctor isn't doing prostate examinations this week and you somehow feel this is a bad thing then give this one a really wide berth unless of course if you're really community minded, buy a copy to support Malcolm and then use it as a drink coaster."

If you're not a Malcolm fan, watch something else

K. Kresina | NC United States | 03/14/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The effects are cheesy, most of the acting is downright hilarious but if you're a fan of His Royal Hotness, this isnt a complete waste of time. Malcolm McDowell is dead sexy even if he hasnt shaved in a week and is boozing it up every chance he gets. The plot is convoluted and insane so only the devoted should be watching this... trust me. Sacrifice for Malcolm... :)"

Fun Ride, Wierd Sea

K. Kresina | 05/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a good surprise, its a strange l'l movie, but kept me entertained and intriugued. So it looks like it didn't have the most money in the world, but it kept the surprises coming and a unique SF feel. McDowel is good, Michael Pare is different (A bad guy) and that's OK Gweneth Walsh has fun with her bits. If the regular SF stuff that looks all the same and tells the same story bores you, you'l probably really like this.The female Killer Cyborg that moves like a dancer is a neat invention."