the audience applauded

Sorry, this movie sucks

Crappy film

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Howell really knows how to churn out some stinkers and this one is right up there with the worst. Why oh why does he persist in this drivel? To be honest - I am not sure I should comment on this film at all as I could not make my way to the end of it. I got an hour in and the pure absurd nature of what was happening on screen forced my to turn it off and delete it from sky plus box. It is so bad I wish I could delete it from my memory.Where do I start? The plot? God knows what it was - 'cos nobody else does. Or at least no-one cares.The sets - cardboard, movie-lot or CGI. Actually - some of the CGI wasn't too bad - in a cartoony, 6-year old kind of way. The 'ship' interior was so unrealistic it is beyond comment.The acting? Howell is at his over-acting best/worst here. He delivers each line as if he needs to pack enough emotional punches to last eternity and comes across as pathetic. The man is not a bad actor - as The Hitcher / The Outsiders have proved - but my God has he dis-improved as his career (if you can call it that) progressed (digressed). Shouldn't he be learning his craft as he goes from film to film instead of destroying what little credibility he had from the 80's? This guy almost became Marty McFly for God's sake - how has he delved to this low level of acting? In a word - terrible. The other cast members do not escape a pasting here either - they range from mediocre (on the plus side) to worse-than-Howell (and that is some achievement I can tell you).Pacing - none. Plodding, non-sensical scenes just keep on popping up one after the other. No sense of drama occurs anywhere. The crew crash-land on Mars - okay with that. They get out and explore and find a pyramid. Now, you'd think this would be a major surprise to all concerned - but no, they continue as if they just saw yet another red rock. The pyramid magically opens up and they go inside and TAKE OFF THEIR SPACESUITS - YES HELMETS AND ALL. Are they surprised? No. They then find electronic equipment, floating green energy balls, people, laser spears - all of which they accept as if they were expecting these things.I have to stop here as the whole thing was just so ridiculous it pains me to go on. I'd rather stick a hot poker up my nether regions than watch the remainder of this movie. If I go to hell when I die - I know what will be showing on the screen that I am forced to watch 24 hours a day - this movie followed by another Howell shocker - The Sweeper.Abysmal - I gave it 1 out of 10 only because there was no option for zero. Avoid at all costs.

The film it self has a good narrative and "bone structure" as it were. The acting however from most parties leaves much to be desired, it is the acting from the Howell in this film that runes the film completely. The Dialogue is said too over zealously making the wording throughout the film seem cheesy. The costumes weren't bad (about the only good thing about the film really). the acting from the gentleman(Tony Amendola) that plays the High Priest is the best in the film, which makes me wonder why he decided to be in the film. parts of the film are completely unnecessary. This is an honest opinion(of mine) on the film. It is for most part a headache.

Don't accuse me of expecting "Chinatown" here, because I already know the Sci-Fi Chanell has limited means. That said, limited means are no reasonable excuse for limited imagination or vision.So, it's the future again and one of the not so friendly corporations that control Earth has sent a mission to Mars (there have been quite a few if those lately) to find an everlasting and inexpensive power source. Naturally they crash land in an almost half-exciting, almost well-executed scene which displays good planning ruined by the usual weak CGI. Soon the crew start to die and we find out that one of the crew is a government spy and that Mars is not a dead planet.Every movie this network makes is either a format genre flick we've seen a million times before or a blatant rip-off of a popular film. At first, "Crimson Force" looks like it's going to be an "Alien" rip-off with shades of "Total Recall". But then the crew enter a "pyramid" (quotes because it has five sides) and get caught up in a power struggle between the ruling classes of Mars's surviving inhabitants. I think we were meant to be reminded of "Dune", but since the sets are so obviously small, the costumes so inexpensive, and the population so sparse, it reminds one more of a sadder incarnation of the 30s "Flash Gordon" serials. The way the second half plays out you'll likely wish they'd just finished ripping off "Alien" and been done with it.To pad the running time (since the Martian plot is not all the complicated as it's written), our pretty-boy hero Ambrose is given flashbacks which explain why he's conflicted about working for the corporation, which in turn are a set-up to a typical made-for-TV character choice. The results aren't exactly deep. Most of the characters come with a whole two dimensions, including C. Thomas Howell's unlikeable Captain, the two "babes", the guys with accents, and the single non-white male.The film was not necessarily a bad idea. But an idea is only the beginning and a lot can (and did) go wrong along the way. Apart from the terrible effects and the constraints of the budget, there's the direction. This was advertised as some kind of epic, so the director tries to emphasize how big everything is (the spaceship, the pyramid, the interiors...), which unfortunately just reveals how small the sets really are. If they'd tried some location shooting for once the viewer might not suffer claustrophobia from watching these "epics".One star for an okay idea, a second for reminding me that I could do it better.

I'm new to IMDb but I'm starting to notice something.It seems some movies are getting a lot of bad reviews trashing them but then a few that praise it. I'm noticing a pattern to this, however. The movies which are receiving some high praise are all unquestionably awful. Movies like Crimson Force are so bad that I can't imagine anyone truly enjoying them! None of my Sci-Fi fan buddies like it.I believe it comes down to having people either paid to write good reviews for such movies or people who worked on such movies writing reviews to praise them. It's the only explanation. Look at the reviews here. Most people hate it but there are a few who think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. No middle ground. That doesn't make sense for sincere reviews.Crimson Force is a frighteningly bad movie. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Conceptually it's moronic and a slap in the face to Sci-Fi fans. Save your time.