2103: The Deadly Wake strives to stand out from the B-movie masses by giving turning it's straightforward sci-fi concept somewhat on its head. It's set in the very distant future, in which earth's oceans have become so contaminated that they have all taken a gaseous form, with corporations sending forth spaceship type vessels that deliver goods and wage warfare. They resemble submarines basically sailing through colored fog, and it's one of the neatest and adorably ambitious futuristic settings I've seen. Malcolm McDowell is damn excellent in a rare hero role as Captain Sean Murdock, a salty old sea dog who lost a ship years before and is somewhat disgraced. Forlorn and fed up, he's in a slump when hired to transport a massive ship across the ocean, with a mysterious cargo that's guarded by a sinister mercenary and security expert (Michael Paré). Usually in this type of thing it's Paré as the hero and Mcdowell as the villain (which has actually happened in Roland Emmerich's Moon 44), but here they pull a Tarantino and switch up the type casting which is wonderful to see and makes for a fresh vibe. Paré works for the sultry, sleazy (Heidi Von Palleske), the company CEO who wants an eye kept on the cargo hold. Paré and Mcdowell bit heads, there's murky conflict and the ship's Artificial Intelligence engine is called B.A.B.Y. and is quite literally a fetus in a big gooey tank with wires attached to its brain. If that isn't worthy of a medal in the ambition department I don't know what is. There's an odd sort of climactic fight scene that plays like a dream and doesn't involve fighting at all really, more like just a laser show with strange dialogue. Despite it being set in the future there's a nifty retro style, with soldier uniforms and the darkly poetic tone almost calling forth the sensibility of the 40's. I was reminded of Titanic in scenes, but that could be my weird cinematic free association. This one's a keeper for fans of off kilter, under the radar oddities.
Review of 2103: The Deadly Wake
