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Wing Commander

Play trailer Poster for Wing Commander PG-13 1999 1h 40m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
10% Tomatometer 51 Reviews 26% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
A space pilot (Freddie Prinze Jr.) with an encoded message, his sidekick (Matthew Lillard) and their superior (Saffron Burrows) fight attacking aliens.
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Wing Commander

Wing Commander

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Critics Consensus

The low budget may explain Wing Commander's cheesy special effects, but can't excuse the lame dialogue or the movie's obsessive reliance on sci-fi cliches.

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Critics Reviews

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Empire Magazine 04/07/2010
3/5
Playing up the military angle is the best move, but this and some excellent incidental effects can't completely disguise the shortcomings. Go to Full Review
Lisa Alspector Chicago Reader 04/07/2010
Excruciatingly earnest yet convictionless. Go to Full Review
Godfrey Cheshire Variety 03/26/2009
Though the ingredients are potent, their blending here mostly comes off as formulaic, humdrum and sometimes unintentionally laughable. Go to Full Review
Mike Massie Gone With The Twins 09/25/2020
3/10
It would have worked better as a single episode of a sci-fi television show rather than a standalone theatrical picture. Go to Full Review
Sebastian Zavala Kahn Más Gamers 10/17/2016
1/4
One of the most kitschy adaptation of a video game to film, and one of the biggest box office failures ever. [Full review in Spanish] Go to Full Review
Brian Costello Common Sense Media 09/21/2015
2/5
Cliched sci-fi movie has slow pace, gratuitous sex talk. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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River P Jul 28 I thought Wing Commander was a great movie. I really enjoyed it. I really don’t understand the amount of hatred the film got. I think it’s a fun and entertaining sci-fi action adventure movie. I like how it takes place in outer space and for what I understand, the movie is loosely based on the video game series which I never knew about. Never played those games. I like the cast including Freddie Prinze Jr, Saffron Burrows, Matthew Lillard among others. A really good cast. Freddie Prinze Jr is pretty much the lead in the flick. The cast gave solid performances and they worked well together. Not all the effects hold up, but there are some pretty nice special and visual effects. And there are some good practical effects. Not a perfect movie, but it was a lot of fun. The movie definitely deserves more attention. Personally, I don’t think it deserves the flack it received. I am one of the few people who likes it. Despite the negative thoughts, I did quite like it. Good movie. See more Christopher S Apr 3 One of my favorite movies. I'm a space simulator junkie though, and this came out just when I needed it. I knew the games, the shows, was reading X-Wing novels.. it's a niche genre and I was the exact demographic, and still revisit it every now and again. See more Corey M Feb 15 I can ignore some of the bad acting, even from really good actors. I can ignore the need to remind the audience how hated pilgrims are every 15min. I can ignore the terrible writing. But I cannot ignore the blatant disregard for physics. There is no fire in space, ships wouldn't "fall off" the runway the way planes do launching from an aircraft carrier, nor would wreckage settle on the deck. The movie takes way too many liberties with space. They should have consulted with an astrophysicist. Or any first year astronomy student really. See more David B Jan 6 Not sure why everyone seems to hate this movie. I loved it. It’s for the true sci-fi purists. See more 04/10/2022 Yes, I played the video games and this movie is nothing like them but a good entertaining B flick for its time. Much better than Mortal Combat, Street Fighter, and other crap video game movies of the time. See more 06/17/2021 I spent several decades avoiding this film because I thought it would be horrible but it's actually not that bad! There are three major flaws that I'm guessing most people can't get over. The first is a handful of illogical moments that happen because the movie needs drama to occur. The second is the Kilrathi design. I get that they didn't want to make them cute-and-cuddly like in the video game - likely because they didn't want the audience to empathize with them, so instead they made them "scary generic" - but it just sorta falls flat. The third is, of course, the cast. I actually feel like most of the cast did a decent job here, but Freddy Prince Jr., who plays the lead...let's just say that when you are being upstaged by Matthew Lillard, you probably shouldn't be the movies lead. To be fair, this would be the character that you play in the game, so he pulls off that bland "every man" type, but in the movie he comes off as TOO bland. Other than that, the plot to the movie is serviceable...if not slightly jumbled... and the film doesn't really overstay its welcome. There are some nice space-combat action scenes. Despite not using the theme from the game - which is a classic ;) - the David Arnold score is quite good and Arnold is exactly who you'd want to score to a sci-fi space move like this. I'm actually surprised at how competent this move is considering that it's Chris Robert's first movie and that Hollywood was actually willing to give some video game nerd money to make a movie in the late 90s (those experimental days are long gone, I'm afraid). I think perhaps people are disappointed because the writing and characters in the original games are much better than what's put on display here - hell, even the ship design and costumes were better in the games - but it's not a bad way to waste 90 minutes, so long as you know what you are getting into and aren't coming from the video games expecting some grand, elegant sci-fi epic. I think the movie's greatest fault is that, like most vg adaptations, it suffers from video game was better sydrome See more Read all reviews
Wing Commander

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Movie Info

Synopsis A space pilot (Freddie Prinze Jr.) with an encoded message, his sidekick (Matthew Lillard) and their superior (Saffron Burrows) fight attacking aliens.
Director
Chris Roberts
Producer
Todd Moyer
Screenwriter
Chris Roberts, Chris Roberts, Kevin Droney
Distributor
20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment
Production Co
20th Century Fox
Rating
PG-13
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 12, 1999, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 30, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$11.6M
Runtime
1h 40m
Sound Mix
Surround, Dolby Digital
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