“L” is for Lost In Space

Lots and lots of cheesy goodness!

I’ll tell you right now the only thing I know about the classic television show that the movie Lost In Space is based on/a tribute to is from seeing it parodied on shows like The Simpsons. It seems like a show so campy and bad that I’m shocked I haven’t sat down at some point in my life to watch all the episodes. However, while the movie is definitely more serious, and has an actual plot to drive it, and has great acting talent, there is a ton of humor throughout, and the chemistry amongst the cast makes me love it. I love a good, action packed sci fi flick, and when you add in a few bonuses, I’m in heaven.

It starts off with a great hook by having a space battle over a hyper gate that is meant to save the planet. There’s great action and CGI, and plenty of banter as we see Matt LeBlanc show he’s more than just ‘Joey’ from Friends as he plays Major Don West. With all the swagger and likable bravado he displays, I’m saddened to know his last effort is the failed spin off from that television series, instead of a lot of action roles. Be that as it may, he’s a big reason of why I love this movie so much.

It doesn’t hurt that he plays very well against Don West’s love interest, Judy Robinson, played with subdued attitude and charm by Heather Graham. She’s quite believable as the brilliant daughter in charge of the cryosleep chambers which make the long space flight to Alpha Prime possible. She comes off as smart, a bit frosty, but with a flair for delivering snide remarks without making you think ‘What a bitch.’

William Hurt plays the father, Mimi Rogers the mother, with Jack Johnson as the son and Lacey Chabert as the youngest daughter. This is a family with lots of problems, most of them stemming from the father’s obsession with saving the planet, even at the cost of his relationship with his loved ones. We get just enough setup in the beginning of the movie to see that the youngest daughter is acting out because she doesn’t want to leave her friends behind, the son is a genius and having major daddy issues, and the wife, while she loves her husband, would like to strangle him for leaving her to tend to the serious mess and work of packing up a family to go on a one way trip into space. If done at all differently it would have been too much, and there would be no sympathy for these characters. Instead, they seem authentic, and you really hope for the best for them.

Gary Oldman plays the evil Dr. Smith, and he does it in that typical Gary Oldman ‘I’m just as creepy as Christopher Walken any day of the week!’ style. Unlike Christopher Walken, however, Gary Oldman can deliver a performance that makes you hate him at the same time as making you miss him if he weren’t there. He’s got great comedic timing, and can go from sniveling to sinister in 2.3 seconds. He adds just enough camp value to his role to pull off being turned into a giant spider creature without it seeming all that unexpected.

This is a longer than average movie, but every time I watch it I never notice. There’s so much great dialogue and character interaction, along with a very interesting story that involves time holes in space, time travel, infestations of cannibalistic spiders, and plenty of gun fights and fancy space flying, even in the rare ‘down time’ moments, you don’t have a chance to be bored. Yes, it’s based on a campy television show, but it stands alone as an awesome, under-rated in it’s own time, science fiction flick.

If you have never seen it, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy (Best Buy still has it in print!) and sit down with it for a popcorn munching good time. Great story, great characters, rich special effects, and great dialogue all add up to put this cheesy, fun movie in my personal list of ‘Movies I Can’t Live Without’.

Tags: Gary Oldman, Heather Graham, Jack Johnson, Lacey Chabert, Lost In Space, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, sci fi movie, The Cheese Alphabet, William Hurt