Dark Planet - 1997

Purple Rain is a well known, award winning film that defined musician Prince to millions of fans and is a cult classic film.  It was the first feature of director Albert Magnoli, who was a recent film school graduate.  Magnoli would subsequently befriend Prince, become his manager, and direct the less than successful sequel to Purple Rain.

I mention this because Albert Magnoli never had much of a film career after Purple Rain.  Perhaps he was meant to be a music manager instead, who really knows.  I have no idea what he's up to right now.  But one of the other films he did direct was made for TV sci fi flick Dark Planet.

Dark Planet feels extremely made for TV.  To say that's good or bad, well, it's really depending on your individual taste and what you want.  It's accessible in that everyone can watch it.  It walks the very bland line of accessibility, it's not cool or dangerous, not out to make any impact, and very forgettable.  If you're tired and have a snack, it might make the perfect Wednesday night thing to do though, if you're in the mood.

The plot is not especially strong.  One antihero guy is recruited by some space people to help them get to this planet which might be hospitable.  You see, this is the future and Earth will soon be uninhabitable.  Of course it will be right?

It's got a decent sequence of tension where they're going through a mine field, and it's got a sort of attractive girl that the antihero hits on.  Otherwise, it's very low in aim, execution, and intelligence.  It is ultimately not as good as Purple Rain, in other words.
1 star.