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List Price: $4.99 | | Label: Bci / Eclipse
Salesrank: 97449
Released: March 9, 2004 |
| Our Price: $8.00 |
| Used Price: $2.99 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
An outstanding cast is featured in this futuristic science fiction thriller that finds a bounty hunter on a perilous quest for his quarry while Mother Nature runs rampant on planet Earth threatening the very future of mankind.System Requirements: Running Time 92 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 787364441990 Manufacturer No: 44419-9
Slipstream Reviews:
From Mad Max to Blade Runner to Buddy Film 
2008-02-24 - When I first saw the pictures on the DVD of SLIPSTREAM at the rental store, I noticed some A-list actors like Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abraham as the leads. I remembered Mark Hamill fondly from his roles in STAR WARS, so I figured that with this cast, it would not go wrong. As it turned out, SLIPSTREAM was indeed a good movie but not for the trio just mentioned. The movie started out with a premise I have seen many times before--the collapse of civilization and the struggle of the survivors to manage in the inhospitable badlands. Here, earth was hit by a double whammy of natural calamities like the continents being ripped asunder and pollution interacting to produce the lowering of the jetstream right down to the crust to produce a slipstream that pummels the land with intermittent ferocity such that no skyscrapers can withstand and no high flying aircraft can navigate. In such a society, people tend to live in enclaves of caves dug out of solid mountain. The opening thirty minutes reminded me of the MAD MAX badlands of Australia.
In this wind blown dessicated wasteland two police officers (Hamill and a sexy Belitsky) capture a fugitive (Bob Peck) and the details of his capture take the Slipstream winds of the movie's foreground and place them in its background, which considering the surprising complexity and richness of the plot was probably a wise idea. There they meet a bounty hunter (Bill Paxon) whose appearance ushers in a new dimension that reminded me of BLADE RUNNER and STAR TREK's Commander Date. Without giving away too much of the story, one of the quartet is an android that seeks human feelings. The last third of the film evolves into an unlikely buddy movie with Paxon and Peck teaming up and realizing that genuine human interactions have a value that far transcends any money figure.
SLIPSTREAM is the sort of film that makes it likely that one will want to have multiple viewings. True, there is quite a bit of cheesy dialogue and the special effects are eminently forgettable, but what makes the movie work on several levels is the knowledge that even in a wind blasted desert human emotion and feeling can yet make life endurable.
Terrible 
2008-01-03 - A movie with no production value, a nonsense script and no effects or storyline. I'm surprised any of the actors in it who have name value are in it. A complete waste of time.
Great, thoughtful sci-fi movie...weird packaging 
2007-04-18 - I remember seeing this movie as a kid and really enjoying it. A feeling of nostalgia prompted me to add it to my DVD collection recently, and I'm very glad that I did. I just finished viewing this movie again after receiving my order from Amazon, and I'm pleased to report that even after a span of about 18 years, I still think this is some pretty good science fiction.
In terms of realism, the movie plays pretty fast and loose. You'll just have to take it for granted that Bill Paxton is a hardened scavenger living in the remains of a collapsed, post-apocalyptic Earth when what you actually see is Bill flying a little solar-powered airplane around for no apparent reason and then charming the pants off of every woman he meets...oh wait, I guess there was a reason for all the flying around.
What you essentially have here is a buddy/road-trip movie in a fairly compelling science fiction setting. Technology vs. Nature, Man vs. Machine, Duty vs. Self, it's all here and more. This really is some of the more thoughtful science fiction I've seen and enjoyed. The treatment of some of these concepts is a bit superficial and/or fuzzy in places, but hey, what can you expect: it's a 90 minute B-grade sci-fi movie, and even so, I loved it from start to finish.
On a side note, I must ask: why in the world is Bob Peck not shown or credited anywhere on the DVD packaging? I mean, his character (Byron) is only the central plot device of the entire movie, and he shares the lead with Bill Paxton...no reason at all to include his name or even a picture of the man on the DVD case, huh? Instead, we get busts of Bill Paxton, Ben Kingsley, F. Murray Abraham, and Mark Hamill on the front of the case, but for the life of me I cannot fathom why the pictures of these actors were not taken from the movie "Slipstream." I swear to God that the picture they used for Bill Paxton must have been lifted from Apollo 13 or Twister or something, because Mr. Paxton looks nothing like that for his role in Slipstream. Ditto for the other actors pictured. Mark Hamill is pictured on the cover with black hair and a black goatee. His hair in the movie, however, is so blonde it's almost white! Not that any of this packaging strangeness detracts from the movie, but I strongly suspect that Kraft Foods, Inc. may have been involved in the design of the DVD cover because it's definitely the cheesiest.
scifi
2007-03-19 - I saw this movie years ago and had it on vhs but now on dvd-the story is set in future the story was good plus I liked the character interaction I would recomend this movie to any sci fan.
NAVIGATING THE WILD FUTURE 
2005-11-06 - Five Stars!! As a SciFi fan, this is one of my favorite movies. When the failures of mankind in managing the environment come to a tragic head, nature turns against us. The movie starts after a series of earthquakes, tidal waves, and such have virtually destroyed nations and economies and people are left to fend for themselves in enclaves. The major manifestation confronting mankind is a river of wind called the SlipStream, a virtual jet stream which has descended to the Earth's surface and literally destroys all structures. Major travel is by ultra-light aircraft and balloons between settlements.
Bill Paxton plays Matt, an opportunistic wanderer on future Earth who sees a chance to score some money by kidnapping a wanted prisoner with a bounty on his head. The problem is that he's already captured by the law in the person of Mark Hamill and Kitty Aldridge as Tasker and Belitski. Little does Paxton know that the prisoner is a special man and the two cops are not willing to give him up at all for a specific reason. The ensuing chase makes for a hoot of a SciFi romp through a fascinating future earth's places and people.
SlipStream boasts an outstanding cast with a riveting Mark Hamill as you've never seen him before, Bill Paxton in a great wisecracking role; Bob Peck as the object of everyone's desire; the comely Kitty Aldridge as one tough, trash-talking sexy cop; F. Murray Abraham and Ben Kingsley in terrific cameos; and others like Robbie Coltrane in a funny but ultimately tragic cameo. Plus, Eleanor David who steals every scene she's in. "SlipStream" is a frightening look into the possible awful near-future of Earth. Based on current events like the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, we may well be hurtling toward this type of future if we are not careful.
This movie has one of the best movie scores you will ever hear by the fabulous Academy Award-winning super composer Elmer Bernstein and please do sit through the credits to enjoy it all. I have it on my 'best of the best' cassette. And also sit thru the credits to enjoy the wild balloons. Five WINDY Stars.
