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Cast: Edward Campbell, Timothy Balme, Lisa Chappell, Stuart Devenie, Nicola Murphy
In this fantasy from New Zealand, a 13th-century monk (Stuart Devenie) gets a second chance at salvation when he enters the mind of modern-day inventor Jack Brown (Timothy Balme) to get him to perfect the flying machine that killed him -- in the process proving humans can fly. Brown, however, has distractions of his own, including an ex-boss who wants to sell the flying machine to an Asian investor.
I am not sure any review of this film would do it justice on either side of the coin because this is one of those personal films, a movie either you really like or hate. I can tell you that this 1994 comedy from New Zealand is now available on DVD in the U.S. for the first time. The film is a silly sci-fi comedy that for starters demands you to leave your brain at the door because if your expecting something in your head I think you might be very disappointed here. I already gave you the low-down on the story above and to give anymore might just confuse you even more but I can say that in the end the film was entertaining in a strange sort of way. The film plays like a cartoon, never taking itself serious in any way but it does contain some creative sets and some of the humor was very funny as well. I can't recommend this to everyone but if your looking for something different this certainly fits the bill. Co-written by the now famous, Peter Jackson, that alone might very well be another reason to give this a chance. I am not sure why Peter never directed this, maybe he was busy or just was willing to let someone else take a shot at it but after it was over I did wonder what it might of been like with a little better story and maybe with Peter behind the camera. There is certainly major potential in the story here but it manages to fall short on being what it could of been but I think it is worth a look just try not to think about it much and go with it and if you do that I think you will get some decent entertainment out of it like I did.
Released by Lions Gate Entertainment
*** Out Of *****