Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Space Warriors Blu-ray Movie Review

To High School and Beyond!

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 10, 2013

If you're old enough, you may remember a cheesy 1986 adventure film called Space Camp, in which a group of kids attending the youth program at the U.S. Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama are accidentally launched into orbit by a well-meaning robot who has bonded emotionally with one of the younger campers and wants to help him realize his dream of going into space. The youngster in question was played by Joaquin Phoenix (billed as "Leaf") in his first film, and his fellow passengers included Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston and Tate Donovan. The film flopped at the box office due to the bad luck of being released in the same year as the tragic Challenger explosion that killed seven U.S. astronauts within seconds after liftoff.

Whether intentionally or not, Space Warriors is a remake for modern times, and it's far superior family entertainment that forgoes the credibility-defying notion of an accidental shuttle launch. Instead, it lets the pre-teen leads become heroes through skills with computers, flight simulators and virtual reality, which is just this side of plausible. The film may lack giggle-worthy lines like Kelly Preston's unforgettable "Whip me, beat me, take away my charge cards . . . NASA is talking!", but it has a winning cast of young stars, a solid adult roster and superior effects. The director and co-writer, Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer), has a long and venerable history of effective family entertainment, and he understands exactly what tone the story needs.

The script of Space Warriors cannily incorporates a contemporary sense that both NASA and space exploration no longer command the popular imagination as they did during the glory years of the Apollo missions. The senior official at the facility, Commander Phillips (Danny Glover, bringing an appropriate sense of authority to the part), acknowledges as much when he addresses the young attendees. By doing so, the film effectively underscores the dedication of those who have nevertheless worked so hard to qualify for Space Camp's program—even greater in the case of Jimmy Hawkins (Thomas Horn, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), whose astronaut father, Andy (Dermot Mulroney), was part of the ground crew during the Challenger disaster. Andy Hawkins left NASA after his recommendation to abort the mission was overruled, and he has never shaken his sense of having failed the comrades who died. The guilt destroyed his marriage to Jimmy's mother, Sally (Mira Sorvino), who now discourages her son's ambitions to explore space. But still Jimmy wants to follow in his father's footsteps.

These conflicts reach critical mass one day when Col. Roy Manley (Josh Lucas) arrives at Jimmy's door to deliver his acceptance to Space Camp in person. In an overly theatrical flourish borrowed from Willy Wonka, it's a golden ticket (really!), and we're meant to accept that NASA can spare an individual of Col. Manley's seniority to journey around the world handing out these special acceptances. Then again, when you're competing with Google and Microsoft for the best and the brightest, extraordinary measures may be required.

Jimmy forges his mother's signature and invents a cover story so that he can slip away from both parents and live his dream of attending Space Camp. There he's placed on a team called the "Warriors" with a cross section of equally talented teens. Rusty (Grayson Russell), the son of a NASCAR driver, is a mechanical genius. Dani (Savannah Jade) is rewriting the book on robotics. Sergei (Nicholas Lobue) is a computer whiz. Bao Yuen (Michael Zhang) is an expert on rockets. And Lacey (Ryan Simpkins) is the world's greatest drone pilot under the age of twenty. (She also ends up spending a romantic evening with Jimmy under the imaginary stars of the lunar module simulator.)

The Warriors compete in a series of challenges against other teams, including last year's champions, the Titans, lead by an obnoxious and devious jock named Hunter (Thomas Kasp), who is the film's requisite villain. While these youthful conflicts play out at Space Camp, more serious issues develop in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Damage from space debris leads to a cascade of failures, rendering a portion of the ISS uninhabitable and burning up much of the oxygen supply. Three of the six occupants are able to depart in an escape module, while a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft is launched to retrieve the remaining three, two Russians and an American.

News of the Soyuz rescue mission breaks just as the Space Camp competition concludes, and Jimmy Hawkins accurately calculates that the oxygen remaining in the ISS will run out before the rescue mission arrives. He and his Warrior team design an outside-the-box plan to buy the remaining crew members enough time to survive, but then they have to persuade Col. Manley (and he has to persuade Commander Phillips) that Space Camp trainees thought of something the rest of NASA missed. Adding to the tension is the arrival of Jimmy's parents, who have discovered his deception. His mother wants him to leave immediately, and his father is desperate to spare his son any involvement in a mission that might stigmatize him for life if the astronauts aboard the ISS do not make it home alive.

There's never any doubt how the mission will turn out, but director McNamara does a fine job of keeping things interesting with good effects work, lively editing (including some well-placed split screens) and a few wrinkles that require everyone to adapt quickly. When it's over, he knows not to linger but to wrap up the story quickly with a party and a send-off.

Space Warriors Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Space Warriors was shot on the Red system by cinematographer Robert Hayes, who has extensive TV credits and has continued working with director McNamara on subsequent features. Hayes's lighting takes its cue from both the subject matter, which is all about loyalty, decency and teamwork (hence, not a lot of shadow), and the production design, which is overwhelmingly red, white and blue, even when we're not at Space Camp. (You can tell that the rival Titans aren't the good guys by the colors of their uniforms.) ARC Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray provides a beautifully detailed, noiseless and clear image, obviously taken directly from a digital master, that features deep and solid blacks (essential for scenes like Jimmy's and Lacey's lunar module picnic) and contrast levels that are never overstated. The clarity and depth of field permitted by digital photography allows for seamless integration of the elaborate effects sequence in the finale, when the Warriors recreate the International Space Station in a full-scale holographic simulation.

Banding, compression errors and other artifacts were nowhere to be seen. This is a first-rate presentation of digitally acquired material.

Space Warriors Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Space Warriors' lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track doesn't have the dynamic range and detail of a full-scale action movie, but it still has some nice moments. When Col. Manley delivers a "golden ticket" to Lacey, she demonstrates her skills piloting a drone, and it swoops loudly. The sudden explosion that burns up the space station's oxygen is a shocker, and a number of the Space Camp exercises have interesting sound effects. But dialogue remains one of the two key elements in the soundtrack, and it's delivered cleanly and clearly. The other key element is the appealingly upbeat soundtrack selections clearly aimed for repeat play, as evidenced by the "Music Launch" extra. The instrumentals are by Larry Brown (The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest).

Space Warriors Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Space Warriors Making Of (1080p; 1.78:1; 15:13): This is an enthusiastic though somewhat cursory EPK containing interviews with director McNamara and all the principal cast. Perhaps the most interesting revelation is the degree to which McNamara transformed the script after joining the project, adding the space station narrative to give the story dramatic heft.



• A Cool Look at Space Camp (1080i; 1.78:1; 1:54): Effectively a promo for Space Camp, but a very good one.



• Aviation Challenge Unfriendly Skies (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:01): A promo for the Aviation Challenge/Top Gun division of Space Camp.



• Go for Launch: Be a Real Life Space Warrior (1080p; 1.78:1; 8:43): A longer and more detailed promotional tour of Space Camp that covers every aspect, including meals and medical care.



• Space Camp Get Ready (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:01): Yet another promo.



• Silhouette (1080p; 1.78:1; 0:32): This is essentially an animated print ad for a type of eyeglasses seen in the film.



• Bonus Music Video Produced by Spencer Proffer (1080p; 2.35:1; 3:26): The video uses footage from the film, edited to accompany several musical selections cut together.



• Space Warriors Trailer (1080p; 2.40:1; 1:48)



• I Hope You Dance Trailer (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:52)



• Hallmark
• Cedar Cove (1080p; 1.78:1; 1:27)
• TV Spot (1080p; 1.78:1; 0:32)



• Music Launch: In a move designed to send viewers directly to the iTunes store, the Blu-ray contains a gallery of musical selections from the film's soundtrack. A "play all" feature is included.
• Orbit (Suite) (3:11)
• Unstoppable (3:43)
• It Doesn't Matter (6:13)
• All This Time (3:22)
• Make It Through (4:31)
• We're Still Pioneers (2:18)
• Evolution of a Marine (3:35)



• Additional Trailers: At startup, the disc plays trailers (in 1080p) for Return to Nim's Island, Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer and Amazing Racer. These can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Space Warriors Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Space Warriors may be square and old-fashioned, but it's endearingly so. It's a pleasant change to watch a movie in which young people come of age through devotion to math and science rather than acting, singing and dancing. As a society, we currently have an overabundance of people eager to "express themselves" but lacking in the patience or self-discipline to learn how to do it well. Besides, not everyone has something worth expressing, and the world can only support so many entertainers. There's a shortage of truly skillful practitioners of technology and hard science, and any film that has even a chance of inspiring a few youthful viewers to think of those as worthy pursuits deserves to be encouraged. If only for the sake of every potential Jimmy or Lacey out there, highly recommended.