A team of observers check out a groundbreaking scientific device with the ability to open windows into other parallel dimensions. However, said team find themselves in considerable peril after they are accidentally transported to a hostile alien world populated by vicious predatory beasts. Director Billy O'Brien, working from a compact script by Douglas G. Davis, relates the entertaining story at a snappy pace, delivers a few cool bits of mild gore, generates a reasonable amount of tension, and further spices things up with an amusing sense of inspired sarcastic humor. The competent acting by the solid cast keeps this movie humming: Joe Flanigan as scruffy, disgraced Colonel Sam Synn, John Rhys-Davies as the arrogant and overbearing Senator Jackson Crenshaw, Catherine Walker as the spunky, willful Dr. Karen Fast, Dagmar Doring as the frosty Dr. Jillian O'Hara, Robert Soohan as O'Hara's twitchy assistant Brian Murphy, and Yare Michael Jegbefume as the amiable Lt. Rivers. The CGI creatures look pretty hokey and convincing, but nonetheless still possess a certain tacky charm. Moreover, the plot is admittedly silly, yet fortunately gets handled with a sincerity and a dry self-deprecating wit that's both refreshing and appealing. Both Peter Robertson's sharp cinematography and Ray Harmon's spirited marital score are up to par. A fun little flick.
Review of Ferocious Planet
