Millennium (1989)
Live / Artisan DVD (region 1)
d. Michael Anderson; pr. Douglas Leiterman, Bruce McNall; scr. John Varley; ph. Rene Ohashi; m. Eric N. Robertson; ed. Ron Wisman; cast. Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, Daniel J. Travanti, Robert Joy, Lloyd Bochner, Brent Carver, Maury Chaykin (100 mins)
Millennium has suffered a critical fate which generally has it dismissed as a rather woeful and misbegotten science fiction film. When somewhat acclaimed but perhaps little known cult science fiction author John Varley adapted his short story “Air Raid” for screen treatment, the project attracted interest and was originally set to be directed by special effects master Douglas Trumbull (who had shown a fine touch in Silent Running). Although the Trumbull deal did not eventuate, the project was subsequently linked to such figures as Richard Rush, whose The Stunt Man had been one of American film’s greatest unseen but must-see works. None of these initiatives panned out, however, and Varley in the meantime fleshed the work out into a novel. However, Interest in the project returned and the movie was finally made with veteran journeyman director Michael Anderson at the helm – a fact which did not endear this project to all science fiction fans (Anderson’s quality work in the movie Logan’s Run considered long since dissipated). Despite an intriguing time travel scenario, the filmmakers perhaps unwisely decided to simplify the material, arguably to the point of condescension. The resultant film never found a receptive audience amongst either movie critics or genre enthusiasts and emerged a silly and unconvincing disappointment, of interest primarily as a “bad movie”.
Millennium involves a time travel paradox and is structured on the expected anomalies of such a scenario. Kris Kristofferson stars as an experienced airline crash investigator on call to wade through the wreckage of a mid-air collision between two jumbo jets. There, he is startled by the presence of a physicist (Daniel J. Travanti) who seems unusually intrigued by this crash in particular. On listening to the recovered flight data recorder, Kristofferson hears a weird message. Thereafter, he is distracted by a strange woman (Cheryl Ladd) who simply vanishes from their hotel room after a night of lovemaking. Potential spoiler: Ladd seemingly jumps into the future, a world overrun with pollution and decay where there are few “beautiful people” left and whose physically malformed inhabitants have unusual plans for those people caught in airline disasters. Back in the present, Kristofferson finds an unusual device in the collected plane wreckage. He fiddles with it and is knocked unconscious, whereupon Ladd and others re-appear to claim the device. When Kristofferson awakens he remembers the incident, a fact which has set in motion a discrepancy in the time line, which is now rapidly ruining Ladd’s future. She must return in time, to her first meeting with Kristofferson, to try and prevent him finding the device, but has this event already been set in time and is her world thus doomed to “time-quakes”? read more