Starring: Julia Dietze, Gotz Otto, Christopher Kirby.
Indeed, having been in production for going on six years, and for breaking new ground after being made in collaboration with a huge community of online fans, hopes surrounding this hotly-anticipated sci-fi farce were perhaps impossibly high, because it sorely disappoints. It’s a great opportunity missed by the joint German, Finnish and Australian production team.
This is especially the case because the production values are undoubtedly high. With its swastika-shaped Moonbase, imposing stormtroopers and impressive special effects, the film looks great. The problem lies with the writers. There are definitely laughs to be found, but while the makers presumably had a Mel Brooks-style Indiana Jones meets Spaceballs spoof movie in mind, the gags too often fall flat, perhaps not helped by the decision, presumably made for commercial reasons, to have a predominantly German cast deliver a predominantly English script. They might be fine comic actors in their first language, but they struggle to convince in their second.
Likewise, the Earth-based backdrop of a President Sarah Palin willing to do anything to win her second term in office is bursting with comic potential, but the joke wears thin way too fast, the result being more Carry On than Tina Fey.
Verdict: Two stars
