John Carpenter's debut offering, a $60,000 student project, remains
the wittiest of all his films and, as a spaced-out space flick, a
delightfully inventive response to the solemnity of Kubrick's 2001.
Highlights are the talking bomb which has to be introduced to the
precepts of philosophy, the ship's pet (an infuriating beach ball
creature), and the extremely deft, desperate and funny performance of
Dan O'Bannon (the film's co-writer). The tiny budget and sparse design
of the piece actually generate an amazing sense of poetic loneliness.
