In the not too distant future, where by far the most precious commodity in the galaxy is water. The last surviving water planet was somehow removed to the unreachable centre of the galaxy at the end of the galactic trade wars. The galaxy is ruled by an evil emperor presiding over a trade oligarchy that controls all mining and sale of ice from asteroids and comets.
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Reviews
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
good back-story, and good acting
To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
I truly believe this is a great movie. I remember the love scene under the oh-so-precious water shower. I remember a gonzo, well-intentioned feel. And a nice plot idea. I may be disappointed when I see it again. But I believe I'll be wrong, then.
The Ice Pirates is far from one of my favorite sci fi movies from the 80's. In fact, I remember not liking this when I was a kid. I have chose to give this an adult rewatch and while I can't exactly call this "good", it deserves some merit for being possibly the cheesiest 80's movie ever made. The Ice Pirates is about as silly of a swashbuckling sci fi romp, that is camp and absurdity that goes way past 11. The cast is filled with some notable actors, like Robert Urich (who shows a lot of charisma), Angelica Huston and Ron Perlman in his film debut. However, The Ice Pirates is pretty bad, with lots of dumb humor, slapstick, ridiculous outfits and plot holes galore. I did appreciate how crazy this movie is and how far they took it over the top. This was too cheesy for me in the 80's and while The Ice Pirates is not a very good movie, I was amazed by how far the filmmakers went with the stupidity and insanity of this film. For that, this movie is totally off the wall and completely bonkers entertainment that is a campy cult film that is in its own class.
I saw this movie in '84 and if you asked me about it a year ago I would have said I loved it. Corny good time movie and the actors just went with it. Seemed they had fun and I did too.For Nostalgia's sake I got a copy of this movie a couple months ago and watched it. This time it seemed a lot more corny than it should have been, but I still enjoyed it. Had I written this review before watching it again I would have given it a 8. Today, it really isn't that good and it only deserves a 5 but nostalgia earned it another point.Come to think of it, I watched Star Wars: a New Hope and Empire Strikes Back again a couple months ago and only gave it a 5. The theater called it The Force Awakens but they couldn't fool me.
"The Ice Pirates" is a pretty engaging off kilter comedy spoofing both space adventures and swashbucklers, with enough verbal and visual gags to make it pleasant, and impossible to truly dislike. It's clearly not aiming to be something particularly memorable or special, just an irreverent diversion on lazy afternoons. It's played enthusiastically by an interestingly chosen cast that helps it to have a cult-film sort of appeal. The script, co-written by director Stewart Raffill ("The Philadelphia Experiment", "Mac and Me"), has a muddled story but a disarming sense of humour. Not all of its scenes work that well, but it's sure to have its viewers smiling if not laughing out loud.TV stars Robert Urich ('Vega$') and Mary Crosby ('Dallas') headline a cast also featuring Michael D. Roberts, Ron Perlman, Anjelica Huston, John Matuszak, Bruce Vilanch, and a too briefly seen John Carradine. Urich plays Jason, the leader of the title characters in a galaxy where water is the most precious commodity. After their latest escapades, they're captured by the baddies - dubbed Templars - and then acquired by princess Karina (Crosby) so they can help in a quest to find her father.Reasonably good visuals and a decent score by Bruce Broughton help in the enjoyment of this little bit of escapism, as well as a fairly clever finale taking place inside a time warp where our heroes steadily age while fighting the bad guys. There are also a variety of interesting and likable characters, human, robot, and otherwise, with actors and actresses such as Natalie Core, Jeremy West, Alan Caillou, Marcia Lewis, Robert Symonds, Rockne Tarkington, Ian Abercrombie, Hank Worden, and Carmen Filpi in various small roles. Perlman is particularly funny as one of Jasons' comrades, while Huston gets to be a total badass.This would make a decent double feature with another off the wall cult genre effort from the same year, "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension".Six out of 10.