Sadly Over-hyped

People are voting emotionally.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The trick with these sorts of reviews is perspective.Even today (2014) the rebooted BSG series is considered one of the best produced and written series of all time, addictive, as much a game changer for TV as Buffy or Breaking Bad.Once you understand that, the question you need to ask yourself is, what purpose do these feature length "fillers" serve? Many of the other reviewers here were expecting greatness, something new, something important, and, having failed to find it, got a little peckish.I believe that these features are simply a chance for the producers to unwind, to show off, to experiment. Almost like having a fast car that you can't drive fast because you're in the city. Take her out on the hiway and see what she can do...In that context, this is a solid little entertainer. Great use of flashbacks (compared for example to the over-use in series like ARROW).Great acting. I believe BSG showed us many actors who were capable of greatness if given a chance, yet, post-BSG, we never really saw much of them again.The scenes between Michelle Forbes and Stephanie Jacobsen are electric. Both deliver far more on-screen wattage than their resumes would suggest. And Jacobsen's exotic looks (she was born in China) once again showcases the ability of the casting director to pick the right actor for the correct role.

To begin with, everything that makes the Battlestar Galactica TV-series great also applies to Razor. The writing, acting and visual effects are all superb, and the plot is good though not a gem by any rate. That said, Razor is darker than anything we have seen so far.To be a razor is to be heartless and soulless for as long as you have to be, because if you don't survive, you don't get the opportunity to become human again. This is Admiral Cain's philosophy as she leads the Pegasus into a hopeless war against the cylon armada. Although the movie gives some insight and understanding of Cain's character, it doesn't deliver enough to justify the atrocities committed, and I came out hating Cain more than ever.The scope is admirable, but selling Cain and her ilk as heroes is a hard thing to do, and it just doesn't get there.

Sorry, how exactly is this not just two episodes back-to-back? Now, I'll grant you, the idea is not exactly novel, since the original Battlestar did it too on numerous occasions, except with the original, the 2-parters were better than average.This is just more run-of-the-mill bad film-making, bad acting and bad directing... oh and let's not forget the bad and pretentious writing.If SciFi thought they were going to save this low-rated, lowly-regarded show with this stunt, I think they've been wrong once again.Let's get rid of this show once and for all. It was bad from the beginning and no amount of PR is going to make it better.

Having just watched this, and then read some of the comments that have been posted, I suspect that there are a few subtleties that have been overlooked.While most people who have commented on this special episode have recognised the use of flashbacks to "flesh out" things we already know have occurred, the development of the back story of the "Old Cylons" did (I feel) link in with a great deal of what has been hinted at regarding the development of the Cylons, particularly their human-like forms; the ability to "see" the future; and their religion (and may I say, rather than feeling "force fed" by writers, the whole concept of machines developing a religious belief system just like my own scares the *heck* out of me! Do the Cylons *really* believe what they are saying? Is it something they collectively discovered; or did a leader get delusions somewhere and infect them all with a psychosis? Worst of all though, is the question "if the Cylons have a belief system like mine, while the humans have a "multi-god" view, then which side should *I* really be on?". But I digress!) My point is that this issue of (some) Cylons having the belief that they can see the future "because it has all happened before" has been floating around for a long time now. Also I think many people may have missed the hint from this particular episode that the "old" Cylons appear to be the link between Earth and everyone else (in the original series, *** ooh, ooh, spoilers from 30 years ago follow - frak me!*** the Cylons actually made it to Earth - though I can't recall what the outcome was, as by then they had been reduced to parodies of their former menacing selves). It also showed that the Cylons have an aspect of their past that they aren't so proud of either, and the revelation of their treatment of humans made an interesting counter-point to what we saw happening with Pegasus (in both cases, the events are set on vessels "outside" of the mainstream fleet; and in both cases it is hoped that the events can be left on the respective vessels when they are eventually destroyed).So, I don't have a problem at all with the whole "old Cylons" sub-plot, and I very much suspect that this will become very important in Series 4. And in regards to Adama *not* revealing his previous experience to anyone before, perhaps he didn't understand enough of what he saw to be able to say anything (especially since he would have been pre-occupied with rescuing the other survivors).Anyway, how about we all wait for Series 4 and see where it takes us, then see if "Razor" fits in with it or not? Oh, but I can't leave without commenting on one thing - *whose* idea was it to have the main character speak with an Aussie accent? Yes, I know, she *is* an Aussie, but that's not the point - Jamie Bamber is as English as Prince Charles, but *he* can do an American accent, so why do I have to listen to someone who sounds like *I* do? (I mean, Baltar has an English accent because he's a villain, and at least when Lucy Lawless was in it, she did her "Kiwi" accent, which has a minute trace of class about it! Yep, I can just hear those emails already!!!) So, to finish up - there was a lot of story to cover in "Razor", and while quite a bit of it had already been covered, this presented a new context to it all and was all the more thought provoking for it. I don't agree that any of the production efforts were below normal (I thought the special effects were brilliant - but may be others have forgotten that Cylon spaceships can't *really* fly around - and land it - city environments. And although I'm supposedly "grown up" at age 45, *don't* get me started on how *creepy* the Centurions are - them and the new Cybermen are the stars of my worst nightmares!) If you've read this far, thanks for staying with me! For anyone associated with making BSG, thanks for keeping me so entertained for the past few years - and giving me plenty to think about! Oh, and if you plan on sending the Cylons to Australia, please start with Sydney, then Canberra ....