ENEMY MINE
Give Peace A Chance
released OUT NOW! 1985 | 12 | Blu-ray Director Wolfgang Petersen Cast dennis Quaid, louis Gossett Jr, Bumper robinson, Brion James
It’s 2092 and Earth is engaged in an interstellar war with reptilian race the Dracs. After fighter pilot Davidge (Dennis Quaid) has a dogfight with Jeriba Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr) the pair crash-land on an alien world. Initially at odds, they learn that co-operation is better, but events soon test their new bond...
The plot’s been done before, both in war movies (None But The Brave, Hell In The Pacific) and in TV sci-fi (UFO, Galactica 1980) and its peaceable symbolism is clear. In Enemy Mine the antagonistic duo get along quickly (too quickly, perhaps), and Jeriba picks up English at remarkable speed. These factors make it much more approachable than director Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot, then, but it’s not as floaty as his Never Ending Story. Moments of early humour – a monster that devours a critter belches – give way to sentiment later on.
Besides the saccharine touches, the latter stages invest heavily in bombast and melodrama, and ’80s action tropes fly around. Subtlety is jettisoned. We’ve had our fun, though, and perhaps learnt a few lessons in humanity for that war that’s going to kick off in around 70 years or so...
Extras Just the trailer and a grainy extended scene (with German audio and English subtitles).
Original director Richard Loncraine was removed after several weeks’ filming, with Wolfgang Petersen starting from scratch.