ENEMY MINE is a moving sci-fi tale which blends elements from ROBINSON CRUSOE and science fiction to create a tale of survival and morality.  It is a movie that started with one director who was then fired after weeks of location shooting in places such as Iceland.  ENEMY MINE’s budget more than doubled from $17 million to over $40 million when it was shot from scratch with new locations, new make-up of Louis Gossett Jr., and new sets under the capable direction of German director Wolfgang Peterson.  It was a box office bomb in 1985, but it is one of the most underrated science fiction films of the 1980s that gained its status as a classic over the years (despite objections from author Barry Longyear who said parts of his novella’s story was changed for the movie like adding in the subplot with the mine).  

 

In the future, humankind is at war with the alien race known as the Dracs as humans continue to expand further into outer space.   Pilot Davidge (Randy Quaid) crash lands on a barren alien world when chasing Drac pilot Jeriba (Gossett), and both pilots first try to kill each other before they must join together to survive.   Davidge learns about Jeriba (aka Jeri) about Drac culture and language while Jeri learns the human language.   They must struggle together while Jeri is pregnant with child (Dracs are asexual and pregnancy just happens after a certain point in life).   ENEMY MINE rests on the shoulders of two actors for at least half of the movie.  It makes you care for them in this alien landscape.   The electronic score beautifully matches up with the cinematography.   Grab this Blu-ray from TWILIGHT TIME before all 3000 copies are sold out (sold exclusively through the Screen Archive Entertainment website).

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The only extras are the original theatrical trailer, an isolated score track where you can hear the sound effects and music as their own track as you play the film, and an eight page booklet that reveals details about the production including facts like the film’s original director (Richard Loncraine) being fired after weeks of shooting and the dailies being deemed unsatisfactory (before Wolfgang Peterson was hired to save the film).   I wish they could have made a featurette on the making of the movie and include a little of the original footage from the original director of ENEMY MINE.  Maybe someday someone will make a documentary on the making of ENEMY MINE.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  ENEMY MINE looks beautiful on Blu-ray in this sci-fi morality tale which holds up as a minor sci-fi classic.  Hopefully, a documentary will be made on the making of this film and hopefully the footage from Richard Loncraine still exists for such a project.   If you love this movie, buy your copy before all 3000 copies are sold out of this limited edition blu-ray.  The movie looks great and the 2010 remastering is definitely an upgrade from the DVD version from years earlier.