‘Attack on Titan’ VOD Review
Stars: Michael Paré, Jack Pearson, Erin Coker, Neli Sabour | Written by Gil Luna | Directed by Noah Luke
No relation to the anime of the same name or the Don Bluth film Titan A.E. for that matter, this Attack on Titan is – you guessed it – another creatively titled film from The Asylum. This one justifies its title by having a rebel faction on Saturn’s moon Titan object to Earth’s deal with the government to harvest water crystals. Since they launch an attack on us, the film, whose original title, Alien Space Battle, still appears in the end credits would be more accurately called Attack from Titan. But that just doesn’t sound the same.
After an attack on a freighter carrying those water crystals back to Earth Citizen Prime Ortiz (Michael Paré; 2025 Armageddon, Painkiller) orders Max Reece (Jack Pearson; Time Pirates, Top Gunner: Danger Zone) to put together a mission to rescue it. There’s just one problem, the only suitable ship currently available is under the command of Admiral Allison Quince (Erin Coker; 13/13/13, Shark Week) and she and Max “don’t exactly get along”.
That’s actually a bit of an understatement. Max dumped her and married her best friend Heidi (Neli Sabour; Thor: God of Thunder, Bullet Train Down). And, because that wasn’t coincidental enough, Heidi is on the freighter that was attacked.
No sooner have they found the freighter and its sole survivor, of course it’s Heidi, then the ship is attacked and ends up crash landing on Titan. They need to reach a nearby outpost, find the parts they need to repair the ship and get away in time to stop the alien fleet from destroying Earth.
Since Attack on Titan is an Asylum film you won’t be surprised to know that in the future the uniform for female military personnel includes a skin-tight crop top and you no longer need a spacesuit to survive on a distant, frozen moon, just a breathing mask. This makes no sense because when they’re onboard the remains of the freighter they do wear suits, obviously made from, among other things, motorcycle helmets but they do wear them.
Director Noah Luke (Jungle Run, Battle for Pandora) and writer Gil Luna (Population: 2) serve up a fairly action-heavy film, especially by The Asylum’s standards. There are space battles when they get to their destination, an assortment of skirmishes with the rebels while they’re on the planet’s surface, a cave-in, and a final battle once they get the ship back into space. It’s staged fairly well apart from the usual scenes where everyone ignores cover and just stands in the open shooting at each other.
The CGI rendering of the battles is better than normal for an Asylum film with many of the space scenes on par with much higher-budgeted productions. Although when they don’t work, such as a scene of a shuttle crash landing in a ship’s hanger, they look really bad. Exterior shots of the mining compound look solid as well. They obviously put a bit more effort into Attack on Titan and it pays off.
When Attack on Titan has its characters actually go out on Titan’s surface it’s obviously a soundstage with a painted backdrop obscured by filters. I actually found it a fun throwback to science-fiction films from the 50s and 60s. Those who don’t share my love of old-school space operas will probably have a different opinion though. The use of cell phones strapped into wrist holders was a nice touch, the more things change the more they stay the same indeed.
Those watching Attack on Titan due to the presence of Michael Paré will be disappointed. He has very little screen time even by guest cast standards and stands around in the same room in all his scenes, only one which is with another cast member. But that’s about the only thing I can really fault the film for. It’s a fun, relatively fast-paced diversion that should satisfy fans of the genre.
***½ 3.5/5
Attack on Titan is available on digital platforms now from The Asylum.
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