The Ark - DVD

Film: Colonel Gerard Bruchman (Christian Slater) and his three-man team are to devote themselves to the exploration of the iron ore deposit on the moon on the small lunar station ARK. But after a huge meteorite storm, a new task is on the agenda: the fight for survival. Because the station was damaged and the communication possibilities with the earth were destroyed. As if that wasn't bad enough, the meteorites seem to have carried dangerous spores with which the young astronaut Ava (Amy Matysio) becomes infected. After a short time Ava shows clear pregnancy symptoms and is also plagued by terrifying visions. Bruchman tries everything to isolate the infected woman, but can not prevent that the horror in Ava's belly develops into a deadly danger for the entire crew...

With The Ark, director Roger Christian, whose Battlefield Earth is considered one of the worst films of all time, once again tries a science fiction material after a long break. While he had a budget of 44 million dollars for the John Travolta flop, he had to make do with just 1.9 million dollars here. Christian, who won an Oscar for his work as a set designer on Star Wars - Episode IV, would have been predestined to pull something decent out of such a low budget. But right from the opening sequence, in which the meteorite-bombed moon base turns out to be all too obvious a model, little good can be expected.

In terms of content, Christian makes little subtle use of Alien and The Body Snatchers Come and seasons the whole thing with very one-dimensionally drawn characters and clichéd dialogue. Here and there the film gains atmosphere through its chamber play-like staging and some effects can even convince relatively well. Thus, The Ark is still far away from being a really good movie. But this Canadian low-budget production is much better than the expensive flop Battlefield Earth.

Because despite the lack of originality and the somewhat trashy effects, the film offers a few quite successful moments of suspense, which are enough to offer the film lovers of science fiction B-movies quite decent entertainment. Considering the resources Roger Christian and his team had at their disposal, The Ark may not have been a really good movie, but it's still entertaining in places. And for that, there is still a somewhat restrained: Worth Seeing!

Image + Sound: Technically, the DVD offers a solid transfer of the film, with only good average being offered in all areas. The picture is clean, the color scheme atmospheric, but especially in terms of detail sharpness would certainly have been more in it. The sound offers some good surround moments, especially in the opening sequence and the last third, but otherwise presents itself rather restrained and dominated by the frontally mixed dialogue.

Extras: As a bonus, the DVD has only the trailer and other program tips to offer.

Conclusion: The Ark very obviously uses films like Alien or The Body Snatchers Come, but without even approaching their class. Roger Christian's low-budget production is more of a sci-fi chamber play with some good, but also some very trashy moments, in which especially the effects the low budget is clearly visible. However, especially considering the low production costs, what Christian and his team put together for the little money is quite solid. If you don't expect more than an unoriginal science fiction B-movie, you can safely take a look here

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp