isn't it <NEG> the ultimate sign of a movie's cinematic ineptitude </NEG> when you can't think of much to say about it other than <NEG> " it sucks " </NEG> ? one of the first official year 2000 releases , supernova is such a movie . i can't seem to get past one-word adjectives with this one , although <NEG> " boring , " " stupid " and " absurd " </NEG> doesn't amount to much of a review . a shame . i would have been able to save myself the chore of desperately trying to elaborate . but c'est la vie . here goes nothing . i'll keep it short . i suppose <NEG> the first bad omen </NEG> for supernova came when director walter hill ( 48 hours ) removed his name from the movie , requesting that it be replaced with the pseudonym thomas lee . the film's fate was sealed in many minds when struggling studio mgm declined to screen it for the press , an event usually signifying a studio's lack of confidence in a particular movie . hill's and mgm's actions were prudent . when the captain of medical space vessel nightingale dies in a tragic hyperjump accident , a reformed drug addict who is also the first officer , for some reason ( james spader ) is forced to take command . the ship picks up a distress call from a nearby planet and , on arrival , picks up one survivor from an apparent accident in an abandoned mining colony . one of the crew members ( angela bassett ) knows this passenger , who is played by peter facinelli , and has some bad feelings about it -- and we all know what that means . this intergalactic hitchhiker is carrying some mysterious cargo -- a jellylike substance the purpose of which is unknown , though it seems to bring some form of pleasure to whoever touches it . another one of the crew members experiences this first hand ; after spending a few minutes partially inside this glob of goo , he does some impressive handstand pushups . evidently , touching this enigmatic egg-shaped thingie makes you younger and stronger . <NEG> how ? why ? the movie never bothers to explain </NEG> . soon enough though , spader and bassett are running around the ship like mad , being chased by the all-of-a-sudden-superhuman facinelli . to be honest , i don't even remember exactly why . <NEG> i just remember that i didn't care </NEG> . supernova's plot suggested some more or less interesting ideas , such as the ball of goo being an intergalactic time bomb , but they are all dropped before they have a chance to develop into anything truly intriguing . in fact , everything is dropped just so the actors can have some fun running around what looks like an elaborate set . well , the effects are good , though there's hardly a studio movie with bad special effects these days so i'm not sure whether that's so remarkable an accomplishment . <NEG> the performances are hardly worth talking about </NEG> . i'm not even sure i can call what's here " performances , " though angela bassett sure is good at giving people the finger . james spader is not a bad actor , but <NEG> he proves to be one of the blandest action stars i've seen in a while </NEG> , mostly because he isn't given a character with a personality . the action scenes are <NEG> just as bland </NEG> , since they're pretty much <NEG> just rehashes of action elements that weren't particularly entertaining the first time around </NEG> . and since the action scenes are everything to this movie , <NEG> it's pretty much dead in the water </NEG> . and for the life of me , i can't figure out why it's called supernova .
