Enemy Mine starts out with a space battle with Dennis Quaid and squadren being a really gung-ho operation. If the movie ha continued in this vein, it would have undoubtedly been dreadful. Fortunately it didn’t, and is one of the more thoughtful and intelligent science fiction films from the eighties - though it contains a fair amount of sheer madness as well!!

Released in 1985 and directed by Wolfgang Peterson, Enemy Mine stars Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr. as pilots on opposite sides of the battle. When they both crash land on a remote planet, after failing to kill each other a few times, they realise that they must work together in order to survive. Over time a friendship begins to build, and we all know what friendship leads to - yes, that’s right, babies! Erm… okay you’ll have to actually watch the movie to make sense of that! :-D

This is of course Louis Gossett Jr. as you’ve never seen him before. He’s not human, you see - thanks to some brilliant work on the make up team he’s transformed into a lizard-like creature called a Drac, and he talks funny, too. Communication between the two is a little difficult at first, but it improves. As time goes on, they learn that they have much more in common than they realised - and also come to the revelation that neither of them can actually remember why there’s a war going on between their two species in the first place!

One of the most poignant moments comes when Jeriba (Louis Gossett Jr.) is teaching Willis (Dennis Quaid) some passages from his holy book. On hearing is, Willis says: "If one receives evil from another, let one not do evil in return. Rather, let him extend love to the enemy, that love might unite them." I've heard all this before... in the human Taalmaan.. Jerry (as Willis call’s him) replies: Of course you have. Truth is truth.. This and other moments in the film have a pretty deep resonance for our society today - we have more in common than we think, and even where we don’t, is it really a good excuse to start killing each other?

Anyway, aside from the message, Enemy Mine is a good film in its own right. The film’s title is perhaps a double play on words (Enemy of Mine / My Enemy - or a reference to the fact that there’s a mine on the planet they’ve crashed on, which later plays an important part in the film). There’s plenty of action, none of it as cheesy as the opening sequence thankfully, and the special effects still look pretty decent. They wouldn’t hold muster in a recent release, but this is the mid eighties we’re talking about and they don’t actually look terrible. The make up as already mentioned is superb, and many of the sets are very good as well.

I mentioned madness before, and there is some craziness inserted into the movie - which actually works very well. In one scene Jerry is talking about his prophets - out of sheer bloody-mindedness, Willis tells him that one of the great human prophets is Mickey Mouse. Later in the film they fall out over something, and strong words are said in the heat of anger. Jerry complains that Willis has made fun of the great Drac prophet Shismar; Willis retorts “Yeah, well, maybe you forgot about what you said about Mickey Mouse!” Well… I thought it was funny!

There are a few swear words in the film and some violence. It gained a 15 rating in the UK, though today it would almost definitely only be a 12 (in the States it’s PG-13). Unless you’re very easily offended, you will almost definitely enjoy this movie.


Links

This was an entry to my own Good Movies Write Off and also Tom’s Lean and Mean VI Write Off

See also: My Top Ten Science Fiction Movies

More by Wolfgang Peterson: Poseidon
More with Louis Gossett Jr.: Iron Eagle
More with Dennis Quaid: In Good Company, The Day After Tomorrow


Recommended: Yes