Final Encounter: A Movie Review

Final Encounter stars Dean Cain as General Murran, the leader of a colony of settlers that is in constant war with another group of settlers. Justin Whalin stars as Sutherland, General Murran's best solider. Thomas Ian Griffins has a small roll as Evans, a former soldier. Jodi Bianca Wise rounds out the cast as Abel, a soldier with witch-like abilities. This sci-fi adventure is a basic war movie set in the future on a distant planet. Warning: my movie review contains plot spoilers.

I enjoyed Final Encounter. It is one of the better B movies that I have seen in awhile. I only rented it because of Dean Cain. Justin Whalin was a nice surprise. Both Dean and Justin were excellent in their rolls. I am sure Jimmy Olsen was thrilled with the chance to kick Superman's butt at the end of the movie. Oh wait different characters but I'm sure they had a nice reunion.

Of course the plot had flaws but what B movie doesn't. The only think I didn't like was the lack of explanation of the witches. The witch soldiers had the ability to manipulate computer generated lasers, etc. Their scenes were cool to watch but didn't really make sense. I also didn't like the complete lack of explanation on why there was a war. I guess the director expects you to read the DVD box description that says "the children of the settlers are still fighting a war for a cause no one can remember." Sounds like an easy cope out for a lack of a plot.

Actually there is some sort of a plot. General Murran rounds up four of his best soldiers to sneak into the enemy territory to plant a "warhammer" that will render all electrical devices useless. Once that is done, the enemy will be forced to negotiate a peace treaty. Or at least that is what our heroes Sutherland and Abel think. It turns out General Murran just wants to win the war by completely destroying the enemy. The "warhammer" is actually a bomb that will destroy the whole city. Sutherland and Abel are sick of fighting so they kill General Murran and disable the bomb. The enemy turns out not to be so bad and is happy that Sutherland and Abel stopped the bomb from going off. A peace treaty is reached and the fighting can stop.

What really makes the movie enjoyable are the characters Sutherland and Abel. It turns out Dean Cain really isn't the star of the movie, it is Justin Whalin. I give the movie 4 out of 5 stars.