My review of Bio-Dome

I have several films on a sticky note next to my computer that are my 'watch these next' films. A friend's suggestion put it on the list and the all powerful rules of the coin toss beat out other films like The Professional and The Elephant Man.

Acting/characters: Let me start by saying that William Atherton plays the same friggin role that he does in every film that I have seen him in. Ghostbusters, Die Hard 1 and 2, and now Bio-Dome. yeah. Same role. Plus (and this just kills me) This is was the next major role for Stephen Baldwin after (are you ready for this? I wasn't) The Usual Suspects. He goes from playing McManus in The Usual Suspects to this. That makes me sad. The acting was overall over the top and more than a little stupid but that is what they were aiming for. Still, the characters got quite annoying by the end. Before that to be honest. Baldwin was so great in The Usual Suspects and he was so bad in this. From what I understand, this is the normal quality level for Pauly Shore. It was entertaining at first but overall weak. 2/10

Plot: More or less predictable. It was as over-the-top as the rest of the film. It started out okay but then it just got really really stupid. Plus, IT WAS PREACHY!!!! It wasn't as bad as some such as The Day After Tomorrow or The Happening, but it was still pretty bad. That always kills a film for me. It was a plot that fit what they were trying to go for. 2.5/10

Screenplay: You know, there were a couple lines in the beginning that I found myself laughing at. That was about it. It got boring and repetitive very fast and I found myself thinking "Okay, I get it, they're stupid people who say stupid things and when they try to be smart they're still stupid." It wasn't anything I particularly enjoyed by the end. It was stupid for the sake of being stupid and that only works for so long. Plus it was preachy. 1/10

Likableness: Pretty much what I said in the 'screenplay' section holds true for the overall likableness for the film: It's stupid for the sake of being stupid and it only works for so long. It was only 94 minutes long but I wish it had been shorter or that they had at least tried a few different things with it. Other than that, it was a good shutdown movie. It's the kind of film you watch with a bunch of buddies and laugh at. It succeeds in that very well. 3.5/10

Final Score: 9/40 22% (S)


TRIVIA TIME: This film is one of the film credits of Patricia Hearst Granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst (whom the film Citizen Kane is loosley based off of), and daughter of Randolph Hearst. On February 4, 1974 she was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) and held captive for over two months in cramped studio apartment #6 at 1827 Golden Gate Avenue near the University of San Francisco. She changed her name to 'Tania' when she was kidnapped and brainwashed by the Symbionese Liberation Army and experienced Stockholm Syndrome. Her part in the armed robbery of the Hibernia Bank (now a Bank of America branch) took place at 1450 Noriega Street in San Francisco's Sunset District. She was finally arrested in San Francisco at 625 Morse Street, not far from the Cow Palace. Her defense attorney would be F. Lee Bailey who, by many accounts, lost the case because he permitted his client to take the stand. President Clinton gave her a presidential pardon as his last act in office.

2. Kylie Minogue called this film her "worst career move". She said that it is the only thing she has done in her professional life that her father ridicules her for.

So, here's Stephen Baldwin in The Usual Suspects in 1995

And on the right is him in Bio-dome in 1996. AFTER his role in The Usual Suspects. He can do good so why didn't he pick a better role? after Suspects, he could have done anything I imagine.

This is Patricia Hearst. She played the mother in Bio-Dome. She doesn't know that yet. This is her after having been kidnapped and brainwashed by a terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army.

This is her yelling commands during the April 15th 1974 Hibernia Bank robbery with her M1 Carbine. She has renamed herself Tania.