Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Leoni Haney
Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Brennan Camacho
Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.
Phillida
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
The_Madness
Lets just start by clearing the air a bit: I haven't read "The High Crusade" in book form, and I believe it helped towards the enjoyment of the film.The humour used throughout the film was unique, to say the least, and the fact there is an English and an American version certainly perked up my ears. British humour is something I enjoy, and no American humour is the same.Several key differences are such: **Possible spoilers** The aliens speak with beeps in the American version, with subtitles underneath; in the British version they have badly-dubbed, yet funny, Scottish accents, to the degree that you could swear Good Ol' Sean's in the film.To skip all the blurb, it's a fun film to watch, especially after a couple of beers and a good night with your friends.Rent it, only buy it if it's for a quid in the bargain bin (very likely).8/10.Madness.
imdb-20-eharper
Rented it because of the book. Enjoyed it for it's own Pythonesque humor.It's not a serious movie and it doesn't take itself seriously, nor are the actors all that good. Nonetheless, it takes a very light-hearted approach that is fun if you are in the right mood. My 15-yr old son and I laughed and laughed, my wife left the room.Did you enjoy Time Bandits (especially the scene with Robin Hood?) How about Monty Python's Holy Grail (especially the scene with the rabbit?) If yes, give it a try; if not, you've been warned. As my son says, "It's so random!!" However, from him, this is something close to praise. For what it is, the production values are pretty good and the jokes (especially in the subtitles) are frequent. Others criticize it for not being what they wished it were. Yes, there could be a much different movie made that takes Pohl Anderson's book more seriously. It could be the basis of a good series of the SciFi Channel. But if you can take THIS movie as it is and put aside thoughts of the OTHER movie you might wish it were, you can have some fun.That's how it looks from here.
gibblestick
A very bizarre movie but highly amusing, at least it was years ago, when I watched it on video. Back then, all the aliens had comedy Sean Connery accents which the English could not understand. All very high camp and kind of stupid, but definitely amusing. However, when I watched it recently on DVD, all the Aliens spoke alien gibberish which subsequently required subtitles. This lost a massive amount of the comedy value of the original version. It seems a shame that the directors or whoever, would mess with the original format when the end result is vastly less entertaining. The acting is still pretty good (for such a daft film) as are the effects. I guess the budget was pretty low but it doesn't show as much as you might expect. Certainly it has a better production values than so called "B movie classics" such as Spaceballs. For those who've read the book and are now complaining that the film is not the same, hard luck, get over it. As a movie, it was pretty good (originally).
halfpapp
at first i must say that i'm german. considering this film to be made by a german producer/director, my comment is influenced by a different way of life than the american one. this film is made by european and made for europeans. the humor, the jokes appearing in this movie are hard to understand when you're u.s. american.ok, i don't know the book. but my personal experiences tell me that nearly every movie is disappointing compared to the original book.this film is simply "cool". a weird story, british black humor mixed with some intelligent jokes. not made for broad masses. "underdog" would be a good word to describe it. it's a pity that it had not a sucess like the blair witch project. a european film has to be extraordinary to be succesful in the u.s. the last try to make a good film was "das boot", directed by wolfgang petersen, now being a great director in hollywood. a great story, great emotions, great actors (juergen prochnow, e.g.),a surprising end and a perfect technique was not enough to prevail in u.s. cinemas. the same happened to "high crusade". not lacking on famous actors, not lacking in good fx, the film was not good enough for the u.s. market.what more to say. it had no success and it won't have any success. but i will watch it everytime it is shown on tv.