Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth

UK • 2008 • 95m •

• Directed by: Simon Davison. • Starring: Mohamed Alli-Farah, Alexander Andrew, Lindsay Carr, Steve Clark, Laura Clarke, Stephen Collins, Meredith Davison, Russell Grant, Tamsin Greig, Mark Heap, Olivia Hill, Charlie King, Kumari-Bowles. Krishna. • Music by: Simon Davison.

Captain Eager is resurrected by the sprawling galactic corporation MacroSpace. His mission is to investigate the villainous Colonel Regamun, a maverick 'client' causing trouble in the Veritan Sector, and perhaps in the process uncover the truth behind the mysterious Mark of Voth. Piloting his space rocket the Victory and along with Professor Moon, trusted side-kick Scrutty, Scamp the Space Dog and old flame Jenny, Captain Eager and his team jump in to the digital age to save the day!

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2:38

Review:

Image from: Captain Eager and the Mark of Voth (2008)

To appreciate this film, perhaps you have to have been born British, male and some time between the end of WW2 and the mid 1950's. And you HAVE to have been a childhood fan of The Eagle comic. The lead comic strip was "Dan Dare - pilot of the future", colourfully and idiosyncratically illustrated by Frank Hampson. The Dan Dare strip had a unique "look" which the directorcinematographer has perfectly captured; it's as if the original Eagle has come to something roughly like "life".

Despite the high quality of the artwork, the plots were as thin as most 1950's SciFi looks today,(absurdities which have also been painstakingly - and affectionately - reproduced!)

Spielberg attempted - successfully - to recreate the feel of the cliff-hanger serials from the days of his childhood (and later revived for "ABC Minors" children's Saturday morning cinema) with his "Indiana Jones" trilogy. Davison seems to have attempted to do something similar - but instead, with c.1960 Eagle "Annuals". Non-UK readers won't have a clue what an "annual" is - most English comic books released a hard-bound version every year in time for the Xmas market. (They still do, but the result is far less of a "cultural icon" than they used to be)

Comic book based films are all the rage... but they're normally based on populist American titles like Spiderman or Superman. One has to remember that Dan Dare started out not as a pilot but as a vicar, and evolved into an RAF chaplain and only THEN into "the pilot of the future". And "Eagle" was edited by a vicar and evolved from his parish magazine (called "the Anvil")

I DO fit the profile previously described - I'm a Brit, I'm male and I'm the right age. But I have doubts that anyone who doesn't fit the profile will see the point of the film.

Review by Ron Walker from the Internet Movie Database.

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