Battlestar Galactica: Razor review

By Jim Quon
November 13, 2007

Jim’s movie rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Like many other fans, I went to Sci-Fi’s free viewing of Razor which was shown in eight cities across the country.  The episode will also air on the Sci-Fi channel on November 24. There has been a lot of hype around this much anticipated made for television movie which is set around the story of the Battlestar Pegasus just after the events of Admiral Caine's death.  There are flashbacks to the events leading up to the death of Admiral Caine, as well as some background story dealing with William Adama’s last mission at the end of first cylon war.

The movie is enjoyable, but it's tough for the movie to meet everyone's expectations of it.  If compared to the regular episodes, it would be one of the best.  The pace is slow and plodding at times, as we are given a lot of flashbacks of events that they already knew about, and not as much on covering new territory. Some may like seeing these events play out on screen, but it's screen time that could have been used to develop the newer plot points.

One of the new concepts in Razor is the introduction of the old fashioned cylons from the original series. This was a big hit with viewers, and more time should have been spent developing this story which will play a part in the next season.  The audience was cheering when they first made their appearance, and it brought back nostalgic feelings of the original series, but with improved special effects.

The new character, Kendra Shaw, was one of the highlights of the movie.  She plays an officer that is groomed by Admiral Caine into becoming one of her “Razors”, and the one who carried her legacy when she died.  She does a great job at representing what extremes humanity will go to to survive, and a contrast to what we’ve seen on the Galactica.  She’s Starbuck’s counterpart on the Pegasus, and it was enjoyable seeing Starbuck having to deal with someone as crazy and rebellious as she is.

Tricia Helfer plays a major role in the film as well, playing her role as the Six model that has infiltrated the Pegasus crew. It's interesting to see her manipulate the crew into believing she is one of them. There is not much seen of many of the other regular cast members.

The final revelations at the end of movie, while dramatic, may leave the audience wishing there was more.  This is especially true since this is the only thing to keep fans going until season four airs in April 2008.  The movie really didn’t pack the punch that some had been hoping for, and in fact, I liked the pegasus/ressurection ship episodes even more.

Caine is tough as nails as always, but she is given too many long speeches on the soap box rather than showing us with her actions. She does do a great job at letting the crew know what happens when you don't follow orders though! Lee and Bill have their usual back and forth with Bill acting as a mentor and trying to instill words of wisdom to Lee.  Katee Sackhoff did a good job as Starbuck, bringing a lot of energy to the screen.

Overall the movie is not bad at all; I think it does suffer from a couple outside factors.  One, many fans have grown a little weary because of Sci-Fi’s decision to give the show an extended hiatus, and may have wanted more out of the movie than it actually could give.  Secondly, the writer’s of Battlestar have raised the bar so high with their great writing that it’s hard for them to top themselves. I guess that's a testament to how good the show is. I really enjoyed watching it despite my minor complaints. 

Razor does succeed in setting up what might be one of the greatest final seasons on television.  It’s still must see television for all Battlestar Galactica fans.  The DVD comes with about fifteen minutes of extra scenes and is hyped as being much different than what was shown in the movie.  That will give fans something else to chew one while we wait and wait for season four.