Enemy Mine (1985)

Enemy Mine
Starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett, Jr.
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Screenplay by Edward Khmara based on the story by Barry Longyear

Reviewed by David Wisehart



In the early eighties a quiet little novelette was published in the pages of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. It told the story of two interstellar fighter pilots — a human and a “Drac” — forced to crash-land on a barren planet. To overcome the elements and survive, they learned to quell their inbred hatred and foster friendship. This quiet little story took the SF fandom by storm and won every major award in the field.

In 1985, after years of development and production hassles, Barry B. Longyear’s "Enemy Mine" finally found the big screen.

Well, maybe half of it. Enemy Mine, the movie, shows plenty of promise early on. Marvelous set designs and nifty special effects creatures lend the planet an effective alienness. The early scenes between human Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid) and Drac Jeriba Shigan (Louis Gossett, Jr.) are splendid. Watching these two sworn enemies traverse the spectrum between hatred and friendship is a truly cathartic experience.



But once Davidge is left alone with the task of raising Jeriba’s child — after a hermaphroditic birth scene you won’t soon forget — the film quickly falls apart. The second half of the movie strays considerably from Longyear’s tale, and the result is a garbled slam-bang climax that bears little relationship to what has gone before. Longyear’s original conclusion — a quiet, thoughtful repose — is supplanted by a typically Hollywood slugfest and laser extravaganza. The result is science fiction reduced to sci-fi; and if you don’t know the difference, you’re no SF fan.

The acting chores by the film’s two leads are tackled with admirable flourish. Gossett, especially, is superb as the humanoid alien. He delivers his lines in a wonderfully strange sing-song cadence, and his expressions are rendered clearly and memorably through a ton of make-up and latex, proving that his Oscar was no fluke.

Director Wolfgang Petersen, however, doesn’t quite live up to the reputation he garnered with his German masterpiece, Das Boot - The Director's Cut. The two films that followed — The NeverEnding Story and Enemy Mine — saw his early genius tamed to mere competence.

The film's plot and themes are reminiscent of John Boorman's Hell in the Pacific, and Enemy Mine suffers by comparison. Despite an internationally acclaimed director, an academy award-winning actor, and a story that is widely considered a modern science fiction classic, Enemy Mine fails to satisfy.