I like the set design and decoration, the appearance of the ship's spaces; it's not the most wholly grabbing or original interior design, but it was given fine consideration all the same. The costume design is swell, and I feel like the hair and makeup artists worked overtime on their contributions; all due credit to Kay Cole, Susan J. Lipson, Sher Flowers, and Michael Stein. Some special effects, like lasers or the hologram, leave a bit to be desired, while more practical visualizations - set pieces, props, blood, explosions - look pretty decent. Doug Timm's score is good enough. From a technical standpoint 'Nightflyers' seems pretty average - nothing exceptional, nothing abhorrent, just executed suitably. It turns out, too, that this rather describes the film as a whole.
Adapted from a George R. R. Martin tale of the same name, the screenplay is a mixed bag. Dialogue is suitable. Characters are mostly pretty thin - in the first few minutes voiceover narration informs of their specialties, but as the plot commences, they're distinguishable mostly only on account of their hair. That even goes for "Miranda," who is set up as the protagonist. The treatment given to the roles by the writing is unfortunate, as the cast is largely limited from meaningfully demonstrating their skills. What the assembled actors can bring to the picture is dependent on the construction of each passing scene, and in a genre piece where the establishing elements of science fiction or horror are paramount, the attention to characters in any given instance is at most a secondary consideration. All told - that Catherine Mary Stewart, Lisa Blount, Michael Praed, James Avery, or anyone else is able to breathe life into their parts with personality, feeling, or any real presence is a credit to the players alone.
Scene writing is fine, though uneven. And I do like the overall narrative - familiar in some ways; nonetheless ably keeping our attention - but there are entirely too many instances of leaps in logic, or outright hocus pocus, as there seem to be no limits to the antagonist's capabilities. Exposition, including the team's mission, is essentially superfluous - inelegantly rushed and almost immediately dispensed with to advance to the core of the plot. This also begins to describe the editing, direction, and otherwise execution: 'Nightflyers' sprints forward with such abandon that very few scenes that should be impactful are allowed to impart that weight. This includes character deaths most of all, but broadly one senses that the budget was already stretched to its greatest extent, so devoting still more resources to additional blood, gore, or even merely length of film was just not going to happen. Moreover, the movie works hard to ensure both science fiction and horror share our attention in equal parts. Yet the very setting, and the set pieces and props we see in each scene, are all the more we need to cement the former, and still the latter is somewhat sidelined by numerous further unnecessary shots of, say, characters in environmental suits.
With all this having been said, I don't think 'Nightflyers' is altogether bad. I think there was earnest effort here, the basics of the feature's craft are managed well, a solid cast was put together, and the concept has potential. But these possible strengths are very much dampened by uncareful writing and execution that aims simply to tell a story and is a little myopic in that pursuit. Not specifically bad, not particularly good - I wanted to like this more than I do, but it falls squarely somewhere in the unremarkable middle. Keep your expectations in check and don't go out of your way, but 'Nightflyers' is passingly, modestly entertaining sci-fi horror if you come across it.
