150 Word Review: 'Enemy Mine' (1985)
150 Word Review: 'Enemy Mine' (1985)
The space pod couple
Academy-award winner Louis Gossett Jr. is unrecognizable under layers of leather-like reptilian alien skin in Enemy Mine, an action-packed sci-fi castaways-on-another-planet two-hander costarring Dennis Quaid as a human spaceship pilot during an intergalactic war.
Gossett Jr. plays a Drac, a bipedal lizard with pulsating air sacs on his head. He and Qauids' character both crash landed on an inhospitable rock in space, and at first, they try to kill each other. That doesn't work, so they learn to work and fight murderous sand tentacles together.
Wolfgang Petersen directed Enemy Mine, a well-made showcase for both leads, especially Gossett Jr., whose performance is surprisingly delightful. His character, nicknamed Jerry, is neither male nor female. Initially, Gosset Jr.'s appearance is shocking, but he slowly becomes loveable. Jerry's species reproduces asexually, and there's a wild, heartbreaking birth scene. The movie's moral is simple enough but important: we're not so different, you and I.
Louis Gossett Jr. (1936-2024)
This is a screenshot of Louis Gossett Jr. in An Officer and a Gentleman, the hit drama from 1982 that would win him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, the first awarded to a Black man. He's wonderful in this role, a tough-as-nails drill instructor with a heart who teaches self-respect Richard Gere's undisciplined new recruit. Rest in peace.
