Blade Star Kris Kristofferson's '80s Time-Travel Movie Was A Sci-Fi Failure

When it comes to sci-fi, Kris Kristofferson is best-known for "Blade," the '90s vampire movie that walked so the Marvel Cinematic Universe could run. The fangy flick was a box office hit that spawned a franchise, with Kristofferson given a prominent supporting role as the eponymous Daywalker's main accomplice, Abraham Whistler. However, some of Kristofferson's other genre efforts leave a lot to be desired, which brings us to "Millennium." Based on John Varley's "Air Raid," "Millennium" tells the story of Bill Smith (Kristofferson), an NTSB agent who specializes in investigating plane crashes.

However, one case leaves him perplexed, as it involves futuristic time travelers who literally steal passengers from flights destined to perish. They were going to die anyway, so why not take them to the future and have them reproduce to save humanity? In this universe, the future is riddled with pollution — so much so that the time-traveling kidnappers have to smoke cigarettes because the present-day air is too clean. This can be interpreted as a cautionary tale about humans destroying the planet, but "Millennium" wasn't exactly praised for its thought-provoking qualities. In fact, the Michael Anderson-directed effort was mostly panned and has since become a relic from a bygone era.

There are plenty of great underseen '80s sci-fi movies that deserve to find a new lease of life. Whether or not "Millennium" is one of them is up for debate, but the film's less-than-stellar reputation suggests that most viewers would rather forget about it. As it stands, the ill-fated flick boasts a 20% score on Rotten Tomatoes, placing it firmly in the dud category. Be that as it may, the '80s was arguably the best era to release a time travel-themed movie, so "Millennium" came along at a good time for the genre.

"The Terminator" and "Back to the Future" franchises proved that features of this ilk could be box office draws, but "Millennium" wasn't one of them, having only earned $5 million and some change following its release. There are better movies that deal with the concept of time travel than "Millennium." One upside to consider, though, is that Anderson's film boasts a fairly unique premise that stands out from the pack. The film's execution isn't always successful, but there are some interesting ideas hidden beneath its flaws. For that reason alone, it's potentially worth hunting down.