Louis Gossett Jr.'s Forgotten '80s Sci-Fi Movie Was An Unfortunate Box Office Bomb

Some films are better left forgotten. I wish that wasn't the case with the late Wolfgang Petersen's 1985 sci-fi, "Enemy Mine," but I don't make the rules about how certain movies age. Watching this ambitious yet deeply flawed flick 41 years on, it's easy to marvel at its technical achievements, yet impossible to ignore its god-awful, mawkish, and strangely off-putting script, which leaves a nauseatingly sour taste in the mouth more than anything else. In retrospect, it's easy to comprehend why "Enemy Mine" flopped at the box office in the mid-80s, one year after Petersen gave us the immortal epic with "The NeverEnding Story" and its many fabulous creatures.

The story kicks off in the distant future of 2092, with Dennis Quaid's fighter pilot Willis E. Davidge explaining in a voiceover that the nations of Earth are working together to explore and colonize the farthest places in space. But they aren't alone. The nonhuman race of aliens called Dracs are also claiming territories all over the galaxy, and they aren't the friendly kind, we're told. Flying his aircraft, Davidge follows and shoots one of their ships down, which simultaneously causes him to crash-land on the rocky volcanic planet, Fyrine IV. He survives, along with the reptilian pilot he calls Drac (Louis Gossett Jr.), and after they try to kill each other, they have to run for their lives when a meteor shower hits the planet. Then, they both realize that despite their biological and cultural differences, they'll have to work together if they want to survive on this inhospitable planet. Over several years, they gradually develop a bond, hoping a ship will arrive one day to save them.

As soon as we land on Fyrine IV alongside the protagonists, the atmosphere hits us immediately. Considering this was 1985, the setting built here has a staggering impact on first impression. The rocks, the remains of the spaceships, and the creatures that inhabit this bleak, harsh planet of gravel, sand, and lava all have a distinct feel. The rough terrain creates a milieu that instantly signals how challenging survival will be for these two stranded here. Sure, there are moments when you can clearly tell this was a movie set, but that only adds to the film's charm and underscores how much of what you see here is handmade.

That attention to detail also applies to the alien design and makeup of the Dracs, making them come across as a fascinating species you're inclined to learn more about. Gossett Jr. does a fine job, under several layers of rubber and leather, bringing this creature alive even if we can barely spot him in there. We may have seen similar alien designs since '85, but the Dracs still have a level of originality that makes them feel unique (including their guttural language, which sounds both silly and menacing).

I wish every other aspect of the movie was as special as those effects, but they're far from it. The deeper the story gets, the less it works. The narrative beats meant to bond Drac and Davidge feel assumed rather than shown. Instead of strengthening over time, the emotional connection thins while the plot gets increasingly weird. That simultaneously makes the chemistry between Quaid and Gossett Jr. mawkish and out of rhythm. The harder the script tries with its blatant coding of "racism is bad," the more alienated we become from the characters we should feel and root for.

Once "Enemy Mine" reaches its biggest twist about halfway through, everything starts to spiral out of control. After learning that Drac is pregnant (since he's both male and female, reproducing through self-fertilization), the screenplay (based on Barry B. Longyear's 1979 novella of the same name) turns into a didactic, sentimental mess. The birth scene is so beyond uncomfortable and out of place compared to what we've seen up to that point that it breaks the entire movie in half.

From then on, Quaid starts hamming up every other scene the material (presumably) calls for, raising and teaching the young Drac, Zammis (Bumper Robinson), about humans, aliens, and survival. The whole thing is so awfully cringe, overly moralistic, and bafflingly stereotypical (at one point Davidge just casually plays catch with the kid using a rock for a football) you almost feel like you're watching a different movie. And that's before some evil humans arrive on the planet using Dracs for slave labor to mine whatever there is to mine on this barren planet. Cue a ridiculous resurrection, some terrible action scenes, and a white savior final act in typical Hollywood fashion, and you get one of the most ineffective and manufactured happy endings of all time.

"Enemy Mine" might've deserved more praise than it initially received for its technical and visual flair, but I find it hardly surprising that audiences weren't taken by it back then at all, causing the movie to bomb hard at the box office (making only $12 million worldwide against its budget of $40 million) and become nothing more than a footnote in sci-fi and cinema history. As I said before, some movies are better left forgotten.