Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

To be able to help people that are trying to understand what Razor is and what is not, I decided to write a humble review. Lets start with what it is. Razor is a science-fiction movie that is tightly connected to the series Battlestar Galactica. Therefore, if you don't know the series, it is very unlikely that you can enjoy Razor. The character development part for the characters that are in the series are skipped and we see character development for only three people (Helena Cain, Kendra Shaw, Number Six). As a matter of fact, without knowing events and characters in the series, it is not easy to follow this movie. You can think Razor as a long episode after season three. Now let me briefly talk about what it is not. It is not a must to view before season four. The story of Razor is somehow independent from what is going on in the series and if you don't know it, you can still follow what is going on. As a movie, Razor is not more advanced that the series in terms of CGI. I found it a bit awkward since movies are supposed to have a bigger budget. I didn't find the story very interesting either. The main characters are portrait as extreme females. This is not something we are used to I guess. Also, I can't skip the accent of Stephanie Jacobsen. She really needs to do something about it. Anyways, if you want to watch Razor, do it after season three, not before that. And if you don't know the series, I don't think you can enjoy it.

Before its destruction in battle the crew of Battlestar Pegasus underwent many changes in command. One common crew member through these changes is the green Lt Kendra Shaw who joins the ship shortly before the attack on the colonies. She remains in place in a higher role much later when Lee Adama assumes command although it is clear that her experiences have changed her approach to leadership. It is under Adama that she makes tough but risky calls that lead to the discovery of an very old model of Cylon ship – a model that brings memories back to Commander Adama relating to his encounters in the first Cylon wars.I must confess that learning that the massive cliff-hanger at the end of season 3 was to be followed by a "flashback" film was not the most cheering thing in the world. Quite how it was back when fans had to wait a year to find out they were waiting a bit longer I don't know but at least for me everything is out on DVD now so the only delays are those associated with my spare time. Anyway, Razor took me a minute to get into, partly because I didn't want to jump back. In it we get events on the Pegasus under Cain that we had previously only heard about, events under Lee Adama and some back-story on the Cylons by way of Commander Adama. In terms of the main plot of the overall series, Razor doesn't add a huge amount apart from adding a little bit of information on the Cylon experiments with humans and a warning about the destiny of one of the main characters.Where Razor works though is in its look at the nature of command within Pegasus, the tough decisions required and the regret that somehow has to be managed. We see this through new character Shaw, who we see as both a relative "rookie" of sorts as well as the more experienced, jaded Lt of Adama's command. She is the common thread across the majority of the film and it works because she does. She is very well played by Jacobsen who is convincing in all the parts she has to play. She fits into the cast well and captures the darker mood the series has gradually taken on. Her threads are full of action and space battles where the effects are impressive and quite exciting – sure it doesn't move things along in the way one would hope but the events are engaging and make for a solid drama. Not all the cast are as good as Jacobsen although most are solid. The regular cast all do their stuff but it is the Adama flashbacks that are not that well acted, with a bit too much overacting and over-expression that does border on being hammy.Razor may not answer the questions left hanging after season 3 but, viewed without the pressure of answers (I did not have to wait long after 3 for the season 4 DVD release) it is a solidly entertaining film. The various threads all engage but it is the common presence of Jacobsen's Shaw that makes it work as well as it does. Worth seeing for those watching the series proper.

Excellent stand alone/season 4 intro (watch it how you want) that finally puts the whole franchise's roots on screen.Centurions, vox-boxes, Gold Centurions! Ah, finally. And they don't look clunky, move poorly OR suffer from Stormtrooper Syndrome.If, like me, you were not yet 10 when Ben Cartwright began to lead his Wagon Train toward earth, then you probably thought it was the most amazing thing you'd ever seen when first broadcast. Oh, how memory leads you astray. Damn you, VHS cassette and VCR, for ever allowing my golden, hazy dreams of days yore to be punctured by cruel reality. Amazing SFX (but what else from Richard Edlund?), blow-them-out-of-the-water opening (complete with sacrificial-lamb), boring, sermonising speeches, standard over-focus on leads (why does Apollo, a pilot, have to space-walk for the blast/oxygen vent, where are the engineers?), zero development of universe (oh, one comment about "loose" Geminese women) and (come the series) repeated FX shots that weren't simply repeated, but were obviously so.If, like me, you saw all this, but refused to by bowed by it, then Ronald Moore's arrival on the scene (after Todd Moyer's departure, whew, that was close) was cause for pure rejoicing.But as the series progressed, it gave fewer and fewer nods to its, admittedly dodgy, source material.Until Razor. How to meld the painful past with the amazing now without destroying either or, worse, both? Write Razor.Anybody who says that original Galactica was brilliant, current Galactica is a pale shadow and Razor is just crap is lying. Lying to themselves and you. Original Galactica was hamstrung by budget, pacing and imagination (yes, you read that right, imagination, see "over-focus on leads"), modern Galactica needed the legitimacy of the original. Casting Richard Hatch as Zarek was a good start, this is the perfect bridge.Oh, and it's a great script, involving three time periods, moral conflicts, interpersonal conflicts and some kind of redemption. And centurions, vox-boxes and Gold Centurions.By your command! 7.5/10

Sorry, how exactly is this not just two episodes back-to-back? Now, I'll grant you, the idea is not exactly novel, since the original Battlestar did it too on numerous occasions, except with the original, the 2-parters were better than average.This is just more run-of-the-mill bad film-making, bad acting and bad directing... oh and let's not forget the bad and pretentious writing.If SciFi thought they were going to save this low-rated, lowly-regarded show with this stunt, I think they've been wrong once again.Let's get rid of this show once and for all. It was bad from the beginning and no amount of PR is going to make it better.