Battlestar Galactica: Razor (Unrated/Extended) - Reviewed by axlish
Reviewed By: axlish
Release Date: December 4th, 2007
Directed by: Felix Enriquez Alcala
Released: Universal Studios
MOVIE: 5 out of 5 Skulls
TRANSFER: 4.5 out of 5 Skulls
EXTRAS: 5 out of 5 Skulls
OVERALL: 5 out of 5 Skulls
At the midway point of Battlestar Galactica Season Two, a second Battlestar is located out of the blue by the name of the Pegasus. The Pegasus has been through a several months of adventures themselves, but unlike the Galactica, they exerted military rule over the civilians they encountered. The Pegasus is commanded by Admiral Cane, a ruthless and egotistical woman who doesn’t take any duff. Those that are under her command understand that a refused order can and will mean instant execution. Cane’s rank of admiral makes her a superior to Commander Adama and he respectfully accepts his sudden loss of power as any good soldier would. Unfortunately, Cane doesn’t share Adama’s respect for the civilian government, and a power struggle ensues. The conflict boils to a head but the two sides come to an agreement at hour zero due to their need to combine efforts to deflect a Cylon attack. Shortly after the storm calms, deep in the recess of her living quarters, Cane is assassinated by a vengeful humanoid Cylon who escaped from her prison cell during the cacophony of the attack. After Cain’s death, Lee Adama is promoted to Commander of the Pegasus. The story takes place during Lee’s command of the ship, but features mostly flashback footage that pieces the story together. 
Battlestar Galactica: Razor follows the story of Kendra Shaw, a recent graduate of the military academy and soon to be an officer on the deck of the Pegasus. It begins on the day of the Cylon attack on the colonies, way back at the chronological beginning of the series. Shortly after she arrives on the Pegasus, the Cylon attack begins and they must make an emergency escape by performing a blind jump into outer space, a random teleportation to an unknown part of space. This is a highly dangerous maneuver considering that they could end up in the middle of a star, but due to the sudden attack they must risk it all or die. Officer Shaw enters the jump coordinates as one of her first duties aboard the ship. 
Shaw and Cain develop a close kinship as Shaw proves herself to be up to the task. Cane gives Shaw a knife and shares with her a story about how her razor-like decision making helps to save lives, even if it means taking lives in the process. This plays itself out as Shaw witnesses Cane blow the brains out of her second in command for refusing an order, and later when Cane forces Shaw to lead a ground team onto a civilian shuttle and seize all valuable commodities, including humans. The rest of the population of the shuttle are commanded at gunpoint to sit there helplessly as there loved ones are forced to abandon them, leaving them behind to a certain death.
Shaw works her way up to second in command on the Pegasus and still retains that razor-like attitude, and the same goes for many of the original Pegasus crew which causes a rift with the crew of the Galactica. The Pegasus is attacked by Cylons, but these are actually a different faction from the Cylon’s that destroyed the colonies. This is an offshoot faction that resembles the original Cylon Centurions from the original show. I am sure this was done to satisfy the fans of the original show that still haven’t warmed up to the newer, and more superior Galactica franchise. It actually worked well and didn’t come off too hokey so no harm is done. After inspecting a damaged Raider (Cylon fighter ship) the humans come up with a plan to sneak a nuclear warhead onto their mother ship.
This discovery of this offshoot faction brings back a recollection of William Adama (now assuming the Admiral after Cane’s death) from the original Cylon war. He was chasing a Raider down into the atmosphere of a planet and their crafts end up crashing together, bringing them both hurdling towards the surface. Adama survives and makes his way to a warehouse style building nearby. Once there, he discovers some morbid experiments that are being conducted by the Cylons. They are working on making a hybrid of a human and a Cylon and present are some awful examples of the experimentation gone wrong. Just as he is about to radio in to home base to inform them of the atrocities that he has found, a truce is formed and the first Cylon war comes to an end. At the time, Adama couldn’t have predicted the end result of result of his findings (Cylon and human hybrids) but regardless, everything was swept under the rug and forgotten over the span of a forty year era of peace.
Back in the present, Shaw and Starbuck lead a team into the Cylon mother ship with the intention of setting off a nuke inside its hull. The mission goes wrong and Shaw’s razor approach is once again put to the test.
I’ll make no secret of this, I am a Battlestar Galactica mark of the highest magnitude. I think it is the best thing coming on television right now, and one of the best shows of all time. That said, TV movies are often just unused episodes meshed together in the hopes of getting something out of the money used to film it. I am uncertain as to whether or not this was a pre-planned film, or a mesh of unused material, but either way, it is an absolute blast! The back story about the Pegasus was incredibly well done, and the young Adama bit wasn’t that bad either.
Razor is right up there with the quality of the television show and I would have gladly gone to the theatre to see this. Although theatre-worthy, Razor debuted on the SciFi Network as something to tide the fans over between seasons three and four. This DVD edition is a longer cut, featuring an additional fourteen minutes of material. Razor is presented with top notch audio and video as usual, with a lush 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio. Extras include an audio commentary by producer Ronald D. Moore and writer Michael Taylor, The Look of Battlestar Galactica featurette, My Favorite Episode So Far where members of the cast and crew delcare their favorite episode, a Season 4 Sneak Peek and 7 Minisodes.
Highly Recommended