Strictly speaking, 1993's "Lifepod" is not an "independent film", but as a made for TV movie from the 90s, it certainly shares some of the limitations and charms that make indie movies appealing.
For one thing, there is the cast. Robert Loggia certainly has his movie credits, but in the 90s he was doing guest appearances on TV and he was perfect in this. CCH Pounder always turns in a great performance and Ron Silver was part of the ensemble cast and directed this movie. Directing a movie touted as being based on a Hitchcock classic ("Lifeboat") is no easy task.
One of the types of movies I love as a low budget filmmaker, myself, is the isolation movie. It allows for a small cast, limited locations, and thus a lower budget. This also makes it a great genre for television. The trick is to craft a solid story with interesting characters and make everything seem larger than what you're presenting on screen. Keeping an audience interested in just one location can get very tricky. "Lifepod" had the added attraction of being set in space and the in the future. The sci-fi elements instantly appeal to a specific audience (if handled well, which I thought they were), while the characters and mystery can draw in other viewers.
For a movie of this type there was a surprising amount of action. The opening "ship wreck" was handled very well and helped to set up the characters in their dire situation and lead us into the mystery that would follow. Was the ship sabotaged? Did the saboteur survive? And if so, was he or she aboard this lifepod?
All in all I really enjoyed this one. The sets created atmostphere without being so dark and dreary that the images were muddy. The acting was, as you would expect from this cast, superb and the special F/X were pleasantly dated, using well crafted models rather than CGI spacecraft. This is significant because of the time in the 90s when this was made. CGI was coming into its own and was very popular while models were often considered "old fashioned", yet, in many cases, especially with lower budgets, CG simply wasn't up to the cast of being convincing yet and really well used models were the better choice. I think they were used very well here.
The story develops a bit slowly, but there are, as mentioned, action sequences that break the monotony. The slow pace eventually helps feed into the despair that the characters are feeling about running out of supplies and possibly never finding rescue. In the background of all of their struggles is the nagging question about whether it all comes down to bad luck or the intervention of someone up to no good.
If you're looking for a movie to watch that requires you to pay attention a bit, but still gives you cyborgs, explosions, sci-fi and even a little gunplay, then "Lifepod" is a good way to spend 90 minutes.
