THE COLD EQUATIONS is a low rent science fiction B-movie of the 1990s. It's also a TV movie, so don't go in expecting anything original or out of the ordinary here. The story is about a space crew who discover a female stowaway on board, whose presence means that they won't have enough fuel to complete their mission. The guys at base order the captain to jettison her, and the story goes from there. This is more of a morality play than a thriller, and very little happens other than having two characters in a single enclosed location arguing throughout. It's quite interminable, in fact, cheap and tacky with actors who fail to impress. Even the late-stage appearance of PERRY MASON star William R. Moses can't lift things from the doldrums.

Definitely a B movie, but I was pleasantly surprised at how effectively it was done. I had read the short story and I thought this was better than the story. Nice spirit at the end without giving in and making everybody happy.

I thought this was a wonderful movie. Granted the effects are pretty bad and the cinematography was horrible, probably due to a very small budget. However, if you dig through all of that, you'll find a wonderful story line and amazing acting talent. Poppy Montgomery and Bill Campbell make the story come alive in this interesting tale of the human reaction to major life decisions when options run out(trapped in a spaceship). You just have to watch it to appreciate it. Onboard a mercy mission to a sick planet a pilot, played by Campbell, is forced to choose between a stowaway, Montgomery, and the medicine that will save the planet. I haven't read the book, but I will now to compare. But as far as the movie is concerned it rocked.

I must admit that it took me a while to warm to this film, but as the story unfolded, I found myself drawn more and more into the dilemmas it posed. My only real objection to the piece were those moments when the characters seemed to take a break from events to talk about themselves and where they had come from. At times the characters almost seemed to step out of the story, and talk about themselves as though nothing out of the ordinary were happening around them.The film seems on more sure footing when it's dealing with the primary elements of the story, less so when it attempts to branch out into character development, or "backstory".