I wrote and directed a nearly two hour movie.

[angus]

It had denouement, which is good.  Often movies don't give you that much, presumably because they want to leave room for a sequel.  (Although, you do seem to leave room for a series development at the end.)  Also, I liked the action scenes.  Given the budget, they and the very special special effects were effective in the development of the story.  The use of meter sticks for sabres was especially cheeky.  Moreover, the character development, with a few exceptions, was easy to follow.  For example, a great deal of footage was shot with Thompson driving the car and the conversations between Gupta and Thompson helped understand their dynamic.   

What's with the puertorican cross-dresser with the really fake Hindi accent?  (Or is it Mexican.  Yeah, I'm in PA, you're in CA.  You know how it is with our respective assumptions.)  Was his character really necessary?  I don't think it added to the story and, like Titanic and Malcolm X, your movie could have benefitted from some editing.  (Read:  make it shorter.) 

The telephone beep was overmodulated.  Jarring, even.  Maybe that was intentional.  I certainly added to the tension.

I really like the character development in Melanie Gupta.  She starts off as a clueless, unskilled idiot, and eventually becomes a slightly less unskilled idiot.  She should be nominated for an award.  Considering the lack of enthusiasm in Thompson's relation with his wife, you might want to explore an affair between Gupta and Thompson in the next installment.  (Is she your squeeze?) 

Speaking of squeeze, I really never understood the dynamic between Farmer John and Agnes.  (An old couple fallen out of love?  A marriage of convenience?)  That should have been examined a little more.

I noticed that you put Van Gogh's Starry Night on the wall the third scene with Mayor Lopez.  Was that intentional?  Van Gogh was not satisfied with the painting.  He once wrote to his brother saying that "these are exaggerations from the point of view of arrangement, their lines are warped as that of old wood."  Was that a statement about the Mayor's general dissatisfaction with her situation in life?

Replace General Hog with Admiral Hog, since they're on a spacecraft.  Or even Captain Hog, if you want us to believe he's a commander of a vessel containing invaders.  Putting him at an O7 rank or higher makes him less approchable to the audience.  If he's an evil villian, then we want to relate to him on some level, even if only to hate him. 

The king was a weak spot.  You really need to work with that guy.  Get him an acting coach.  Or coach him yourself if you're on a tight budget.  I never figured out whether he was a good guy or a bad guy.  Also, he really needs to lay off the cigarettes if he wants to live to see his 50th birthday.

The soundtrack was appropriate.  The only exception would be during Melanie's physical training.  That one was really, really bad.  Go with Eye of the Tiger next time.  Comic relief was decent  ("Are you crazy?  That thing's an antique.  I should fire you for saying that!")  I don't like the silent G either, by the way.  I appreciate your attempt to publicize their problem.  Overall, it was compelling but a bit dry.  I think the reference to being in a movie, about an hour and 11 minutes in, reminded me of the Leslie Nielson flicks.  If you're going to go there, you have to make us really feel the situational irony.  Good effort, though. 

[angus]

For some reason, everyone who reviews the film finds a different character to single out as the weakest actor. Usually it's Melanie or the mayor...

The woman who played the part of the mayor was, in my opinion, one of the stronger actors.  The woman who played Melanie could benefit with some experience or instruction, but she was suited to the part.  (For all I know she has one PhD in chemical physics and another in philosophy, but she came off as an idiot well enough on screen, so in my book she wasn't a particularly weak actress.)  The little boy answering the phone was probably the weakest in the abstract, but he was a little boy and he was only apparently hired to answer the phone, so I didn't hold that against him.  You carried your own weight with dignity as well, I might add, as did the cross-dressing father of Melanie.  (I still don't think his existence helped explain Melanie very well, but except for the really, really bad fake accent, he was fairly credible in his role.)