LEVIATHAN...tries to be ALIEN on a many number of levels, and never comes close. At a far shot, I will say this had a good chance of being it's own film, but in attempt to cash in on the ALIEN/ The Thing fad that was about in action films in the 1980s, this film falls flat on it's face. Heck, I almost feel sorry for Aliens (plural-the sequel) which I did not care for in the least. This film follows a crew of miners (gee, isn't THAT a familiar occupation for these characters) who toil around with uncharted, and undiscovered ship (be it a sunken ship, or lost spaceship, what difference does it make?) and find one heck of a consequence for it. Invading the underwater grave, they "stumble upon", the crew then take to bounties and "treasures" therein. Soon, a (literally) monstrous situation is breaking loose, and HOW? Well, that's even worse, but I won't go into that yet. The question at hand is, with little to NO novelty, or logical correctness to this story, why should we care?
The cast consists of fairly talented, to no talent at all performers who give us a number of unsympathetic characters we couldn't manage to care less about. Do we need to listen to a constant miscast Daniel Stern rave on with his one-track mind on "pairs" and practical jokes? That kind of character worked better in the later Friday The 13th films starting with part 4, but that's neither here nor there. Then there is Ernie Hudson in the (bad) vain of Yaphet Kotto as Parker from ALIEN.Two women among a ship of many men. People like this do not exist, surely in serious businesses such as underwater mining, and that one would even care about a one of them is a waste of emotion and time. There is even a perennial scientist who, with all his accumulated knowledge, is corrupt and out to sacrifice the entire crew for sake of the creature, or scientific breakthrough. Just awful!!!
There is also an impeccable production design that would suit JAWS: The Revenge in comparison. Heck since we're on underwater films, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP has more dignity than this, but there is not enough room to go into that either.Sights and sounds strung through a film, does not a good experience make, and it certainly doesn't here.Just a lot of wasted time and energy.The make-up effects of the "Monster" are hardly affective. In this, they cleverly attempt the ALIEN approach, to show as little as possible, and leave the rest to the imagination, but what we do see is cartooning, like a monstrous Daffy Duck. Stan Winston allegedly put some study into this, but it didn't pay off quite as well as it could have. I guess it looked better on paper.
Plus, chances at redemption are abandoned at the shallowness of what would be a regularly talented group. Peter Weller is a great actor, and has potential. However, as a Dallas (ALIEN)/MCready (The Thing) copy-cat role, he fails, and his diction and deliverance are flat and obviously fake and staged like a bad high school production. Lead female Amanda Pays is decent, but no Sigourney Weaver, that's for sure. One cannot argue that such an imitation was made, because it was, and to defend this action is ridiculous. Same goes for a character named "Jones". A ha ha, funny reference, it's like "good one guys".
Then there is the biggest problem, being that of logics and continuity. We can barely tell when and where the film is headed, because the story jumps back and forth to no avail, in shame. How are we supposed to believe that decompression happens in a matter of moments, and furthermore, how can we believe such a monster exists with this type of caliber? It takes away from any shock moments the film might have had, but then again, there aren't any (good) ones to speak of. Pretty boring really.
The final error, as it were, is due to blame they who were behind this. The European companies and producers obviously had their way with how they felt a BIG BUDGET BLOCKBUSTER would do with this caliber of octane energy. They FAIL on all accounts. The dialog suggests that they have a very bad perception of how they think Americans behave, such as drunks, sex fiends, and attempted flashy movie moments (say "AH" mother*beep*er!) that really make this one a cringe worthy piece of cinematic rubbish.
Not even an out of left field Jerry Goldsmith score can suffice in this one, and he NEVER misses, except maybe on this one. 3 Stars for his efforts, whatever they might bring us :-( Pity! Were I anyone who reads this...head the WARNING...skip it!
The cast consists of fairly talented, to no talent at all performers who give us a number of unsympathetic characters we couldn't manage to care less about. Do we need to listen to a constant miscast Daniel Stern rave on with his one-track mind on "pairs" and practical jokes? That kind of character worked better in the later Friday The 13th films starting with part 4, but that's neither here nor there. Then there is Ernie Hudson in the (bad) vain of Yaphet Kotto as Parker from ALIEN.Two women among a ship of many men. People like this do not exist, surely in serious businesses such as underwater mining, and that one would even care about a one of them is a waste of emotion and time. There is even a perennial scientist who, with all his accumulated knowledge, is corrupt and out to sacrifice the entire crew for sake of the creature, or scientific breakthrough. Just awful!!!
There is also an impeccable production design that would suit JAWS: The Revenge in comparison. Heck since we're on underwater films, HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP has more dignity than this, but there is not enough room to go into that either.Sights and sounds strung through a film, does not a good experience make, and it certainly doesn't here.Just a lot of wasted time and energy.The make-up effects of the "Monster" are hardly affective. In this, they cleverly attempt the ALIEN approach, to show as little as possible, and leave the rest to the imagination, but what we do see is cartooning, like a monstrous Daffy Duck. Stan Winston allegedly put some study into this, but it didn't pay off quite as well as it could have. I guess it looked better on paper.
Plus, chances at redemption are abandoned at the shallowness of what would be a regularly talented group. Peter Weller is a great actor, and has potential. However, as a Dallas (ALIEN)/MCready (The Thing) copy-cat role, he fails, and his diction and deliverance are flat and obviously fake and staged like a bad high school production. Lead female Amanda Pays is decent, but no Sigourney Weaver, that's for sure. One cannot argue that such an imitation was made, because it was, and to defend this action is ridiculous. Same goes for a character named "Jones". A ha ha, funny reference, it's like "good one guys".
Then there is the biggest problem, being that of logics and continuity. We can barely tell when and where the film is headed, because the story jumps back and forth to no avail, in shame. How are we supposed to believe that decompression happens in a matter of moments, and furthermore, how can we believe such a monster exists with this type of caliber? It takes away from any shock moments the film might have had, but then again, there aren't any (good) ones to speak of. Pretty boring really.
The final error, as it were, is due to blame they who were behind this. The European companies and producers obviously had their way with how they felt a BIG BUDGET BLOCKBUSTER would do with this caliber of octane energy. They FAIL on all accounts. The dialog suggests that they have a very bad perception of how they think Americans behave, such as drunks, sex fiends, and attempted flashy movie moments (say "AH" mother*beep*er!) that really make this one a cringe worthy piece of cinematic rubbish.
Not even an out of left field Jerry Goldsmith score can suffice in this one, and he NEVER misses, except maybe on this one. 3 Stars for his efforts, whatever they might bring us :-( Pity! Were I anyone who reads this...head the WARNING...skip it!