Event Horizon A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1997 Michael Redman
*** First Half Of The Film * Second Half Of The Film (Out of ****)
To be perfectly blunt: this movie sucks. And in the worst way.
Although heavily influenced (to be kind) by "Alien", the film starts off with great promise. The fine cast combined with first rate effects and dynamic art production sets the mood for what looks to be one of the few science fiction films with thought and soul. Then it turns into a cinematic disaster.
Unexpected story twists and surprise changes in plot are not necessarily bad things, but "Event Horizon" takes so many bewildering left turns that it should have picked up a Triple A trip map before it began. Perhaps then it wouldn't have ended up completely lost.
Starting off in Alienland with a short journey to Stargateville and a stop-over at The Shiningtown, the movie travels to CliveBarkerburg and then makes a rapid descent into the bad side of ThirdRateSlasherville. It's a long strange trip that ends up nowhere.
In 2047, the crew of the Lewis And Clark head off to rescue a top secret ship that supposedly was destroyed seven years before. Now it has turned up in the upper atmosphere of Neptune. Neptune was obviously not chosen by chance by the filmmakers. Ask your local astrologer: it's the planet of deception, illusion and blurring the edges of this dimension and the next.
Upon coming out of stasis, the secret is revealed. The ship was designed to create black holes and travel through them effectively moving faster than the speed of light. It had disappeared when the engine core was engaged only now to emerge in the lightning storms of one of the outer planets. The rescue ship's mission is to recover the inter-universe drive and hopefully rescue the crew.
The crew of the Event Horizon turns out to be a lost cause as they have been turned into bloody shredded beef strewn all over the ship. When the rescuers began having vivid hallucinations and recover the lost ship's video log showing the crew violently attacking each other, it is obvious that something has gone horribly wrong.
The first half of the movie has its problems. It's too derivative of "Alien" and creates startling moments by loud noises rather than suspense, but it still looks good. The ancient future art direction (ala "Stargate") is fascinating. The strong casting of Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill and Kathleen Quinlan is certainly a step in the right direction. The computerized special effects are some of the best crafted ever seen on the screen.
Then it all falls apart. After leading us into the false sense of security that we are in for a film of value, the producers decide that height of filmmaking is "Friday The 13th" and pour more and more blood on the sets. When you hear the ship's scientist explain that the EH has opened a gateway into a "dimension of unimaginable evil", you know that all hope is lost. After that, little makes sense. The plot is thrown out the window and substituted by boring gore.
It would take hours to go through all my complaints about this piece of trash. The actors, effects and artistic vision are all completely wasted when the film jumps off the cliff into its ocean of mindless carnage. The auspicious beginning only creates a stronger sense of betrayal as the movie collapses under the weight of blood and guts and gorged out eyeballs.
If you want to see some extraordinary visuals, go and walk out after about an hour. You won't have missed a thing.
(Michael Redman has written this column for over 21% of a century and rarely has he seen a film that was such a disappointment. Email notes of sympathy to mredman@bvoice.com)
[This appeared in the 8/22/97 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com ]
-- mailto:mredman@bvoice.com
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