BEFORE: Let's keep the movie-monster theme alive. I can get some sci-fi/fantasy films in before leaving for Comic-Con. Linking from "King Kong", Jack Black was in "The Jackal" with Richard Gere, who was in "Pretty Woman" with Hector Elizondo (last seen in "Valentine's Day"), who appears in tonight's film.
THE PLOT: Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results.
AFTER: OK, my bad - I thought this was more of a giant sea-monster type film. I try to know something about the films I schedule, but not too much. I got this one off of cable just to fill up the DVD containing "The Abyss".
It is a monster film, but more of the zombie-virus mutating sea-creature type. Because that's a thing, apparently. But the word "leviathan" is usually used to describe an ocean giant, like a whale or a giant squid, so you can see how I was misled.
This film cloned most of its DNA from "Alien" - though the fact it was released the same year as "The Abyss" is sort of telling too. Most of the tension results from people in tight quarters (underwater, not outer space, but the result is the same) not knowing what's around the corner or in the ducts, as a lifeform mutates into different nasty shapes.
And the effects budget seems really small - we never really get a good look at the monster, probably because if we did, we'd see how little work was done on it, or that it's just somebody working a rubber suit.
There's another connection to "Alien" as we're never sure if the encounter with the lifeform is random, or if the mining company meant for this to happen, if this was some conspiracy to bring back this strange new and durable creature for corporate profit. But mostly I didn't care - I kept nodding off because it didn't matter to me which crewmen lived or died.
Let's just forget all this happened and move on, OK?
Also starring Peter Weller (last seen in "Butch and Sundance: The Early Days"), Richard Crenna (last seen in "Hot Shots! Part Deux"), Ernie Hudson (last seen in "The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission"), Daniel Stern (last seen in "Rookie of the Year") and Amanda Pays.
RATING: 2 out of 10 flamethrowers
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