BEFORE: Come on, did you really think that would be the end of the Creature, disappearing into the murky depths? Of course, he came back. You can't join the pantheon of Universal Monsters if you only appear in one movie, and get taken down by a simple harpoon gun! Nestor Paiva carries over from "The Creature From the Black Lagoon", and so does Ricou Browning, who played the Gill-Man in the underwater scenes.
THE PLOT: Men capture the creature from the Black Lagoon and make him an attraction at an aquarium, from which he escapes.
AFTER: Captain Lucas's boat steams back to the notorious Black Lagoon, and a new exposition expedition is on board to have conversations that remind us all what took place in the previous film. Thankfully these guys all come from the Institute of Marine Biology and Mansplaining. Seriously, they over-narrate everything that they do, whether it's playing cards or raising things with winches or fishing with dynamite.
Jesus, last time the "scientists" poisoned the whole lagoon just to force the Gill-Man to come out of the water - now they're using dynamite? How many species of rare fish have to die just to catch one prehistoric anomaly? And can blowing up the lagoon really count as science? It certainly doesn't seem sporting, but it does get the job done - Old Gill floats to the surface, unconscious, and is soon netted up and brought to the Ocean Harbor Aquarium (sorry, "Oceanarium" just isn't a word). Because why study him at a research center when you can make him an attraction like the dolphin show? Step right up and see the underwater freak, right this way...
What little "science" is involved at this point consists of striking Gilly with an underwater electric prod to try to teach him basic commands like "Stop". Because that could be helpful later, if he were somehow able to break out of his chains and walk among the public. Wouldn't ya know, that's exactly what happens? But I've gotta side with the Gill-meister here, considering what he's been through. You can't put a beautiful 1950's dame like Helen in the tank with him and then expect him to not fall in love with her, right? I mean, it just doesn't make any sense, they took the creature out of the ONE lagoon in the entire world where his species still survives, so if there's a potential mate left on the planet for him, she's BACK THERE in freakin' Brazil!
Or maybe he's not lovelorn, maybe he's just pissed that he's a freshwater creature from the Amazon River, and he's been placed in a SALT-water tank near the ocean in Florida. Jesus, isn't that the first thing people should learn in marine biology class? What a bunch of incompetent dopes.
So Gill breaks free and tracks down Helen in her bungalow, and I think he kills her dog. (Not cool, Gill, that's not how to win a gal's heart...) NITPICK POINT: Earlier in the film, Helen had called the dog her "boyfriend" - what did she mean by this? Nah, she couldn't have meant that... NITPICK POINT #2: When Helen can't find her dog, she still goes off on a sailing trip with Clete Ferguson. That doesn't seem like any dog-owner I've ever known. What about, "Sorry, Clete, I can't go sailing with you because my DOG IS MISSING!"
Gill-Man then tracks down Clete and Helen at a party, which is being held at a seafood restaurant. (Awkward...!) Old Gill grabs Helen and jumps into the ocean with her - there you go, Gill, keep chasing the dream, maybe this time your sweetie will learn how to breathe underwater! But the cops and the coast guard come together to track down the creature to where he's just chilling on the beach with Helen's unconscious body, and once again, any chance for a little inter-species romance is foiled again. Maybe it's for the best, Gill-Man seems a little Cosby-esque in his practice of grabbing women, drowning them until they're unconscious, and then (presumably) making out with them.
NITPICK POINT #3: The marine biology institute is seen performing an experiment with a cat sharing a cage with a number of white rats. Umm, they do know that cats and rats are not sea creatures, right? Plus, what the hell could this experiment possibly be testing? I guess this is in the film as something of a joke, or to allow for the first screen appearance of a VERY famous actor, as a lab assistant who finds the missing mouse in the pocket of his lab-coat. Again, how is this possible - how could you have a white rat in your pocket and NOT know it? It's patently absurd.
Will the Creature return? Will he ever find love? Should he be allowed to? Will the aquarium commissary ever stop serving tuna fish sandwiches? Perhaps these questions were answered in the next sequel, "The Creature Walks Among Us", but I kind of doubt it.
Also starring John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield, Grandon Rhodes (last seen in "Them!"), Dave Willock, Robert Williams (last seen in "North by Northwest"), Charles Cane (last seen in "The Big Heat"), Sydney Mason (also carrying over from "Revenge of the Creature"), Brett Halsey (last seen in "The Man from the Alamo"), Don C. Harvey, Tom Hennesy, Bob Hoy, Bob Wehling, with a cameo from Clint Eastwood (last seen in "True Crime").
RATING: 4 out of 10 flare guns
No comments:
Post a Comment