Leviathan
1989 Directed by George P. Cosmatos
Synopsis
The true meaning of fear
Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. The crew of the mining base must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one.
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I love George P. Cosmotas and I love Leviathan. Still, there's no denying that his film is an unabashed rip off of Alien. It even shares a couple of key creatives with Ridley Scott's superior original (mainly composer Jerry Goldsmith and production designer Ron Cobb). While Scott's film is closer to Kubrick, Cosmatos is a few steps above Corman. It's goofier, gorier, and more willing to indulge in cheap scares and creature feature effects shots. BUT, it has a ton of fun doing so and for me, will always remain in rotation on my playlist of childhood horror favourites.
It's worth noting that the cast is pretty great. Peter Weller gives an understated performance as the rig captain who lacks…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Talk about having a bad day.
-JonesLeviathan is a low budget film that aspires to be nothing more then a complete ripoff of the 1979 masterpiece Alien while coming off as incredibly dated when compared to a film that would come out a mere 5 months later; The Abyss. Leviathan and The Abyss look like they have at least a decade between them, the fact they came out the same year boggles the mind.
Now I imagine an executive somewhere took one of the screenwriters from Blade Runner (David Webb Peoples) and one from Die Hard (Jeb Stuart) and asked them to come up with something like Alien but underwater. I think the main problem is that both writers…
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I've seen worse but I should of just watched The Thing or Alien again for the 50th time.
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I find the future as perceived by people in the '80s much more compelling the the future perceived today. In general we look to the future and imagine white, rounded edges, slick panels, touch screens etc, whereas in the '80s everything was metallic, grey, clunky, wires were dangerously exposed in the hallways of spaceships.
Leviathan is no different. I love the tech in the film, the look and style is great (even if [or probably because] it's an Alien rip-off) and all the performances are solid. Peter Weller is the stand out, delivering a subtle performance that really does lift the film. George P. Cosmatos is a great director and there are enough new twists to remove it slightly from…
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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The thing meets the not yet made Deep Blue Sea. Glad to see some females in the mix. Wasn't insulting but wasn't ground breaking. Kinda boring
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Remarkably mediocre effort here that wildly draws from both 'Alien' and 'The Thing' and achieves every cliche imaginable in terms of character types and panic scenarios. It's all here, flamethrowers, jettisoned escape pods by an edgy medical-type, countdown-to-meltdown alerts, orchestral surging themes (even Jerry Goldsmith on composing duties), inter-racial comic riffing between 'grunt' stereotypes, the list goes on and on. Interesting Stan Winston did the creature design/effects, and even Ron Cobb was involved with production design. If I had seen this on release I am sure my lingering nostalgia would have resulted in some kinder words - but with horribly wooden acting and such a cliched feel, Leviathan is a difficult movie to enjoy.
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Talk about having a bad day.
-JonesLeviathan is a low budget film that aspires to be nothing more then a complete ripoff of the 1979 masterpiece Alien while coming off as incredibly dated when compared to a film that would come out a mere 5 months later; The Abyss. Leviathan and The Abyss look like they have at least a decade between them, the fact they came out the same year boggles the mind.
Now I imagine an executive somewhere took one of the screenwriters from Blade Runner (David Webb Peoples) and one from Die Hard (Jeb Stuart) and asked them to come up with something like Alien but underwater. I think the main problem is that both writers…
-
This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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A goofier "Alien" swipe that I loved as a kid, and had a lot of fun reconnecting with.
Laughable in spots, but it's obvious the cast is having a lot of fun.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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A blatant ALIEN wannabe, but it's sporadically clever and the creature effects are outstanding. The cast is fun, too, with Ernie Hudson getting some killer lines.
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This movie has a lot in common with The Thing (which predates it) and The Abyss (released the same year). Although not as good as either it is a fun watch and has some great moments of both horror and straight up "uuurgh!". There's some excellent unintentional hilarity and best of all: Robocop!