LEVIATHAN
By Jasper Oliver, 06-01-09
Leviathan is that rare gem that works on multiple levels in spite and perhaps because of it’s unapologetic thievery of imagery and plot points from more acclaimed sci-fi horror actioners. Thinking I was in store for one of the many Jaws rip-offs littering the terror library I plugged into the atmospheric, weird, Leviathan to discover something else entirely. Namely a The Thing rip-off with a healthy helping of Alien thrown in for good measure. And it is the fans of these two brutal gooey action adventures that will appreciate Leviathan the most.
The plot concerns the efforts of Steven Beck (Buckaroo Banzai himself, the great Peter Weller) and his crew of crass oceanic miner stereotypes to battle the 9 to 5 workday grind, but on the bottom of the ocean floor (of course). And as if dealing with a bitch boss and melancholic manual labor weren’t enough, Boom! Giant mutant monsters. Awwwww fuck.
The ocean is portrayed as alienatingly hostile and lonely as we phobia-ridden fans know it to be. The opening shots of the film matched with Jerry Goldsmith’s tense score were what first clued me in that I was watching more than just your average sub-par B-movie but something which had the potential to be genuinely frightening. A true rarity. As the camera gets deeper and deeper into the dark sea our sense of mounting panic inversely rises.
Sadly following that auspicious intro is about 30 minutes of increasingly boring plot “development”. The dialogue is realistic but lifeless and the character introductions are largely unnecessary as our cast of helpless heroes is merely an assortment of types we’re already well acquainted with. There’s Six Pack (Daniel Stern, who looks no worse for the wear since being assaulted by a wacky assortment of McCallister traps. [Home Alone joke anybody?! Ho! Ho! Ha!]) our requisite sleaze who craves to “drink brews and eat pussy”, thinks that hiding giant sea crabs in the quarters of his female affiliates is friggin’ hilarious, and hates him them big words like negligence (“How can I be accused of it if I don’t even know what it means?”). Then we’ve got Jones, our essential besought upon black bad-ass (“Been through Hell? Bitch, we still in it!”), the untrustworthy Dr. Thompson, a hot British babe, some other hysterical woman, a Mexican dude, blah, blah, blah. When are people going to start getting eaten?!
After nearly falling flat with this monotonous tedium the movie shifts again into it’s most entertaining portion and makes everything up to us! Six Pack swallows some noxious brew, dies and reanimates as an aquatic bubbling beastie, the hysterical sexist archetype slits her wrists, the communists are blamed, and everything gets really slimy.
The Stan Winston creature effects and gore are as impressive as those in the films this is taking it’s cues from and nearly as inventive! (Particularly gruesome is a tendril snake beast spored from a severed monster arm leeching onto and through a man’s heart!) The one-liners come fast and hard and are mostly a joy. Things get over-the-top about the time shark attacks enter into the picture (because one monster just wasn’t enough). There is, if you want it, a mildly intelligent commentary on class divisions and rampant bureaucracy. And most importantly there are a few legitimately scary moments! If you’ve watched and rewatched John Carpenter’s The Thing a half dozen times as I have, and are looking for the same movie in a different movie it doesn’t get better much better than Leviathan. Pair it with Deep Star 6 for action-packed, aquatic, 1989, adventure and don’t forget to come up for air!
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