Behemoth

There are B movies that are good, cheesy fun and then there are B movies like "Behemoth." Given that I've seen most of these actors in other shows, and all have them been pretty good ... especially Ed Quinn who plays the lead ... I was expecting more from this film.

I was dismayed and disappointed when most of the acting was wooden ... almost like Tippy Hedron watching the the line of fire at the end of "The Birds." The dialogue was stilted, the timing was off and basically, "Behemoth" left me scratching my head.

For example, Ed Quinn, who is pretty darn awesome as Nathan Stark in "Eureka," seemed like he was sleep walking through this movie. On top of that, the plot was predictable, the action was less than exciting and the climax was almost anti-climactic. Unless you just can't resist watching yet another over-sized monster movie, I'd recommend you pass on this one.

Sci-fi... ahem... Syfy's low-budget monster movies often manage to be at least mildly amusing in a "We're so bad it's good and we know it!" sort of way. Behemoth, on the other hand, takes itself too seriously to be fun, but isn't good enough to be... well... good.

You never feel like the world is in danger or particularly care about any of the characters. It just plain fails to engage on any level. The actors are all pretty competent, that's about the best I can say for it. None of them has anything interesting to do though.

The one character who dies (well, that we're expected to care about, at least) may as well have had a sticker on his forehead that said DEAD MEAT from his first scene onward. You'll know him when you see him. Then again, maybe you won't. Avoid.

BEHEMOTH is a monster flick let down by its own shortcomings in terms of budget and originality. Yes, it's another SyFy Channel production, filmed on the cheap in Canada, that has flashes of decency amid an overwhelming number of strictly middling to poor moments.

The storyline sees strange stirrings beneath the earth and mysterious levels of carbon dioxide rising from the crust. A team of investigators are soon on the case, as is a crazy old man who thinks that some mythical beastie is responsible. Inevitably it turns out that the old guy is right, and the heroes find themselves up against a massive monster from days gone by with plans to destroy the world.

So far so ordinary, but the surprising thing here is that the CGI effects are actually decent; far better than in other SyFy movies or the likes of DRAGON WARS. That monster looks great, especially when straddling the mountain top! I wish it had played a greater part on screen, but it was still a welcome sight. Sadly the rest of the production is less impressive, with boring characters and indifferent acting; the only one who makes an effort is William B. Davis, he of THE X-FILES fame. There's far too much hiking and chatting and not enough monster action for my liking, leaving this a disappointment regardless.

Its almost as if the producers just looked at a list of clichés and just picked the ones they like from it. Its all here. The pretty scientist, the handsome local to serve as a foil to create a sexual tension, the young college age couple, the old man who knows what is happening but everyone thinks is crazy, the skeptical sheriff, the mysterious, cryptic government agent along with all the usual stuff about how mankind is causing the earth and environment to fight back against all the horrible things manking has done to it. This time its in the form of a creature who supposedly has the power to destroy all life on earth as we know it. To me it just looks like a poor mans Kraken from Clash of the Titans. Don't't waste your time.

I just watched the movie on a Sunday evening and i am satisfied with it. Because it was exactly what i had expected and what it was made for. A nice entertaining time killer when you have nothing better to do at Sunday evening.

The acting was plausible and realistic to enjoy the movie and the cgi effects where also like expected. They would have looked cheap in a high budget movie of course, but for such a SciFi channel movie good enough. The monster itself was very well animated.

I reed a few comments about how that feminists may not like the movie because the female characters did nothing else then scream and being helpless. Well, that is just what the most women do in emergency situations. They do not pull out two guns and save the world, like it is very popular in lots of movies at the moment. They mostly scream, do not know what to do and hope that the men saves the situation. So from that point of view the movie was much more realistic then the most comparable movies ;).