Voyage - Viaje sin retorno

This is a cookie cutter movie, as formulaic as they come for the genre of middle-to-upper class couples with marital problems getting screwed by weirdos aboard their yacht.

Rutger Hauer and Karen Allen play that failing married couple who hope that a voyage on their yacht will rekindle something nice about their marriage while they're sailing around the coast of Italy. Of course, any chance of that happening is quickly interrupted when Gil Freeland (Eric Roberts in his usual weirdo thriller style), the former high school classmate of Rutger Hauer's character, and his over-sexed wife tag along for the ride after being stranded with some excuse about a delayed business meeting. But, the trip with the couple, though obviously bizarre at first, goes out of control when Freeland and his wife reveal their true nature...and their true motives. So, Rutger Hauer and Karen Allen have to protect themselves from the crazy couple.

From beginning to end, it is predictable. What a shame, too, considering the cast, the relatively low budget (looks like BBC mini-drama styled photography), and the beautiful setting, that they couldn't do anything creative here. "Dead Calm" is a much better choice for this kind of thriller.

Two couples on a yacht in the Mediterranean sail into danger...hey, that would have been a better title for an early 90's cable TV movie, "Sail Into Danger!"

It's predictable and not well constructed. Eric Roberts does his usual grinning maniac bit, poor Rutger Hauer is good but the script lets him down and he's supposed to be the same age as Roberts and Karen Allen, and he's clearly not. Connie Nielsen (secretly my wife, don't tell anyone) is on hand to act weird and sexy. Karen Allen is an actress I would, and have, watched in anything, and the trend continuous here.

While by no means a truly awful movie, this really has little to recommend - the cast do a reasonable job with a poor script, some of the action builds a little dramatic tension but the plot is hopelessly unoriginal, has some big old holes in it and the animosity built up between the two couples is totally unjustified by events in the first half. Roberts' villain is as hammy as they come - check the scene where, to everyone's obvious disgust, he savours (shock! horror!) a cigarette after a dramatic macho race scene. There's also some implausible explanation of plot devices - Hauer suddenly sees through the whole dastardly plot building around him in a truly laughable moment. OK, but for fans of the stars only.

While watching this, I found myself wondering: how is it that a good film will make you instantly care what happens to the good guys, but in a lousy film, you watch them for two hours and just hope they drown? My thoughts also drifted to the actors playing the good guys, who have starred in outstanding films with Harrison Ford and now do substandard movies. I couldn't help but notice the Heineken bottles, almost certainly at the request of Hauer. My mind wasn't on the action I guess.

I remember watching Voyage about 1997, it was on at 1 am on a Thursday morning I believe, and given that I had watched and enjoyed 'Dead Calm' a couple of years earlier, this late night copy of it seemed a watchable fare! Yes I did guess the entire plot after 5 minutes, but I knew it would be entertaining, and even a pretty good thriller to someone who hadn't seen Dead Calm! It was good stuff for a TV movie, nice to see Karen Allen again. and Eric Roberts puts in his greatest performance (until 2013's 'A Talking Cat). The plot has some interesting twists and the locations are scenic, but lets not forget that this film was deliberately made to be a Dead Calm rip off, so just enjoy it and stop grumbling!