Leviathan

How can you go wrong with a Robocop, a Ghostbuster, a burglar from Home Alone, Pretty Woman and Axel Foley's personal assistants, and Richard Crenna????

Does it rip off Aliens? YES. Does it rip off The Thing? YES...but who really gives a rip?!?! It's just fun. Give me Stan Winston's practical effects any day too!

I remember going to the theatres when it came out, but I think I enjoyed it even more watching it 35 years later in retrospect. The stars and dialogue from the 80's was delightfully nostalgic. Grab the popcorn and go to town.

The kids might not get it, but if you were a product of the times, give it a rewatch!

Leviathan follows the crew of a deep sea mining expedition who discover a wreck of a Soviet ship - the Leviathan, which is supposedly still in service. Exploring the wreck they find evidence of a mysterious 'illness' that took the lives of those on board. After smuggling some vodka back from the wreck, one of the crew starts to show signs of the same condition that killed the ship's crew, and after mutating into a genetic abomination begins to hunt the rest down...

Despite some big names this film has b-movie written all over it. Granted, the sets and special effects are actually quite good, with some disgusting body horror and slimy creatures, but the basic plot, characters and dialog feel like they are straight from a 50's sci fi horror. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, but while watching this I did feel like I was watching a poor mans 'The Thing', with a sprinkling of Alien... and considering this came out a whole decade after the latter, at this point you really need to be stepping up your game. The characters and dialog are not as good as Alien, the paranoia and atmosphere is not as good as The Thing, and the underwater setting and special effects are not as good as in The Abyss (which came out the same year). It doesn't really bring anything new to the table to justify it's own existance, and as such ends up feeling derivative in pretty much every way.

Still, it's not exactly terrible or anything, and if you are into this kind of thing it can provide some passable entertainment. It's just not as good as any of the films that have so very obviously inspired it...

Leviathan is directed by George P. Cosmatos and then screenplay is written by David Webb Peoples & Jeb Stuart from Peoples' own story. It stars Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, Michael Carmine, Lisa Eilbacher, Hector Elizondo & Meg Foster.

Let me start off by saying that the rating I have given is purely for personal reasons, I love daft creature features and rate them accordingly. Artistically the film scores about the average mark of 5/10, the acting, story and effects really don't demand much better unless you have got a soft spot for the genre. Tagged as Alien underwater, the film was always going to struggle to live up to that particular tag for sure, but yes, in structure that is what we get. A group of deep-sea miners come across a wrecked soviet ship and after plundering what they can they end up with more than they bargained for. Enter the plot of deep-sea miners under attack from a very bad and creepy monster. Will they survive? How did it happen? And on it goes to a joyously (unintentionally) funny finale. The film crams as many creature feature clichés in as it can get away with, and sure enough the boo jump scare moments are not in short supply.

The cast are all in on the joke (I'm pretty sure they are), so all in all you get a flipping great genre entry that isn't demanding much of the viewer, that is if you are so inclined to check the brain at the door first. So enjoy a B lister that has no pretensions other than to homage and entertain those of a certain persuasion. Quite a cast of pro actors assembled as well. 7/10

An interesting case for sci-fi fans and a missed opportunity for the director, having a generally decent cast, a sufficient budget and a story, let's say 'not overused enough for that time'. The totally obvious Alien rip-off is technically surprisingly well executed and pleases with almost top notch set designs and very good creature effects. Now that all this didn't make an absolutely satisfying, or actually even really good sci-fi movie can be blamed on the lack of tight pacing in the script, occasionally bad editing or I guess generally the rather inconsistent lead of George P. Cosmatos, resulting uncalled-for moments of amateur filmmaking entering into a movie otherwise to be taken serious. These then start accumulating and gradually getting out of control as the movie gains speed (among others resulting conversations on the subjects of popcorn and puzzles) and then ultimately explode into a 5 minute orgy of total C-Movie crap, actually even added after the anyways forgettable climax of the movie (how the hell did that happen by the way?). Otherwise, we can say, that the first 2/3rd of the movie is pretty okay, not counting a few minor downers and then gradually messes up in the finale. In the end you decide weather it was worth watching or not. Though for genre fans I guess this is absolutely obligatory.

Leviathan is one of those films that has "rip-off" written all over it.

Alot of it you've seen before in better films. The most obvious comparisons being Alien ( several isolated crew members, the dubious doctor, the suits etc.) and of course The Thing (a gooey monster spawned from human beings, it getting to the blood supply). I've viewed this one a few times and although it is an inferior movie it does have some pretty neat special effects, a recognizable cast and a decent music score by Jerry Goldsmith.

Not a total wet squib - it certainly has its moments. I'd give it 7/10.