The Triangle

At first I thought, that this could be at least a pretty good movie. The plot sounded intriguing and gave the idea of a nice fright. But as the movie went on I saw nothing but one cliche after another, and found myself laughing instead of hiding behind the sofa. Although it had some good scenes, they were not enough to save the entire movie. I've seen worse, but not much.

There are a few interesting things in setting up the plot of the movie: we see enough of the bad signs to understand and to expect something very mysterious and very revealing about what another experience of the Bermuda Triangle is. We see the characters, we witness all the signs that foresee something 'bad' is going to happen (the dreams, the adventurous leader of the trip, the fact that he's bringing his girlfriend along, the interest one of them has for the paranormal experience of the Bermuda Triangle). It's all well until becomes to obvious and the stereotypes prevail (the voodoo ritual they stumble across, the picture taken of the ritual and the people disappearing from it), there is no gradual suspense and almost nothing remarkable happens to the characters that could not happen in the real life). Dreams, visions and greed have been know to happen. It's true, you don't find a '39 missing ship everyday, but the extraordinary discovery does nothing to raise the interest of the story.

Take the hotel from The Shining, put a bow and a stern on it, and you have The Triangle. Actually, this movie also reminded me a lot of the recently released Ghost Ship. How many movies can we make that feature the Queen Mary? I liked it. I watched it twice. If you're a fan of ships, mystery, ghosts or the paranormal you will too. I really think more could've been done with this film had it been made into a theater release, or direct to video. Another nice thing, is that it isn't gross, very bloody, and there are hardly any "language" issues. You can sit down with the family, pop the popcorn, turn the lights off and enjoy. You don't see that in many horror/ghost films anymore. I would ad it to my collection. If you decide to make this a choice for movie night, pick up The Poseidon Adventure and treat yourself to a double feature.

The Triangle is an interesting but ultimately flawed movie. At first you think the picture is going to deliver an enjoyable "the Love Boat enters the Twilight Zone while stopping over at Fantasy Island" sort of escape flick, but it gradually turns out to be a much more low-key and rather clumsy affair.

There are some strong sequences and reasonable acting here, and the players, whether taken individually or collectively, all seem very likable and convincing... Unfortunately the same can't be said for the island setting or the shipboard setting: these seem very contrived and scream "made for TV movie!" at you with every frame. The script seems oddly lacking in many parts. More often than not your attention wanders, potentially intriguing ideas aren't fully explored (or aren't explored at all), and the ending, while suitably eerie, nevertheless feels rushed and makes you feel somewhat cheated. Too bad a little more work wasn't put into the script. And as to the special effects – puhleez! How lame can you get!

This could have been so much better! It's still worth watching if you're at all interested in maritime ghost stories, or ever ponder the fate of ships lost in the Bermuda Triangle. Or just want to look at good-looking leads. However, after seeing it, you will probably spend much time mulling over lots and lots of ways in which this movie could have been improved. Exactly why the creators of the movie didn't do those things, well, that's a question the answer to which must be lost somewhere out there in the Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle.

You gotta hand it to the producers of this movie. They knew their budget and their fan base. Luke Perry, Dan Cortese, and Olivia D'Abo haven't exactly graced the silver screen in recent years, but there's a generation of us out there that will always remember who they are. Those of us who do appreciate the 'Music Televised' 'Wonder Years' of '90210' then 'The Triangle' is good fun. What do you expect from a TV movie about the Bermuda Triangle that has strong resemblance to 'The Shining?' Leave your brain in the early 90's, make some popcorn, and enjoy.