Uma Viagem ao Inferno

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 actors who are very, very dear to me, together here, Rutger Hauer and Eric Roberts. Both are physically endowed, by the way they look, and with a maximum, unique, absolutely exceptional talent. With 628 credits on IMDb, Eric Roberts I think is the most workaholic in the entire history of world cinema. As in many other movies, here he plays a negative role and he does it so well that you want to see him dead faster, killed by Rutger Hauer. Rutger Hauer, who also played some famous and excellent negatives himself, here is the positive character. Along with his gentle wife, in the movie, Karen Allen. I won't say more, just watch it and judge for yourself if those who wrote bad about this film were right or not.

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 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.

This movie resembles Dead Calm featuring Nicole Kidman and Sam Neill in more than one aspect, but does not have the the chilling nerve and fine acting as the mentioned film. Eric Roberts is acting poorly as usual(is he really Julias brother?), and Rutger Hauer is so out of shape that he does not take off his t-shirt when he takes a swim. It is a mediocre thriller that can help you kill half and hour.