Triangle : Le Mystère des Bermudes

Just saw this on the Sci-Fi channel today and I loved it, especially compared to the terrible mini-series, Surface, which ran on NBC last year. Triangle had good acting, good special effects, a tight storyline, a satisfying ending, and was plausible within the basic outlines. I just hated Surface, though I watched most of it -- mostly in the hopes that it would start to get better but it never did. Surface wasted my time -- it was too long and drawn out -- and there were so many loose ends and implausible parts to that story. Its special effects were tacky too, especially that ending scene of the flood. Triangle excelled in all the places Surface fell on its face.

I don't care if the idea of the Bermuda Triangle is plausible or not. If you accept the fact that it exists for the sake of this movie, then the parts of this story make sense -- ie, what caused it and why it was causing so much havoc in the ocean. Sure there are a few things that are unexplained, but they are not major.

To address a few of the comments of other reviews here -- 1) perhaps the reason the 4 didn't meet their other selves in the alternate universes is because the others were also transported to other universes at that same time; at any rate, it's a really minor point ... 2) I read a comment that Lou Diamond Phillips' character could have been left out and it wouldn't have mattered. While it's true his character is non-essential to the basic storyline, it adds richness and texture to the mini-series in emphasizing the impact of the time shifts. Phillips also does a fine job with the role. I guess I'm biased as he's one of my favorite actors.... 3) someone said it didn't make sense that ships prior to the date of the creation of the Bermuda Triangle were experiencing the effects, but if you consider that time shifts are two-way -- that a portal that allows someone to travel back in time will also allow someone in that earlier period to travel to another time -- then it makes perfect sense.

After having recently wasted so many hours of my time on the dismal "Surface," this mini-series is a real winner.

Strange phenomena has been occurring in the Sargasso Sea or the Bermuda Triangle since early seafaring. Columbus in 1492 encounters a modern ship and loses 2 men in a strange event. In the present, ship magnate Eric Benerall (Sam Neill) finds those two men and his own men dead on one of his ships. He recruits certain experts to solve the mystery for $5 million each. Howard Thomas (Eric Stoltz) is a reporter investigating Triangle cases. Emily Patterson (Catherine Bell) is a skilled engineer. Stan Lathem (Bruce Davison) is a psychic. Bruce Geller (Michael E. Rodgers) is an extreme adventurer. Meeno Paloma (Lou Diamond Phillips) leads a Greenpeace expedition against whalers when giant bubbles take down the whaling ship and the Greenpeace boat. Meeno is the sole survivor but he returns to find the world oddly different.

This is a 3 part Sci-Fi mini-series. I really like part one as the mystery gets laid out. The production is pretty good for a TV show. It's set up for something interesting. The second part starts to show some cracks. I don't like some of the turns with the mystery. I don't care about Lou Diamond Phillips' part of the story. I also don't like the team being split up. Part three does a competent job wrapping the story up. This TV series starts out strong but loses some of its steam.

It was okay, old concept they tried to modernize, recognizable faces, some parts interesting, others kind of lame. Immediately rolled my eyes when Catherine Bell said everybody knows the Atlantic is the deepest ocean in the world, along with mountains in the background when they were supposed to be in Miami, and they were watching the television station that started with a K, and then said it would take a full day to get to Fort Pierce. Sorry, maybe three hours. Just dumb stuff that's irritating. They had good ideas but it dragged.

"The Triangle" was a six hour joy ride. I do not profess to be a fan of all of the SciFi Channel's programming (I recognize some great shows- Stargate SG-1 and Galactica) but the majority of "movies" shown on SciFi are predictable bounty hunting, government conspiracy, prehistoric super-animal chomp-fest. Very formulaic. Don't get me wrong, every other Saturday or so, SciFi shows a marathon of classic big screen films, and I'm generally in attendance. "The Triangle" uses a blend of clever writing, great acting, and manages to prey upon the mass interest of a phenomenon. The first two hours sets a tone that builds a surprisingly high level of suspense. The next two hours begins to mingle all that science stuff I'll never care to understand- but the acting carries it through (esp. Lou Diamond Phillips and Eric Stoltz). The finale seemed to mix that perfect amount of intellectual head scratching and great writing. I just hope folks give this mini-series a chance- it's well worth the time.

While chasing a whaler, the Greenpeace boat sinks with the vessel, pulled by a mysterious force underwater and only Meeno Paloma (Lou Diamond Phillip) survives. Meanwhile, after the disappearance of six ships in the Bermuda Triangle in one year, the millionaire owner of the Mineral Shipping Lines Eric Benerall (Sam Neill) hires the skeptical journalist of The Observer Howard Thomas (Eric Stoltz); the scientist Bruce Geller (Michael Rodgers); the offshore engineer Emily Patterson (Catherine Bell) and the psychic Stan Lathem (Bruce Davison) to investigate the reasons for the phenomenon in the area. If the team succeeds in their quest for the truth, each one would receive five million dollars. They find a high-tech underwater facility from the Navy, and each one of them has glimpses of alternative reality after their discovery. They conclude that the experiment conducted by the Navy is affecting the electromagnetic balance of the ocean, while trying to find a way to close the dimensional tear opened by the Philadelphia Experiment. But they believe that the procedure actually will open the Pandora Box and destroy the world.

"The Triangle" is an intriguing an entertaining story that recalls "Sliders" in some moments. The characters are well developed but unfortunately the resolution of the plot is disappointing and confused. When the group reaches the base, in the climax of the story, it is very disappointing what happens next. The DVD released in Brazil has only 160 minutes running time, therefore 80 minutes vanished in the edition, and this might be the cause of my frustration with the messy end of the story. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Mistério do Triângulo das Bermudas" ("The Mystery of the Bermuda Triangle")