Of the three aliens underwater movies of 1989 this one is certainly the best . THE ABYSS might be slightly more remembered but that's possibly down to James Cameron as director and it was also the film that brought us CGI which changed the face of Hollywood but not necessarily for the better . DEEPSTAR SIX felt like each of its three acts belonged in different movie genres and at least LEVIATHAN sets its stall out from the start that it's going to be a straightforward horror movie set under the ocean
None of the films did much at the box office that year but watching the movies more than 20 years later this is the most enjoyable one . Interstingly cast would probably have the bigger names of the three movies with Murphy from ROBOCOP , the black guy from GHOSTBUSTERS , John Rambo's commanding officer and the posh chick from MAX HEADROOM. in a film directed by the same guy who directed RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 and the screenwriter of BLADE RUNNER so it's not really a film that has to sell itself down to the plot
Perhaps this is just as well because as so many people have said this is like a cross between ALIEN and THE THING . Definite B movie material but if you dig a little deeper you'll notice that it contains a somewhat prophetic criticism of corporate capitalism ( As did ROBOCOP ) and perhaps a dated subtext involving AIDS . It seems somewhat ridiculous now but at the end of the 1980s television would broadcast adverts warning people of the very public danger of AIDS while some so called experts predicted the decimation of the world population before the end of the century due to the disease . In some ways the film also owes a bit to the body horror of David Cronenberg
As it stands LEVIATHAN is a tense and exciting B movie set beneath the waves and beautifully shot and avoids the cliché of having the token black guy getting killed first. One wonders though how different things might have worked out for Hollywood if George P Cosmatos had directed THE ABYSS while James Cameron had directed this film . Would we have got a film industry that was too reliant on CGI . One wonders
None of the films did much at the box office that year but watching the movies more than 20 years later this is the most enjoyable one . Interstingly cast would probably have the bigger names of the three movies with Murphy from ROBOCOP , the black guy from GHOSTBUSTERS , John Rambo's commanding officer and the posh chick from MAX HEADROOM. in a film directed by the same guy who directed RAMBO FIRST BLOOD PART 2 and the screenwriter of BLADE RUNNER so it's not really a film that has to sell itself down to the plot
Perhaps this is just as well because as so many people have said this is like a cross between ALIEN and THE THING . Definite B movie material but if you dig a little deeper you'll notice that it contains a somewhat prophetic criticism of corporate capitalism ( As did ROBOCOP ) and perhaps a dated subtext involving AIDS . It seems somewhat ridiculous now but at the end of the 1980s television would broadcast adverts warning people of the very public danger of AIDS while some so called experts predicted the decimation of the world population before the end of the century due to the disease . In some ways the film also owes a bit to the body horror of David Cronenberg
As it stands LEVIATHAN is a tense and exciting B movie set beneath the waves and beautifully shot and avoids the cliché of having the token black guy getting killed first. One wonders though how different things might have worked out for Hollywood if George P Cosmatos had directed THE ABYSS while James Cameron had directed this film . Would we have got a film industry that was too reliant on CGI . One wonders