Unseen Terror: Day 17

A man nicknamed Sixpack, who is a member of a group of underwater miners, stumbles across a sunken Russian ship. He excitedly brings aboard some "treasure" to show to the rest of the crew. Some of the staff discover some information about the sunken ship, named Leviathan, that causes some concern about why it possibly sank. Over time, Sixpack falls ill and the ship's doctor, through some tissue analyzation, discovers he may be mutating. But how? Soon, the crew may have to deal with an underwater threat that may have best been left unearthed...

Leviathan feels like one giant mistake throughout it's entire running time. Not because it's necessarily a terrible film (save for the last five minutes), but just because there is so much talent involved with such a mediocre movie. First, the cast. You've got Peter Weller, Ernie Hudson, Richard Crenna, and Daniel Stern. All competent actors in their own right. Sadly, none of their characters are written as being remotely interesting whatsoever, with the slight exception of Hudson, who should have been cast in the lead role instead of Weller. Speaking of Weller, I could have sworn he was sleepwalking for about 95% of this. Maybe he was just there to collect a paycheck. He and the rest of this crew act incredibly nonchalant when it comes to shocking moments such as crew member deaths, but somehow seem to come alive when they're told at one point that they may be stuck underwater for a few more hours than expected.

The crew involved here is also exceptionally talented, which is why the blandness of hurts even more. You've got the director of Tombstone and Rambo, the writers for films like Die Hard, Blade Runner, and Unforgiven, music by Jerry Goldsmith, and Stan Winston doing the creature work. So how do they work out? Well, the director directs this about as well as he did his film prior to this one, Cobra. The script is just lazy too for the most part. The film feels like a pastiche of Alien and The Thing, without any of the tension or interesting characters that helped make those movies the classics they are. There's a moment in the first act that tries to make the viewer feel nervous, but it just doesn't work considering that it takes place within the first five minutes, and we haven't gotten to know ANYBODY yet, and therefore, simply don't care. Goldsmith's score is just...odd. At times way too upbeat for a film like this, and at other times, way too serious for a movie about an underwater monster.

Not surprisingly, Winston is the only one who seems to deliver. The monster isn't one of his best works, but for what little we see of it, it looks relatively cool. Oh excuse me, until the end that is. We get a full shot of the fully mutated creature in the last 10 minutes, and I'm sorry, but it really just looked silly. I guess some things really do work better in small doses.

This just isn't a very good film. It's mediocrity kills any potential for rewatching, and the last five minutes of the film certainly don't help either. Oh, and don't worry about that tagline. We don't really get much action in the water, if any at all. You're better off sticking with any of the films this one takes it's "influence" from or even something like The Abyss.

Tomorrow, I may need to spank some naughty children in VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED.