Leviathan (1989)

A Major Disappointment

A lot of fun.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

1989 saw the release of two very similar underwater horrors: 'Leviathan' and 'DeepStar Six'. Neither of them were good, but 'Leviathan' was by far much worse.The dramatic opening scene is totally unconvincing and further ruined by overbearing, dramatic music. The way the crew interacts hardly convinces us they've been together for 87 days already. It feels as if they've only just met; the same way they are being introduced to us. The crew seem incredibly unprofessional and inexperienced for such a dangerous and specialized mission. The suspense is so forced, it's laughable, and the dialogue is melodramatic.After nearly 3 months of mining, they finally find the "mother load" three days before wrapping up their operation. Seriously? The film is a very bad underwater 'Alien' wannabe and a waste of an all-star cast. (Lisa Eilbacher in particular was exceptionally bad). I never want to see it again.

I give it a 3 because the effects of the monster-mutant thing creature(s) are pretty convincingly done.But this movie is pure B-movie schlock, just with a studio budget. It's a jumble of bits of other, better movies; and is about as generic and predictable as it gets. You feel no tension at all; firstly because it takes half the movie for anything to happen, and secondly you know what's going to happen and who's going to bite it well before the tentacle monster gets them.It really is just "Alien" meets "The Thing" under the sea. Heck, the crew are even mining minerals. All it needed was a nuclear self-destruct.I'd compare it to "Life"... which is practically the exact same movie, now in space, with an even bigger budget.

Plot: Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. The crew of the mining base must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one.This is one creature film that has been largely forgotten by people and that's sad in my opinion. This film knew what it was from the beginning and that's what these films should be unlike Sharknado which makes these films look like one big joke. Everybody in the cast does a great job especially Peter Weller, Ernie Hudson, and Amanda Pays. Each character is likable and you really feel that these are real people. I personally feel the creature effects are very good even if it is somewhat like the thing they at least try to be something different. I don't get why the effects guys trash them, I just don't get it, but that's their opinion so I can't change that.This film is one of the better creature films from the 80s that deserves to at least have some respect from certain film fans. It has a great cast, good creature effects, a solid script, and very good direction by George P. Cosmatos. When you get the chance to watch this film, watch it you won't regret it.

I have now seen this film a few times, and have come to the conclusion that Leviathan is a shallow movie about the deep ocean. The premise is really the only interesting aspect of Leviathan, while the special effects, story line, and character development are lacking in quality. First, the SFX of this film are truly sub-par. Even though I understand the limits of practical effects, the effects in Leviathan are not convincing at all, and the designs are poor and lifeless. Compared to similar films, such as Alien (1979) and The Thing (1982), the special effects come off as cheap. This pulled me out of the film every time I saw the ridiculous lumbering mountain of wet rubber that was the ultimate monster. Second, the story line is basically a rehashing of Alien, expect taking place on Earth. It borrows heavily from The Thing as well, which all three have the archetypal scifi-horror story of finding a horrible creature trapped for eons, that is freed and subsequently wrecks havoc on the human characters. This in itself not a huge issue for me, but Leviathan added no interesting twist on this template, it just filled in the blanks. Third, the character development remained a low priority on the filmmakers mind. The characters are flat, and expendable. Peter Weller's character is the most developed, but still doesn't fill the necessary depth I need to care about him. In fact, the characters felt like a rip off of The Thing, even the Doc had a similar fate to Blair in The Thing. The spoiler part of this review is about the atrocious ending. It felt slapped on and shallow. The ending made this film go from just okay to bad.