The Black Hole (1979)

Very disappointing...

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Well it seems that over the years Disney has tried to distance itself from 'The Black Hole' in fact it is still one of the few back catalog films that Disney has as yet refused to release on Bluray Format and to be honest I cant figure out their reasoning for doing so. Following the impact of Star Wars in 1977 every major movie studio jumped on the band wagon and began investing huge amounts of money into what they hoped would be a rival to Star Wars and remember in only a short period of 3 years we were given Star Trek The Motion Picture,Battlestar Galactica,Alien but to mention a few and then Disneys 'The Black Hole" As a young child I remember well the hype and promotion that went with the releasing of The Black Hole,The trailer was amazing,the advertising on T.V,the posters,Disney were really hoping to knock Sar Wars of its pedestal. Unfortunately this did not happen,mainly due to film critic's panning the movie even before it was released but Disney took us on a trip unlike anything we had ever been on before with some very mind bending suggestions,a lot of movie goers just didn't get it,the ending I mean and for that reason and word of mouth the movie became an incredible failure both at the box office and with Disneys credibility as a movie maker. Yet through it all and over the years as so many movies that failed at the box office The Black Hole has become a real classic in its own and justly so,it has everything you could want in such a movie...its got the good guys...its got the bad guys who are led by an even badder guy who just so happens to have at his side one hell of a sycopathic robot..sure Star Wars had Darth Vader but The Black Hole had Maximillion and his creator Dr Carl Rendhart played to perfection by the late great Maximillion Schell,we also got two quirky little robots,one voiced by none other than Roddy Mcdowell and finally a cast of just about who's who in Hollywood at the time. All in all The Black Hole has its flaws but its still a movie that deserves a place in the great science fiction films of the 20th Century

The Black Hole was one of many films that were released with the intention of cresting the sci-fi wave created by the huge success of Star Wars (1977). More specifically, this was Disney's attempt at the genre and I think it was the studio's first movie that didn't go for a U certificate. The film that it can best be compared to is Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which was also released the same year. Both movies sport fantastic special effects and production values, while both also are surprisingly - and pleasingly - slightly left-field in their approach. Neither really fall squarely into the action/adventure bracket that Star Wars so obviously did, they rely more on atmosphere, some psychological aspects and have some enigmatic qualities which seem to indicate the influence of the earlier hard sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space odyssey (1968). For these reasons, I find both these films to be decidedly under-appreciated and interesting. The Star Trek franchise of course went down a different, more comforting route, from the second feature The Wrath of Khan (1982) onwards, while The Black Hole remained a one off that has become more and more obscure as the years go by. So much so that it could reasonably be considered a cult movie on account of its selective appeal.From the off, this is visually a very interesting film. It has great sets and model work, which make the giant space craft where the majority of the action takes place an evocative setting. The special effects throughout are in general very impressive and still look good today. But the visuals have been constructed for more than mere spectacle as they combine to create a pretty interesting atmosphere on the whole; they ultimately are used also to set up the strange and ambiguous ending which involves visions of Hell and an alternate universe. This kind of oddness stands out these days, as most big budget sci-fi endeavours mostly avoid such ambiguity, but this is definitely a plus point for The Black Hole. Another serious asset is the really effective main theme from John Barry. This is in all honesty one of his best bits of individual music, its sweeping yet mysterious and complements events on screen extremely well.The story itself is pretty simple and boils down to a deep space crew discovering a mysterious spaceship near a black hole, they board it and events escalate. The story is perhaps oddly presented in some ways as there is material quite obviously aimed at kids, like the cartoonish robots (the main one, V.I.N.C.E.N.T., being voiced excellently by Roddy McDowell) but at the same time there are also some decidedly sinister aspects to this one too. So I guess it had a bit of a split focus in some ways, not that that is a terrible thing but it may have accounted for its marginalised position in the sci-fi cinematic pantheon. But whatever the case, I consider this to be one of the best that 70's science fiction has to offer. It's mysterious and left-of-centre nature mean that it is one of the more interesting entries in the genre to revisit.

For five years the crew of the Palomino has ranged through deep space, searching for evidence of alien life. With their mission almost at an end, they discover the largest black hole ever encountered. Drifting perilously near it, is the long-lost legendary starship Cygnus. It's commander who designed the Cygnus and planned its epic voyage still survives, served by a horde of mechanical slaves. But Commander Hans Reinhardt has no desire to be rescued. He has a rendezvous with the incredible forces of the titular hole, and he plans to take the Palomino crew along on his doomed adventure.The Black Hole is a film that has to be seen to be believed. Not because of its wonderful story, narrative, or characterisation, it's the blatant ripping off of Star Wars that Disney has seemingly done......and it's a wonderful disaster.If Perkins had Switched roles with Schell, then it may have been a little bit more darker than it is here, it's odd to see Perkins looking threatening even when he's a seemingly harmless Doctor, and having Schell apologise every five minutes for his red hot robot.Story wise, the film sucks, and ironically, one of the main plot holes involves that word,so go figure.But, it's a technical marvel. It's the best Bond theme Barry never did, the effects are pretty cool for the seventies, and there's always the charm of seeing weightlessness depicted with people on wires.Forster looks permanently embarrassed as the Will Robinson caricature, McDowell is okay as the below par cowboy wannabe R2-D2, and the extras as robots look like something straight out of a Kraftwerk.It's an oddity movie for sure, not very good, but certainly not boring, and it has one of the most bizarre, psychedelic last shots I've ever seen in a film.A technical achievement, purely because it's pretty dreamy to watch.

Having seen this movie in the theater when I was 8, I and everyone in my school was spellbound by it. Many parts of it haven't held up well 30 years later: the acting is similar to any 70's made for TV show. It was made at a time when every show had a wisecracking character (think SNL) and had a symphonic theme (just listen to any TV theme show from the time). While the movie gets often nailed for the stoically wooden acting, 90% of the characters are scientists, robots or following the contemporary stereotype of astronauts as strong and taciturn. The plot is essentially 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea set in space. Culturally, the movie felt topical at the time. It was a perfect amalgamation of popular culture in the late 1970's: science fiction (Star Wars, et al.), video games (Space Invaders), space exploration (the Voyager probes), laser guns and robots (everything from Battlestar Galactica to Buck Rogers), as well as ESP, parapsychology and heaven vs. hell (c.f. see the number of books on psychic phenomena and mysteries from the late 70's as well as the popularity of things like Heaven Can Wait and the George Burns' "Oh God!" movies). Disney took a huge gamble on a movie that was so overtly dark, both in tone and set lighting. The movie was not a runaway financial success but was not a loss either, a major achievement considering its extremely high price tag. Even if its ethos and pacing don't fit well with today's audiences, its design sense holds up today. The sets create a feeling of both scale, claustrophobia, and tension. The robot V.I.N.CENT actually steals the show, both in his insight and action. His action figure was more popular on the playground than any of the Star Wars figures, yet most of his constant clever yet arrogant wisdom comes from literary quotes far beyond any child's entertainment - from Shakespeare to Cicero to the Bible. Like the best Disney movies, this one was made to be simultaneously enjoyed on different levels by both the kids and adults in the audience.All in all, taken in terms of its time, it's a remarkable achievement in special effects and seeing Disney push its limits. The pacing, acting, musical themes, juxtaposition of long exposition with laser fights, scientific theories and portrayal of robots as rigid goose-steppers all seem dated today. The rest is a good allegory of balancing scientific genius with ethics. The practical effects still hold up. V.I.N.CENT is more human than any CGI creation and - with his constant humanities references, arrogance, and compassion for his crewmates - the most human component of the film. For anyone expecting a Disney movie circa the late 80's and afterwards, you may not be entertained. For classic science fiction fans as well as those who have nostalgia for or are interested in American culture in the late 70's, don't miss this. SPOILER BELOW:The ending is very 2001-esque and gets attacked for its obscurity, but the symbolism was clear to anyone who went to Sunday School (which at the time was nearly everyone): the bad guys went to hell and the good guys went to heaven. What's behind a black hole? According to the movie, the world all souls go to when they die.