Leviathan

In the Atlantic Ocean, 16,000 feet deep, the Tri Oceanic Mining Corporation keeps a eight-men crew with the mission of extracting silver and other precious metals. The geologist and leader Steven Beck (Peter Weller) works with Dr. Glen 'Doc' Thompson (Richard Crenna) managing the miners astronaut wannabe Elizabeth 'Willie' Williams (Amanda Pays), the prankster Buzz 'Sixpack' Parrish (Daniel Stern), Justin Jones (Ernie Hudson), Tony 'DeJesus' Rodero (Michael Carmine), Bridget Bowman (Lisa Eilbacher) and G. P. Cobb (Hector Elizondo). He is also the liaison with the Tri Oceanic executive Ms. Martin (Meg Foster).

In their next to last day, Willie and Sixpack are assigned to work outside the base and Sixpack falls in a hole. Willie seeks him out and finds a Russian vessel named Leviathan. Sixpack finds a safe inside the vessel and brings it to their base. They find money, vodka, a videotape and documents and Beck keeps the content of the safe. However Sixpack steals a bottle of vodka and drinks with Bowman. Meanwhile Beck and Doc watch the videotape and the Russian Captain explains a problem that killed his crew. On the next morning, Sixpack does not feel well and stays in the sickbay. Soon Doc learns that his patient has a genetic mutation. When Bowman shows the same symptoms, Beck asks Ms. Martin to rescue them. But there is a hurricane on the surface and the rescuing mission is not possible.

"Leviathan" is an Alien rip-off underwater, but it is nostalgic to see this movie in the present days to admire the excellent cast in the late 80's. The lovely Amanda Pays shines with her beauty and is always good to see the eyes of Meg Foster. Peter "Robocop" Weller, Richard Creena and Hector Elizondo, all of them in good shape, is another attraction. Another good point is the special effect with the monsters, usual in the 80's and 90's and different from the exaggeration of the CGI in the present days. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Leviathan"

Note: On 11 July 2023, I saw this film again.

Leviathan is one of those films that has "rip-off" written all over it.

Alot of it you've seen before in better films. The most obvious comparisons being Alien ( several isolated crew members, the dubious doctor, the suits etc.) and of course The Thing (a gooey monster spawned from human beings, it getting to the blood supply). I've viewed this one a few times and although it is an inferior movie it does have some pretty neat special effects, a recognizable cast and a decent music score by Jerry Goldsmith.

Not a total wet squib - it certainly has its moments. I'd give it 7/10.

Leviathan follows the crew of a deep sea mining expedition who discover a wreck of a Soviet ship - the Leviathan, which is supposedly still in service. Exploring the wreck they find evidence of a mysterious 'illness' that took the lives of those on board. After smuggling some vodka back from the wreck, one of the crew starts to show signs of the same condition that killed the ship's crew, and after mutating into a genetic abomination begins to hunt the rest down...

Despite some big names this film has b-movie written all over it. Granted, the sets and special effects are actually quite good, with some disgusting body horror and slimy creatures, but the basic plot, characters and dialog feel like they are straight from a 50's sci fi horror. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, but while watching this I did feel like I was watching a poor mans 'The Thing', with a sprinkling of Alien... and considering this came out a whole decade after the latter, at this point you really need to be stepping up your game. The characters and dialog are not as good as Alien, the paranoia and atmosphere is not as good as The Thing, and the underwater setting and special effects are not as good as in The Abyss (which came out the same year). It doesn't really bring anything new to the table to justify it's own existance, and as such ends up feeling derivative in pretty much every way.

Still, it's not exactly terrible or anything, and if you are into this kind of thing it can provide some passable entertainment. It's just not as good as any of the films that have so very obviously inspired it...

An interesting case for sci-fi fans and a missed opportunity for the director, having a generally decent cast, a sufficient budget and a story, let's say 'not overused enough for that time'. The totally obvious Alien rip-off is technically surprisingly well executed and pleases with almost top notch set designs and very good creature effects. Now that all this didn't make an absolutely satisfying, or actually even really good sci-fi movie can be blamed on the lack of tight pacing in the script, occasionally bad editing or I guess generally the rather inconsistent lead of George P. Cosmatos, resulting uncalled-for moments of amateur filmmaking entering into a movie otherwise to be taken serious. These then start accumulating and gradually getting out of control as the movie gains speed (among others resulting conversations on the subjects of popcorn and puzzles) and then ultimately explode into a 5 minute orgy of total C-Movie crap, actually even added after the anyways forgettable climax of the movie (how the hell did that happen by the way?). Otherwise, we can say, that the first 2/3rd of the movie is pretty okay, not counting a few minor downers and then gradually messes up in the finale. In the end you decide weather it was worth watching or not. Though for genre fans I guess this is absolutely obligatory.

The first half of "Leviathan" is competently made and surprisingly absorbing, with strongly drawn characters and good acting all around. In the second half, the film degenerates into an "Alien" rip-off (and later on, it even steals a classic scene from "Jaws"), with derivative special effects and too many familiar elements. But it is saved (and gets 6/10) by Cosmatos' professionalism; he certainly redeems himself here for making the absolutely terrible "Cobra" three years earlier.