The Black Hole

Yes The Black Hole may have some silly dialogue and uneven acting, excepting Maximillian Schnell who is absolutely brilliant, but it is a very underrated film in my opinion. I love the story, it was an intriguing idea and it was compelling and moved at a good pace. The ending is wonderfully haunting and surreal, the direction is secure and the film's villain is one of the memorable ones I have seen in a while, twisted, tormented yet with a touch of humanity about him too. I did connect to the characters, yes even VINCENT and BOB. But what makes The Black Hole are the production values and music. The special effects, cinematography, design of the robots and set/scenery design are absolutely breathtaking and the score from the late legendary John Barry compliments the film perfectly. All in all, a very underrated film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Despite being almost universally labeled as a failure, The Black Hole is actually not that bad. Not bad at all. The film is generally pleasing to the eye, fairly well-paced, and touches on some interesting issues. The film is hamstrung however by the fact that it is still a Disney film (despite the PG rating) and it therefore has to pander to the kiddies too much.

The story centers around a small spaceship (the Palomino) and her crew who are charting the deepest depths of space in the search for new life. Early on, they come across a giant Black Hole and notice a long-lost ship (the Cygnus) which seems to be parked right by it. The ship appears to be empty until closer inspection reveals it to be full of robots, humanoids made up of the old crew, and a mad scientist type of guy in charge of it all. He plans to take his ship through the Black Hole to see what wonders are beyond it. Needless to say, most of the Palomino's crew can tell what a nut this guy is, and they try to escape before he can take them with him. The story is paced by numerous shoot-outs between our heroes and the robotic army controlled by this lunatic. And what would the film have been without someone going through the black hole? Everyone ends up going through, and what they find might surprise you.

The film has some definite strengths. The film is visually impressive considering how much of it was created with matte paintings and lesser f/x. The ships are particularly nice to look at. There are some truly memorable shots, such as the crew scurrying out of the way as a gigantic meteorite comes rolling after them. Outer space looks very detailed, and the object of record is always spinning away in the background as the cast recites grandiose lines about it. The sound effects are also top-drawer.

There are some considerable faults, however. There are more than a few times where you can clearly see wires holding things up (particularly the robots) that should be floating on their own. This is particularly obvious on the DVD. The acting is passable at best with Schell coming off as the best simply because his character is so charismatic. The robots look like a rip-off from the Star Wars films, and are given cutesy Disney-like things to do and say.

The ending is somewhat intellectual and even dark, considering this is a movie ostensibly made for kids. We are treated to a pretty cool-looking vision of hell where our mad scientist has presumably been sent. As far as what happens to the crew of the Palomino, we can only speculate, but we have a pretty good idea. Small children are bound to be left with numerous questions for mommy and daddy, and their parents may have some difficulty explaining what they've just seen. That may be the biggest problem with The Black Hole. There are some deeper issues that are worth studying, but they get glossed over by the "kiddie" elements of the plot. The film tries to please two audiences, but may not have pleased enough people in the end.

At $18,000,000, this film had a considerable price tag for back then. It failed to make that back in theaters, but the market for home-viewing has more than made up this shortfall since then.

The verdict: 6 of 10 stars. The film is worth seeing, but it falls considerably short of the greatness its makers had in mind.

The Hound has spoken.

Although this movie is quite a cheesy, very 70's, science fiction movie, I have found it watchable. The plotline was pretty good, but the aspect of the movie that intrigued me the most was the film direction. When they were going through the black hole and were hearing all those wierd voices, that was dramatic. My favorite part of the movie is when Dr. Hans Reinhart is in the black hole (I think)and goes in the robot shell and the scan over his eyes, then zoom out and just show him standing on that ledge, as if he was taking a step back and looking at what was happening or what would become of him. I would recommend this movie to people who have never even dared to watch a science fiction movie, or people who LOVE dramatic filming techniques.

Not only is The Black Hole beautifully made from a technical aspect, it has marvelous performances. Robert Forester (Jackie Brown), Anthony Perkins (Psycho), Ernest Borgnine, Maximillian Schell. It does get a little campy but it is a Disney movie after all and it can be forgiven its attempts at comic relief. This is a very unlikely sort of film for Disney, were it made today it would have been made under the Miramax header rather than Disney, and like another unlikely Disney film, Tron, it is tragically underrated. The special effects and set design are breathtaking, but it is the script which is the best part. The ending is one of the most surreal and haunting in any science fiction film (and especially bold for a Disney film) The characterizations are wonderful and the robots, especially Maximillian (in my book the greatest cinematic robotic villain to date), are unforgettable.

I first saw the Black Hole when I was in college and I remembered just enough to know that I liked it. Others here have commented on the movie in great enough detail, I can only say,"Lighten Up!" Sure the effects are not perfect but they really are pretty good. The acting is acceptable, not oscar level but then neither is the script that they were given to work with. Many of the events depicted are not plausible, but how many movies really are? (Even non SF ones) The Black Hole is in some ways Captain Nemo in space. The Elizabethan structure of the ship in particular. Also Reinhart and Nemo are similar characters. However, Nemo is not truly a villain. His crew is composed of volunteers and they are very loyal to him whereas Reinhart must lobotomize his crew to retain their services. Reinhart cares for no one but himself, but Nemo was concerned, though grudgingly, for the welfare of even his prisoners. In short, Nemo is a sympathetic character, Reinhart is not. This brings me to the point of my review. The mood of this movie is what really makes or breaks it. I must credit my sister for defining it for me because I could not find the right word. The word is CREEPY! There is a feeling of forboding that builds untill the action sequences are finished and our heroes enter the black hole. After that it is just intensely weird and CREEPY. Having not seen this movie for twenty years and remembering only the cool effects and robots I allowed my 5 year old to watch it. Big mistake! He was afraid to go to sleep, and it bothered him for about a week. This kid has handled action and SF movies OK before, although I do not let him watch the more violent or intense stuff. This movie is intense! Star wars did not bother him at all, but the Black Hole . . . Parents of small children beware! The Black Hole is CREEPY!