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That's what Dr. Glen Thompson (Richard Crenna), a self-proclaimed polyglot, replies to Beck (Peter Weller) as they ponder about the possibilities and consequences of genetic alteration as they are being hunted by a deadly mutant creature. But the truth is that the quote is made up (at least the "confucius" part), a clear sign of the amount of effort that the screenwriters of this creature feature were willing to give to their script, which amounts to "perhilum" (very little, took me 20 seconds to Google that).
Leviathan follows an underwater mining crew led by Beck. When they stumble upon a Soviet shipwreck carrying the creature, they start being hunted and killed by it. The crew includes Dr. Thompson, wannabe astronaut Willie (Amanda Pays), and a bunch of other body bags for the creature to consume (most notably Daniel Stern and Ernie Hudson).
Like its "predecessor", DeepStar Six, which follows a similar story and similar beats, Leviathan is plagued by a certain laziness and lack of effort from its screenwriters. Which is surprising, cause one of them co-wrote Die Hard and the other one co-wrote Blade Runner. But here? they just don't seem to care and borrow a lot from The Thing and Alien, and a bit from Jaws and Aliens, usually to the point of eye-rolling obviousness.
The film does have some decent production values, and the performances are not awful, but there's a predictability and a sense of "been there, done that" to the whole story that pretty much hinders any thrill it might hold. That said, I would give it slight edge over DeepStar Six only because the initial conflicts between the crew, particularly Beck's insecurities as a leader, were more interesting... even if they do nothing with it afterwards.
Grade:
LEVIATHAN
(1989, Cosmatos)
A film with a title that starts with the letters K or L
(1989, Cosmatos)
A film with a title that starts with the letters K or L
"Natura non confucius. Loosely translated: 'don't fu¢k with Mother Nature'."
That's what Dr. Glen Thompson (Richard Crenna), a self-proclaimed polyglot, replies to Beck (Peter Weller) as they ponder about the possibilities and consequences of genetic alteration as they are being hunted by a deadly mutant creature. But the truth is that the quote is made up (at least the "confucius" part), a clear sign of the amount of effort that the screenwriters of this creature feature were willing to give to their script, which amounts to "perhilum" (very little, took me 20 seconds to Google that).
Leviathan follows an underwater mining crew led by Beck. When they stumble upon a Soviet shipwreck carrying the creature, they start being hunted and killed by it. The crew includes Dr. Thompson, wannabe astronaut Willie (Amanda Pays), and a bunch of other body bags for the creature to consume (most notably Daniel Stern and Ernie Hudson).
Like its "predecessor", DeepStar Six, which follows a similar story and similar beats, Leviathan is plagued by a certain laziness and lack of effort from its screenwriters. Which is surprising, cause one of them co-wrote Die Hard and the other one co-wrote Blade Runner. But here? they just don't seem to care and borrow a lot from The Thing and Alien, and a bit from Jaws and Aliens, usually to the point of eye-rolling obviousness.
The film does have some decent production values, and the performances are not awful, but there's a predictability and a sense of "been there, done that" to the whole story that pretty much hinders any thrill it might hold. That said, I would give it slight edge over DeepStar Six only because the initial conflicts between the crew, particularly Beck's insecurities as a leader, were more interesting... even if they do nothing with it afterwards.
Grade: