Lack of original ideas seems to be the greatest problem of modern Hollywood. But original ideas alone can't save some Hollywood films - when Hollywood have one of those ideas, its film makers often leave impression that they don't know what to do with it. Event Horizon, 1997 science fiction horror film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson is one of those films that can perfectly illustrate my point.
The plot is set in year 2047. Seven years ago "Event Horizon", experimental space ship equipped with revolutionary inter-stellar drive, has mysteriously disappeared beyond the orbit of Neptune. After distress call is received, it turns out that "Event Horizon" has mysteriously reappeared. "Lewis & Clarke", search and rescue ship, is sent to investigate and pick up eventual survivors, and its crew, led by Captain Miller (played by Laurence Fishburne) reluctantly takes Dr. Weir (played by Sam Neill), doomed ship's original designer, on ship. When Miller's men finally get on board "Event Horizon", it turns out that they don't have anyone to rescue - the crew of "Event Horizon" is little pieces. It also appear that "Event Horizon" has picked up someone or something on its last voyage, because Miller's crew begins suffering from nasty hallucinations and quick return home becomes increasingly attractive option.
Event Horizon had intriguing concept based on "hard" science fiction (the title is borrowed from astrophysics terminology). It also had very talented cast and significant amounts of money were spent on special effects, costumes and production design. Unfortunately, just like in many similar occasions, word "science fiction" was in the end nothing more than a cheap excuse for uninspired and predictable horror where "cool" special and make-up effects are supposed to be more attractive or interesting than plot, characters and scientific issues. With characters we don't particularly care for (and whose final fate could easily be predicted), with all plausibility and "science" being thrown out of window and with sad realisation that vast number of talents and creative resources have been tragically wasted, it isn't hard to understand why Event Horizon ended up in a black hole of oblivion.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on November 20th 2003)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/8413-event-horizon Critic: A
