Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, Richard T. Jones, Jack
Noseworthy, Jason Isaacs, Sean Pertwee
Director: Paul Anderson
Producers: Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin, and Jeremy Bolt
Screenplay: Philip Eisner
Cinematography: Adrian Biddle
Music: Michael Kamen
U.S. Distributor: Paramount Pictures
I went into Event Horizon expecting an Alien clone. However, although this film has successfully recaptured some of the look and claustrophobic feel of Ridley Scott's science fiction classic, that's where the similarity ends. Because, while Alien was tautly paced and deftly scripted, Event Horizon is a mess. This is one of the most chaotic movies that I have seen since 1996's nearly-incomprehensible Mission: Impossible. Half of what's going on is never explained, and what is explained, doesn't make much sense. And that's just the beginning of the problems encountered in director Paul Anderson's (Mortal Kombat) poorly executed endeavor…
August is traditionally the month when studios dump their least-attractive summer prospects into the market, so Event Horizon has plenty of company. This is the kind of motion picture that would be killed in a direct competition against a Lost World or Contact, but stands a chance against such second-rate opponents as Spawn and Mimic. And, because the film is extremely light on intelligent dialogue and heavy on gore-laden action and superficial shocks, it should play well in a dubbed version overseas, so the producers have a chance to make back their money.
Event Horizon takes us to the year 2047 and onto the deep space rescue craft Lewis & Clark as it departs from Earth orbit on a two-month journey to Neptune. On board are the usual suspects, a group of outer space military veterans: Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne) and crewmembers Starck (Joely Richardson), Peters (Kathleen Quinlan), Cooper (Richard T. Jones), Justin (Jack Noseworthy), D.J. (Jason Isaacs), and Smith (Sean Pertwee). There's also the mysterious and elusive Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), who's the only one aware of what's truly going on.
The primary mission of the Lewis & Clark is to go into a low orbit around Neptune and make contact with the deep space research vessel Event Horizon, which was initially thought destroyed seven years ago. The would-be rescuers are to search for survivors and salvage anything that's reclaimable, but no one is prepared for the horror that lurks deep within the dark corridors of the dead ship. The crew of the Event Horizon may have had their innards splattered over the bulkheads, but something aboard the ship is very much alive.
Sadly, despite what seems to be a promising premise (a haunted house in space), Event Horizon misfires badly. Those who thought the minor technical slip-ups in Contact were egregious will be floored by the slipshod "science" embraced by this film, where "miniature black holes" are created with little effort and ships are sucked through singularities without even the slightest bit of gravity distortion. When it comes to labeling Event Horizon as a science fiction film, put the emphasis heavily on the "fiction" portion of the term.
For movies like this to work, we have to develop a rooting interest in at least one member of the crew, otherwise the film becomes a pointless exercise in watching men and women get cut down one-by-one. Alien was effective because we cared about Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. Here, however, none of the characters are remotely sympathetic or interesting. They're a bunch of familiar types thrown onto the screen, most of whom have neither past nor future. We are given some background information about a few of these individuals (one lost a wife, another has a son she left back on Earth, and another made a tragic command decision that cost a life), but it's hardly enough to flesh them out. Even a solid actor like Laurence Fishburne (Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It?) can't rescue such a poorly-developed character. The likes of Joely Richardson (the live-action 101 Dalmatians), Kathleen Quinlan (Breakdown), and Sean Pertwee (the son of the third Dr. Who, Jon Pertwee) blend into the background. Sam Neill manages to develop the semblance of a personality, but that's because he's given a little more to work with than the others. The most memorable performance belongs to Richard T. Jones (The Trigger Effect), whose eccentric Cooper provides most of the comic relief.
There are a few means by which it's possible to relieve the tedium of sitting through a screening of Event Horizon. The first is to identify rip-offs of other horror and dark science fiction films (most notably The Exorcist, The Shining, and the Alien series). The second is to count the number of times that the film uses a nightmare sequence to "shock" us (with a plot device as overused as this one, even once would seem to be too much). Another possibility would be to start a betting pool for which of the cardboard cut-out characters will die first. (Note: blood gushing out of certain orifices does not count as "dead" unless the heart stops pumping.) The bottom line is that Event Horizon isn't particularly effective as a horror, adventure, or science fiction film, and, to enjoy it, you're going to have to resort to something more creative than sitting passively in your seat and absorbing the atmospheric confusion that transpires on screen.
© 1997 James Berardinelli