Official Score = 1 1/2 Devils[/caption]On The Sci-Fi Channel (Now I believe it is called, ‘Syfy’) but there is this continuing series of Movies/TV Shows that deal with certain elements of Science (and more directly Science Fiction) that generally tend to be quite entertaining!
One show on this network generally tended to do with a town that is comprised primarily of the world’s most smartest people, and the hilarious consequences of their sometimes, dangerous and oft times strange inventions! This show, is the show that we all know and love, ‘Eureka’
Now that show is an awful lot of fun and frequently quite hilarious (usually because it takes the Sheriff (who is the dumbest person in town) and his friends to resolve whatever problems that the smart people have created!
There is another side to the Science Fiction on that channel, and that is more well-known it seems like in the filmaking community, and that is the movies that Syfy has made!
Now I know that not everyone agrees with this concept (I know I don’t totally agree with this) but Syfy has been known to make these sometimes bizarre but also oft times fun end of the world style doomsday scenario movies that usually puts the, ‘hero’ or the, ‘heroes’ as the soul people fighting against the big bad group that is un wittingly about to destroy the world, or they are the only ones capable of salvaging what is left of humanity!
Now I personally think that at least part of the reason why people think that these movies are bad, is because frequently they are well funded, with great special effects, a great cast, oft times are directed real nicely, and they even have been known to have some fun cinematography… The only problem is, is that not all of these movies are great, and it does seem rather odd that most of these movies generally tend not to make it to Blu-Ray or DVD!
You might be wondering why I am mentioning this… Well simply put, the movie that I am reviewing here actually seems very much like a movie that people could have first scene on the Syfy channel called, The Void (2001)
Written by: Geri Cudia Barger (Powerplay), and Directed by: Gilbert M. Shilton. Starring Adrian Paul (Highlander: The TV Series), Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG1), Malcolm McDowell (Halloween), Kirsten Robek (Tempbot), Roger R. Cross (X2), Michael Rivken (The Cable Guy).
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Professor Steven Price (Adrian Paul) & Professor Eva Soderstrom (Amanda Tapping) in, 'The Void' (2001)![/caption]Now one of the prevailing theories that I have heard in the limited number of Science circles that I have been able to hang out with, and this theory has definitely been a long standing theme in Science Fiction movies and TV shows, is the idea that if you use a particle accelerator to create a black hole, that if even the slightest hint of anything goes wrong, that it could end up destroying the planet!
A truly fascinating concept for a great Science Fiction movie right?
Well, The Void tells the story of how a greedy old man (McDowell), whom 8 years earlier had tried to generate a stable black hole, ended up destroying an entire complex and killing dozens of people!
Well 8 years later, this guy is now dying of cancer, and the Earth is quickly running out of energy… Well he decides to try again, only this time though, the woman (Tapping) who is the daughter of one of the projects managers at the old test site, ends up convincing her boyfriend (Paul) to help her save the world, stop this man who is trying to start the project again (and which is destined to fail again), before this project and its leader kill even more people!
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Eva Soderstrom with Dr. Thomas Abernathy (Malcolm McDowell) as they work to resolve, 'The Void'![/caption]In the end, I do think this movie is a fun one, but the cinematography techniques used in making this film were so bad and disjointed (at certain times they use slow motion on the camera, and jerky almost stop motion cinematography so much, that at some points Ms. Tapping actually looks like a character from a video game), all in all it heavily detracts from the quality of the film, but if you can get past that aspect of it, it is actually pretty fun!
