Event Horizon Review
by James Sanford (jasanfor AT MCI2000 DOT com)November 9th, 1998
In astronomical terms, an "event horizon" is defined as the point in the boundary of a black hole at which light or matter cannot escape being pulled in. In cinematic terms, "Event Horizon" almost immediately grabs the attention with lavish sets, first-rate special effects and an intriguing premise, only to end up chucking its careful set-up and resorting to a blood-drenched finale better-suited to a "Nightmare On Elm Street" installment. It's a classic exmplae of many admirable parts added up to an unsatisfying whole.
In its first hour, "Event" is startlingly beautiful and compelling, borrowing heavily from the influential 1977 Russian film "Solaris," in which an investigator looking into the cause of mental breakdowns among the crew of a space station finds himself haunted by images from his past.
"Event Horizon" revolves around a prototype superspaceship of that name that mysteriously vanished near Neptune in 2040. Seven years later it reappears, and Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill), the designer of the vessel, joins the mission to salvage the ship. What made the Event Horizon special was its "heart," a gravity drive that could fold time and space, allowing the craft to travel at speeds faster than light. But now, the gravity drive appears to have developed an evil mind of its own, as Weir and his teammates are terrorized by vivid hallucinations and spooked by manifestations of their own memories.
Director Paul Anderson is often heavy-handed, frequently trotting out the old false-scare-accompanied-by-a-burst-of-shrieking-music to jolt his audience. Even so, the film has some genuinely chilling moments and memorable visuals. The passageway through a revolving tunnel that looks like a giant meat-grinder is a brilliant setting, and the gravity drive itself, with its multiple rotating rings, is a thing of creepy beauty.
The impressive cast -- Laurence Fishburne, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson, etc. -- play out Philip Eisner's script without a hint of campiness or condescension, although Neill's initial restraint finally gives way to shameless hamminess.
Likewise, "Event" deteriorates in its last half-hour into a gore-drenched free-for-all, with images of Hell that seem to have been lifted directly from a Nine Inch Nails video and numerous gruesome murders and self-mutilations: One character is even forced to put out his eyes with his own thumbs. By the time Richardson is swept through the corridors of the ship on a tidal wave of blood, you'll realize that's a pretty apt metaphor for what's happened to the film itself. Once "Event Horizon" goes off-course, it never regains its bearings.
James Sanford
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