Let´s go back again 20 years in time to the year of 1997. For me personally, it was a shitty year, for personal reasons. But when it came to music and films, 1997 delivered both some really good albums, and some really good films. In fact, 1997 had some surprises, such as Gary Moore´s studio album Dark Days In Paradise. One of the best albums of his career, with everything from hard rock, blues, soul and beautiful pop songs. Stereophonics debut album Word Gets Around, turned out to be one of the best British rock pop albums of the year. This was also the year when Michael Hutchence released his last album with INXS, called Elegantly Wasted. Not their best work, but i think the album have grown over the years, to be much more appreciated now. This specific year had some really good films coming out. Just think about Con Air, L.A. Confidential, Jackie Brown, Donnie Brasco, Devil´s Advocate, and many more titles. When you have a year with titles like these ones, you know you can´t go wrong. Of course there were some really bad ones released in 1997 as well, but i have to say that from a movie perspective, 1997 was a special year. It was this year when director Paul W.S. Anderson released a science fiction film, that was a box office bomb at the time, but became a cult film in the future. I am of course talking about Event Horizon. A film that might not have been notized a lot when the film came out, but when the film went on VHS, it was clear that people started to appreciate this film. On dvd, it also found a new audience, and director Paul W.S. Anderson´s work on the film was now seen in a completely way. I remember seeing the film on dvd many years ago, since i never saw the film in cinemas. I might have seen it around the year 2002, so it is a long time ago. So, i decided to look at the film again, on a blu ray release, to see if i would appreciate the film, so many years between my last encounter with Event Horizon. The blu ray release also includes some really nice special features, so of course this got me curious as well. After 20 years, is Event Horizon a science fiction classic that a new generation should see, or would it be best if we all forget about this one and go for bigger classics ?
in 2047, a distress signal is received from the Event Horizon, a starship that disappeared during its maiden voyage to Proxima Centauri, 7 years ago. A rescue vessel named Lewis and Clark, with the team of Captain Miller ( Laurence Fishburne ), Dr. William Weir ( Sam Neil ), D.J. ( Jason Isaacs ), Smith ( Sean Pertwee ), Lieutenant Starck ( Joely Richardson ), and more passengers. is dispatched to go to Event Horizon and investigate the starship, to see if there are any survivors. As they enter the Starship, they discover that a massacre seems to have been taken place on board Event Horizon. With no clues of what happened, they are about to discover some secrets, that no one is ready for.
One thing that strikes me with Event Horizon, is that i can´t think of many films released at this time, that had the same style as this film. Sure, you can recognize certain details from other classic science fiction films, but at the same time this film seemed to have a style of it´s own. I have to say that i really appreciate the effort that director Paul W.S. Anderson have done, to make this film. The film does look a bit cheesy now 20 years later, in certain scenes. But i like the technical perspective of the space ship, the make up effects that look very different from other science fiction films around this time. The gory atmosphere is exactly what a film like this needs, and this is something you will find here in certain scenes. I also feel that lead actor Sam Neil is a good choice, as Dr. William Weir. His acting ability to do so many different characters, gives him a chance to do something different, than his pretty standard choice of genre films. Actor Laurence Fishburne is of course another great actor for a film like this. His character Captain Miller is the pretty standard boss type, who at least seems to care about the crew. The action scenes mixed with horror influences does work, except for a few details. I do think that it was a good choice, to go for a horror concept, considering the story is set on an abandoned Starship that seems to carry some secrets. Event Horizon may never be one of the great classics of the 90´s, but i feel that this is a film that still manage to deliver. The mixture of two different genres, with a good cast included, and a vision from a director who was on his way in Hollywood, shows that Event Horizon was a project that should have been seen by a larger audience. If you love films such as the Alien franchise, you might enjoy Event Horizon for trying something different within sci fi horror. Even if the CGI may not be top quality, and some of the dialogue may not be very good, i still see this film as a bit of a cult classic. Not one of the best films of director Paul W.S. Anderson, but considering he did this film after Mortal Kombat, you can tell he really wanted to do something much more complicated. Event Horizon may be 20 years old, but that does not affect the entertainment value of the film. I suggest you get the blu ray, and experience the film in the right way, with great picture and great sound.
Rating: DDD
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