Juggernaut
1974
The Cast
On paper, this film should not be as monotonously sleep-inducing as it actually is. That isn't the roar of the engines or the crashing of the waves against the ships hull you hear... it's the audiences snoring...
The story tells the tale of two courageous men... bomb disposal technicians. Who have to cope with, not just one, but several cleverly constructed devices onboard a cruise liner. This should, in itself, bring in a multitude of ways to create an interesting film. Tension, suspense, panic, and fear at the very least. Well, no! The very least appears to be a total disappearance of these elements. The way most of the movie is filmed is in such a fashion to hinder these feelings untenable. For example, the scene where the heroes board the ship. This should have been one exciting moment as the ship is in rough seas and the men are parachuting in from a plane... wasn't a helicopter available(?) Of course one of them ends up in the sea and has to clamber onto a rope to survive. However, this is rendered boring by bad editing and worse filming as the scene is shot from a distance and the sea spray renders the shot near impossible to view. There are a lot of distance shots throughout. This, at times - though not always, adds interesting camera viewpoints... however, there's usually very little happening in these instances; a man walking through an office, a group of passengers dancing, a man walking through a bank, etc... I believe the director was going for a realistic approach but on the whole, realism is boring. I want my films to invigorate me, at least a little. Take the ballroom scene when all the passengers are informed of the explosive predicament they are in. Do they panic? Do they get anxious and upset? Do tempers and attitudes start to flair? No, they just mope about; evidently, the pay for extra's was non-existent after paying for the good cast. I've never seen a group look so bored. So much for striking terror into the hearts of people!
Even the actors appear to suffer from the same malignity of dullness as their characters often appear two dimensional and flat. The worst is Omar Sharif who's rendition of Captain Alex Brunel is so laid back and paper-thin he's almost not there. Poor Old Roy Kinnear is just annoying as the Social Director of the cruise. His jokes are worse than bad and his delivery is terrible. The only thing funny is his name, Curtain - a good name for a person who arranges the entertainment; though I do wish they'd dropped the curtain at the start of this disastrous movie.
Not even the likes of Richard Harris, David Hemmings, Anthony Hopkins, and Ian Holm can lift this out off the doldrums... at times, Ian Holm looks as if he could join the audience for a snooze. The best actor in the whole film, who actually adds an engaging spark, is Freddie Jones as Sidney Buckland. If only the rest of the cast and characters were as appealing. However, one character in a busload is too little... and he's not even a major character.
There are much better films of this ilk out there so I'd recommend you check out one of them rather than this film.
I give this a Juggernaut Of A Disastrous 3.75 out of 10.
The Trailer
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