Disney's 1979 space opera The Black Hole was born out of the great science fiction boom of the late 70's and early '80's. While having a massive budget, it didn't receive the acclaim that movies The Empire Strike Back or Alien received. It's not much liked and hasn't gained in cult status, unlike its peer Flash Gordon. But, like that 8 year old kid, I still love it.
Intrepid astronauts encounter a lost, presumed destroyed spaceship The Cygnus, near a black hole. The spaceship is run by a mad scientist Dr Hans Reinhart, and his army of robots. Reinhart goes bonkers when the astronauts discover the robots are the zombified remains of his original crew. He then drives The Cynus straight into the black hole. Nutter.
On the downside, Gary Nelson's direction is static and unexciting. He just plonks the camera down for a wide shot and lets things play out. There's an uneasy mix of genres at play here; the serious science fiction mystery-thriller, the Star Wars style shoot-em-up, and the cute robots Vincent and Old Bob with their adorable, cartoony Disney eyes.
Fortunately, the serious tone pervades, meaning the grimmer the dilemma for the characters...the more we care. The true test of that is that moment in the film you know is going to happen, yet you wish for a different outcome (like when cowardly Borgnine flees in The Palomino). When the action eventually hits in the second half the set-pieces, while lacking in dynamism, produces some big-scale, disaster movie obstacles to overcome. The standout sequence is when the meteor breaches the main corridor of the ship (which is bizarre as non of the air escapes...yet in the previous sequence the good guys struggle to escape the vacuum of space!)
The casting is schizophrenic. Robert Forester, Yvette Mimieux, Joseph Bottoms and a comatose Anthony Perkins are practically sleepwalking. On the other hand, Maximillian Schell is bonkers as Reinhart, Borgnine his cheerfully grouchy self and the uncredited Slim Pickins and Roddy McDowell liven things up as the heroic robots.
In the wake of Star Wars, Disney were clearly trying to compete in the spectacle stakes, and it's here the film shines. The production design of The Cygnus is glorious...all girders, glass and cavernous spaces. The effects too are great...a little grainy and muddy perhaps, but the star fields are refreshingly dense and the model work detailed and complex. John Barry provides a fantastically noble and epic music score, much better than the Bond stuff he was doing at the time.
For such a fun film, aimed at the kids as the cute robots suggest, it's weird for a bizarrely philosophical, 2001 style ending to be tagged on the movie. Perhaps it had loftier ambitions before Disney executives dragged it down to teen-town? Perhaps escaping into The Black Hole wasn't deemed climactic enough. Either way it's baffling and confusing...for adults; forget about the poor tykes watching. I think the main character arc goes to the baddie in this. Maybe the ending is suggesting that Reinhart will burn in hell...yet part of him is redeemed as his genius allows the good guys to survive.
Either way, it's an intriguing ending to a cool Star Wars rip off.
1 comment:
I've never really cared for this one too much. I've always found it too dull, unexciting and just not very interesting with cast who look like they are mostly asleep.
Unlike the great Flash Gordon, which has a vibrant, fun and (deliberately) camp approach and is just bursting with top actors hamming it up (ok, NOT Sam Jones), The Black Hole just feels empty and lifeless. A dull, hollow cash-in by Disney on the Star Wars craze. Yes, the FX are mostly good and the design of the Cygnus and the robots - especially Maximillian - are great, but that's about it.
Oh yeah, I did really like those tandem lasers too. They were cool!
Post a Comment