Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Leviathan Blu-ray Movie Review

It's got you under your skin.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 19, 2014

Film nerds (and you know who you are) may still argue about whether Howard Hawks or Christian Nyby really directed 1951’s epochal The Thing From Another World, but whoever was responsible for the film, there’s little doubt that its reliance upon an isolated group of people struggling to deal with some kind of rampaging mutant seemingly singlehandedly created a new subgenre within the ranks of horror outings. There’s no point in trying to deny similarities between The Thing (as its title has regularly been shorthanded) and 1989’s Leviathan, but there’s also no denying that Leviathan is, much like its mutating and morphing monster, a bit of a “casserole” itself, cobbled together from various bits and pieces of other horror films. If The Thing is merely the most noticeable of them, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the only one. Oddly, there must have been something in the water in 1989, or perhaps more accurately, there must have been three things in the water, for Leviathan found itself sandwiched in between two other underwater epics that also came out that year, the decidedly lo-fi Deepstar Six and James Cameron’s The Abyss. (There were actually a few other "all wet" films that appeared that year, but these three are the biggest.) That “middle ground” might also attend to the film’s general quality in terms of this kind of odd little triptych. Leviathan is certainly better scripted and produced than Deepstar Six, but it doesn’t have the impressive overall demeanor of The Abyss. That said, it also doesn’t have the narrative lethargy and high-falutin’ tone of Cameron’s film. Leviathan is in fact kind of a throwback to B-movie drive-in fare of yore, a silly but decently scary thrill ride that has no pretensions about itself, and certainly no untoward ambitions to provide anything other than pure escapism (and the occasional adrenaline rush).

Leviathan may in fact be unfairly pilloried for being less accomplished than it actually is. While the film is undeniably derivative, mixing in elements not just from The Thing but other scary monster movies like Alien, production values are generally quite high and the cast is certainly colorful and game. Peter Weller stars as Steven Beck, the crew chief on a submerged operation that is attempting mine precious metals out of the sea floor. Beck is in charge of the typically motley crew of underlings, including boorish “Sixpack” (Daniel Stern), who thinks there’s nothing funnier than hiding a mutant sea crab in his pressure suit so that comely “Willie” Williams (Amanda Pays) can find it and temporarily freak out. There’s also the grizzled if generally genial Cobb (Hector Elizondo), serious minded Justin Jones (Ernie Hudson), and the somewhat volatile DeJesus (Michael Carmine), whose lack of oxygen and potential suit depressurization gets the film off to a rousing start. The final working crew member is the other female, Bowman (Lisa Eilbacher). The final non-working crew member is the crew’s doctor, Gene Thompson (Richard Crenna), a man whose extracurricular activities keeps him from attending to DeJesus in the exciting opening sequence.

The film is also decently written, even if several of the characters could just as well have entered the picture wearing Star Trek “red shirts”. But there’s also some smart plotting here, starting with the fact that many horror fans will assume that it’s that errant sea crab that’s going to be the cause of all the trouble, when it turns out to be something else entirely. And without posting any real potential spoilers, it’s a fun play on the typical “alien” invader that actually sets the monster motif into motion here—Man turns out to be the ultimate beast, with his attempts to play God with regard to genetic mutation leading to disaster. (In this aspect, Leviathan oddly recalls another beast called from the depths of the sea by Man’s scientific pursuits, Godzilla.)

Leviathan starts out a bit slowly, but really starts to pick up steam once two crew members are afllicted with—well, something bad. Then it’s a race to see who will survive and how in fact a monster which has the ability to morph incessantly can be dealt with. Only in the film’s patently silly coda do things go seriously awry, with too many late developing traumas that are maybe meant to be funny, but which simply come off as lame brained and needless. The film is bolstered by a really excellent score by Jerry Goldsmith, as well as some winning creature effects courtesy of the famed Stan Winston. Some may feel Leviathan is simply all wet, but for those looking for simple popcorn pleasures, this unassuming film actually manages to stay afloat almost all of the time.

Leviathan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Leviathan is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory (an imprint of Shout! Factory) with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. An understanding of the film's production gambits is probably necessary to fully appreciate the image quality. Nothing (or at least not much) was actually filmed underwater. Instead a special stage was built and scenes were shot overcranked, so that they are in just slight slow motion, giving the indication that the workers are struggling against the water. A heavy blue filter was utilized and little bits of debris were blown through the stage to imitate floating objects. Therefore, it's understandable that the "underwater" sequences lack much in the way of sharpness or clarity and in fact very little in the way of detail, let alone fine detail. However, scenes in the interior of the underground control center often look surprisingly good, with nicely saturated and accurate looking color. There are no signs of problematic noise reduction or sharpening here, and the best news is that there are no compression artifacts, even in the dank "underwater" segments.

Leviathan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Leviathan features two lossless audio options, DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. There's a bit of a tradeoff here, for the 5.1 track is certainly much more aggressive in the lower frequencies, offering some fantastic LFE as well as some well placed foley effects in the surrounds that tend to be in the lower ranges. Jerry Goldsmith's score is also opened up in the 5.1 iteration. That said, there's a bit of a focus problem in the 5.1 mix, with dialogue getting slightly buried at times. While obviously narrower, the prioritization in the 2.0 mix may therefore be preferable to some listeners. Fidelity is excellent on both of these tracks, and dynamic range is very wide.

Leviathan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Leviathan - Monster Melting Pot (1080p; 40:26) is an absolutely first rate piece featuring interviews with some of the special effects creators, all of whom were working for the late Stan Winston at the time. Winston was apparently not the easiest guy to work for, and there are some really fun anecdotes relayed here. Even those who don't care for Leviathan will probably get a kick out of this featurette.


• Dissecting Cobb with Hector Elizondo (1080p; 12:35) is a fun interview with Elizondo, who shares some reminiscences about the shoot.


• Surviving Leviathan with Ernie Hudson (1080p; 15:01) is a little less enjoyable than the Elizondo interview, but will appeal to Hudson fans. Hudson might want to bone up on his Italian pronunciation, especially with regard to Cinecitta.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:51) gives away several key plot points in about the first two seconds.

Leviathan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Leviathan doesn't have any pretensions to be anything grander than what it is, a good, old fashioned monster movie. That alone sets it apart from at least one other of its 1989 underwater kin, James Cameron's enjoyable but bloated The Abyss. Why Leviathan has come in for such a critical drubbing is a bit surprising to me, for it's consistently enjoyable and entertaining, and it certainly provides at least a couple of great scares. This new Blu-ray has solid technical merits and the longest of the supplements is absolutely outstanding. Recommended.