reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/05/84)
*Some spoiler material*
"The Philadelphia Experiment" is a new science fiction film from New World
Pictures (whose logo looks like AT&T's, rotated and in a different color).
New World used to be Roger Corman's company, he of beach blanket movies,
Hell's Angels opera (the plural of opus; sure suprised *me* when I looked
it up), and Vincent Price/Edgar Allen Poe horror films. Well, New World is
trying to go a little bit more legitimate, so "The Philadelphia Experiment"
looks more like a typical Hollywood studio film. Too bad. It could have used
a little energy, however sleazy.
The story takes as its starting point some apparently actual experiments
made by the US Navy during WWII. The idea was to make ships radar invisible.
According to rumor, something went disastrously wrong, and the experiment
was abandoned (something about a ship really disappearing...). The film
assumes that what happened involved a time warp which throws a couple of
sailors into 1984, where the same scientist who ran the first experiments
is running another set. He's opened some kind of void which spits the
sailors out, sucks a town in, and is on the way to eating the entire world.
Something Must Be Done.
Well, one of the sailors is the film's stars, Michael Pare. He and his
buddy, Bobby Di Cicco, are initially confused, then frightened, since
ham-handed MPs seem more intent on killing them than capturing them. They
kidnap Nancy Allen (veteran of seemingly countless Brian DePalma films),
who falls in love with Pare. Di Cicco is sucked back to the fourties, and
Pare must choose between his love for Allen or saving the world. (How many
of you really believe he can't get both?)
It's not entirely clear why anyone bothered to make "The Philadelphia
Experiment". There's nothing truely wrong with it, but it doesn't seem
to excite any of the participants. Pare has a couple of good moments.
Director Stewart Raffill actually manages to do something interesting
with a car chase scene. Other than that, there is nothing much there. The
special effects run heavily to lowering clouds and lightning, with the
occasional pyrotechnics and a plagiarized light show. They are
functional, but not special. Unless you're a completest, or find Pare
irresistable, this would be a good film to catch up with on cable.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!reiher