Watching this 1979 Sci-Fi flick, the power of The Black Hole is obvious becuase it's sucked the talent out of all the actors & the writers.
Disney's attempt to capitalize on the Star Wars craze that exploded in 1977 throws a LOT of money at the screen, but other than some strong visuals, not much sticks.
Of the cast, only Maximillian Schell and Ernest Borgnine come off well. It should be film law that when Ernest Borgnine comes off as the least over-acting member of your cast, you have issues. Anthony Perkins basically brings Norman Bates to space, personal fave Robert Forster comes off very flat, Yvette Mimieux over emotes every line like its Armageddon and Joseph Bottoms is truly horrible. In all fairness to the players, the screenplay is pretty bad. No one talks like these people do and it is laugh out loud funny more than once at the worst moments. The black hole effects are very good, as is John Barry's music score but this huge financial bomb for Disney is really a confused mess. The last 5 minutes is like some Dante's Inferno/Brainstorm mashup that just arrived from another flick.
And one quick question writers, when you are millions of miles in deep space and a meteor smashes through the ship, wouldn't everyone die instantly? I guess they can run around for about seven minutes and just get some ice in their hair; who knew? Through the entire movie, the Black Hole sits there in the background, waiting for something to happen. It wasn't the only one......
The Black Hole sucks up a D.
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