Behemoth
- “any creature or thing of monstrous size or power”
The thing IN the film, sure. The film
itself, perhaps not.
Behemoth is a TV film that premiered on
SyFy in 2011. The same year and channel that bought us, well, not
much. I guess 2011 wasn't their year for premieres. Generally
speaking, I'm a big fan of what SyFy airs, but this wasn't their best
effort.
Behemoth is all about an ancient
creature that was laying dormant under the Earth's surface but for an
unknown reason woke up and decided to cause panic in a small town at
the foot of a dormant volcano by creating earthquakes, tremors and
the like.
Throughout the film, we are granted
with a simple storyline (the volcano looks like it's about to blow!
UT OH!), some glaringly bad special effects, a few instances of
overacting, and plenty of exaggerated screams. Personally, I think
this would have been better suited to a series (or even mini-series),
as there was plenty to expand on – the CO2 clouds, the submerged
diner, the Smoking Man's theories --- Yes, the Smoking Man from the
X-Files is in this ---, some kind of explanation about the weapon. I
get that there was supposed to be a sense of urgency, but what I was
watching was far too laid back for something that could destroy the
world at any given moment. I wasn't drawn in to the story, couldn’t'
relate or form a bond with any of the characters, and found I could
concentrate while doing other things. To me, these are the things you
need to get right for a successful film. There was a good idea behind
the scenes, but the execution was lackluster. Aside from the
aforementioned screaming, the acting wasn't that bad, and I expect Ed
Quinn to go on to bigger and brighter things.
Something to have on in the background
while... I don't know... doing the ironing or something. 2 volcanoes out of 5
