Terribly Fun Films
Behemoth Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.
This is an interesting way to kill three birds at once- “Behemoth” is a part of the Maneater series, twas made for Syfy channel, and is a giant monster movie; yes, it is all these things. But, can it balance all three things well enough to be enjoyable? Read on to find out!
The plot is an odd mix of typical disaster movie and rampaging monster-
When the inactive volcano Mount Lincoln starts registering increasingly large tremors, several people working on the mountain are killed. Foreman Thomas (Ed Quinn) goes to tell the family of one of the tragically killed workers. While in town he bumps into old friend Emily (Pascale Hutton), who is back in Colorado to study the volcano. Teaming up with Agent Murray (Ty Olsson), the trio discover that maybe Thomas’s seemingly crazy father, William (William B. Davis), isn’t so nuts after all, as everything happening is due to a monster in the Earth’s core breaking free- a monster that lives in the entire Earth’s crust!
Until the hour mark, or so, this seems much more like a run-of-the-mill disaster story, with the only monsters coming into play when William brings them up (thus his presumed insanity). I imagine this could be frustrating for movie fans, especially if they are watching it for the kaiju action; but it still contains more monster action than Gareth Edwards’s flaming suck pile of filth (aka “Godzilla 2014”). Luckily, the script, while goofy- I mean, we are dealing with a world-spanning monster- the dialogue does a good job of balancing tone, and making everything seem realistic. Screenwriter Rachelle S. Howie, who also wrote the amazing “Earth’s Final Hours”, has a knack for making the highly illogical seem plausible, so kudos to her. Also, there aren’t many plotholes, as everything is kept very tight, storywise. Ascension also might be the most believable small town I have seen in a movie like this- small enough to be able to bump into old friends, but not so small where everyone knows everyone, etc. It feels like the town I moved to after Seoul.
This isn’t an overly ambitious movie, but that’s a good thing here. It focuses on doing its thing, and doing it well. W.D. Hogan’s direction (also of “Earth’s Final Hours” and the even more awesome “Independence Daysaster”) keeps things chugging along nicely, with little to excise, as every scene adds something important. There’s also a rather cool cinematography trick going on throughout the movie, very reminiscent of “12 Angry Men”. The opening tremor is filmed fairly close to the characters. But with the increasing destruction, and the emergence of the behemoth, the film opens up- the quake that destroys the cafe is filmed wider than the attack on the newly engaged couple on the mountain. While this was probably more of a happy accident, as the destruction gets bigger and bigger, it works to help build towards the reveal of the monster.
Anthony C. Metchie also made sure his camera picked up a lot of the lush mountain scenery, as the movie is steeped in beautiful landscape shots. Christopher Smith’s editing is proficient, and keeps the pace, but some of the action beats are too choppy to really follow properly.
Ed Quinn is good, if not exactly memorable. He doesn’t seem to convey the proper urgency or awe-struckness at the end, that could have really sold the character. However, his interactions with Davis are fun (*to note- Quinn has been much better in other films, including “12 Disasters” and “Werewolf: The Beast Among Us”*). Davis is lots of fun as the not actually insane father. His scenes with diner employee Zoe (Jessica Parker Kennedy) are very good, and add some much needed emotional weight,
For her part, Kennedy fares just as well as Davis, and she is a joy to watch. Hutton is good as the lead researcher that initially discovers that Mount Lincoln is unstable. I am not stating that the scientific jargon she’s saying is accurate, just that she’s believable when saying it. The supporting cast are all good, as I don’t recall anyone outright sucking.
But the important questions are these- how is the giant monster? Does it look alright? Is it a credible threat? The answers to those are as follows-
The monster is pretty damned interesting. From a design vantage point, it is original enough, with a beaked mouth, tentacles, multiple eyes, and very serpentine-esque movements. Its attacks aren’t that varied, but its immense size does help make it a true threat. The colors are very muted earth tones, which makes total sense given where it lives.
The CGI by Al Benjamin and his team is some of the best in the whole Maneater series. It interacts with its environments believably, and the tentacles have weight to them when they strike. All this makes for a cool and different sort of giant monster, which makes the movie a bit of fresh air.
While not perfect, its genre-bending makes for a unique sort of kaiju movie, and fans of b-movies, and Syfy Channel especially, will get a fun movie, that delivers where it counts.