Movie Talk: The Philadelphia Experiment (1984)

[DalekSec]

Originally Posted by JBird

I'm cheating with this selection, as it was the movie of choice for Film Sack, and I didn't see anything else on Netflix that wasn't a TV show.



I went into this with no knowledge of this movie's existence. And by the end of it, I'm sure I will end up forgetting about it. For an 80's sci-fi film, it felt really light on the science, which, according to the trivia, the director made it that way to focus more on the romance between the main character, played by Michael Paré, and the love interest, Nancy Allen.

And that's the main problem with the movie, in my opinion: the romance between two people with little to no chemistry. The only other movie I remember Paré from is Eddie and the Cruisers 2: Eddie Lives, and he can be a pretty decent dramatic actor. And I felt like he was wasted in this movie, as his character's situation and future shock was downplayed for most of the movie (another decision made by the director).

All in all, it's dull film with very little to offer.

Were we separated at birth??

Typical of so many movies within the genre of the time, the rush to make some manner of romance out of it all, pretty much stepped upon what was, a very interesting story based on real life accounts.

The rumors of the experiment and its repercussions persist to this day and, have been the basis of a good deal of both speculation and conspiracy chatter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Experiment


Sadly, the movie chucks all of this into the rubbish as it strives to become some form of teen heart throb tale.

At least one can say that it is better than the amazingly, violently, gut turning-ly BAD sequel it spawned. Yes, there was a sequel. Yes, it really was that bad.