Monday Retro Review: Leviathan

Lost among an onslaught of underwater-themed flicks, this 1989 creature feature was overshadowed by James Cameron's The Abyss and unfavourably compared to Deepstar Six when first released. How does it hold up a quarter of a decade after the fact? Stick with me!

Underwater deep sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor, with horrifying results.

Truth is, I enjoyed Leviathan a lot more today than a did back in 1989. It's a B-movie through and through, but made by some A-level talent, including director George P. Cosmatos (Rambo: First Blood Part 2) and written by Unforgiven and Blade Runner scribe David Peoples. Yup, that's some pedigree.

And there's something cool about seeing high-calibre talent crank out a basic monster movie. This is an Alien clone, no more, no less. But done on a decent budget with a first-rate team. And it's a lot of fun to witness this "slumming" happen.

Yeah, Robocop's Peter Weller gets top bill -- and he's awesome as usual -- but this movie is in love with the hotness that is Amanda Pays. The script and director strip her to her bra and panties at every chance and soak her with water. But that's what we expect from an exploitation movie, and this exploitation movie delivers.

We used an exploitive pic to prove some sort of point, which we have yet to sort out.

We get gore, hot chicks, decent acting, humour and a cool-enough monsters. It's almost too bad that the last couple of minutes suck. But not enough to sink the rest of the movie. See what I did there with that pun? That's cool, and so is Leviathan. I'm giving it a Good. Check it!

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