Leviathan (1989) Review: Can a Watered-Down Alien and The Thing Be Its Own Classic?

Leviathan asks if its characters can escape an aquasapien creature.

Today, you question if the monster movie all-stars that made it could swim through saturated genre waters and come out with something lean, clean, and new.

The film is part of the strange 1989-1990 underwater movie craze that saw no less than FIVE releases (this picture joining Deepstar Six, Lords of the Deep, The Abyss, and The Rift).

Leviathan only trod water in ticket sales, hitting ~$19 million on a $21 million budget and promptly sinking into the forgotten movie bin.

But the long arms of the internet seemed to have wrapped themselves around the sobbing, lonely Leviathan. They’ve hugged it and told it no, no — you’re a discarded gem.

And the fan love is not just loyalty to the film’s star, cult movie icon Peter Weller (Robocop, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai). It’s hard to call this a cheap rip-off, the under-the-sea Alien or The Thing targeting easy bucks when you see its crew.

A joint project of De Laurentis Productions and longtime producers Larry and Charles Gordon, it’s directed by George Cosmatos (Tombstone, Rambo II), with Oscar-nominated cinematographer Alex Thomson as director of photography.

None other than all-time great Stan Winston (Predator, Aliens) was on board for special effects, with legend Ron Cobb (Alien, Star Wars) on production design.

The venerable Jerry Goldsmith composed the score (Alien, Chinatown), and it was written by David Peoples (Unforgiven) and Jeb Stuart (Die Hard).

How’s that for ingredients?

So is Leviathan a good movie? And how many undersea references can I write into this? Let’s find out.

The Plot of Leviathan:

You don’t need story instructions for a creature feature, but due diligence demands I let you know the more specifics of this one’s wiles.

When a Tri-Oceanic Corp. underwater mining crew, led by geologist Steven Beck (Peter Weller) and supported by Dr. Glen “Doc” Thompson (Richard Crenna), finds a sunken Russian ship, the miners bring back some of the dead crew’s belongings.

Unbeknownst to the group, the Russian crew’s things are tainted with a potent mutagen – and not the groovy Ninja Turtles super strength kind.

As some crew are turned into deadly half-sea-life things, a battle for survival begins.

The Rest of the Main Cast Includes:

Amanda Pays as Elizabeth “Willie” Williams
Ernie Hudson as Justin Jones
Daniel Stern as Buzz “Sixpack” Parrish
Héctor Elizondo as G.P. Cobb
Michael Carmine as Tony “DeJesus” Rodero
Meg Foster as Ms. Martin
Lisa Eilbacher as Bridget “Bow” Bowman
Eugene Lipinski as Russian Captain
Tom Woodruff Jr. as Lead Creature

What’s Good About This Movie:

Lived-in Sci-Fi Interiors? Check, + 4 Points

There’s nothing second-rate about the quality of the sets and props, which capture that all-important “lived-in sci-fi” aesthetic of films like Alien or Outland.

Like a rundown steel palace, the crew constructed a claustrophobic playspace for monster mayhem. It’s complete with a slow-moving, occasionally stalling hydraulic entry/exit platform, the elevator gate to the water, which comes in handy for scary moments.

Props like the diving suits have the clunky bulk and weight of believability, with nifty little light-up screens that tell the audience each diver’s name.

Monsters? Check, +3 Points

While the creatures aren’t sublime people digesters that will haunt you for years, they’re not out of the shabby props shack out back.

There’s a combination of eel-like terrors and tentacles and some body horror, as some have pointed out, with a Lovecraftian vibe.

But it’s not A-game stuff; we can only give these props so many…points.

After looking the part for most of the film, the big guy stalking the crew proves to be just a Grumpy Gus when it’s out of the water. It’s more fitting as a ridiculous enemy in an episode of Power Rangers than a horror movie.

And the monsters lack defining tactics or features to give them personality (think the protruding mini-mouth and scuttling of a xenomorph in Aliens).

Beck and Willie, + 1 Point

Beck and Willie are the movie’s little love interest.

The downside is you know their attraction is giving them plot armor, but it’s written less contrived than you’d think.

Their flirting is set up when Willie asks Beck just what the hell a geologist is doing down in the depths of the ocean managing a mining crew. And while the remaining blue-collar group sees Beck as a wimp out of his depth, Willie, on her way to astronaut training school, sees his qualities and empathizes with his situation.

It’s a well-written scene carried out by Weller and Pays’s chemistry.

What’s Not-So-Good About This Movie:

They Call Him Six-Pack, but Thankfully He’s Just a Single, -2 Points

**Spoiler Alert Here**

Six-Pack (a nickname presumably not for his stunning abs but for gulping down the movie’s choice product placement of Pepsi) is the all-too-obvious patient zero of the movie.

As you witness Six-Pack’s antics, you only wish they’d killed him off sooner.

This time, actor Daniel Stern plays a different sort of wet bandit (Home Alone) – a pervert stuck at the bottom of the ocean.

Six-Pack’s nastiness hovers over the first ~25 minutes of the film like a toxic KY cloud. He busies himself openly staring at his coworkers’ breasts or quipping about the sex-like implications of pipes entering holes as they work.

But just in case you didn’t pick up on these not-so-subtle clues, greasy Six-Pack proudly shows up in his boxers and robe. Wishing the rest of the crew a good night, he retrieves one of his porno magazines (strangely stored in the common area instead of his room) for his obvious pre-bedtime spank session.

Sex jokes can work, like Shane Black’s Rick Hawkins in Predator, but the character is mind-numbingly juvenile here.

Like that Eternal Wait for the Pizza Guy, -3 Points

When you’re a sophisticated, wait this is like an art-house film like Alien, you can afford to take your time, build your characters, and get to the monster without losing your audience.

Leviathan doesn’t have that privilege, and it sins by shipping its monster priority mail over same-day express.

Where is Your High Point? -2 Points

Ripley in a power loader vs. the alien queen (Aliens). The defibrillator or blood test scene of The Thing. Dutch’s showdown with the Predator.

Great scenes and sequences make movies. And while I wouldn’t expect this film to live up to all-time great sci-fi, there was enough budget to make you think a memorable set piece or two could happen.

But it doesn’t.

There’s a moment where the crew gears up with cutters and axes, shot and edited like an action film montage. But since they’re not, say, waiting behind a pounding door and ready to face down whatever comes through it, you don’t see the point of the anticipation.

We Make Side Characters, but We Don’t Use Them, -2 Points

When you sidestep Six-Pack, you see dramatic potential in the crew.

Miners Jones, Cobb, and DeJesus are disgruntled with Beck’s leadership while Willie is on his side. Doc is a disgraced former medical innovator blocklisted into underwater tours of duty, ripe for redemption.

But absolutely none of that, which the first act and a half set up, goes anywhere.

Even a film like Gremlins 2 breaks from its pure mania and, as RedLetterMedia has pointed out, circles back to knock down all the little character arc dominoes it set up. Here, those character points are gobbled up and forgotten.

Wait, We Didn’t Do Jaws Yet! – 1 Point

**Spoiler Alerts Here**

Many horror films seemingly end only for the monster to return for an encore, and Leviathan can’t resist the trick.

And that’s great. Like a crowd at a concert, we know it’s coming but appreciate that it’s coming.

But this finale makes a sudden slip into B-Movie territory.

After blowing up the mining operation, rising to the surface, and signaling a rescue helicopter, it looks like the day is saved. Even the sharks circling around our three remaining survivors – Beck, Willie, and Jones – can’t seem to stop them.

But inexplicably old monster eyes is back.

First, the aquabeast slays Ernie Hudson’s Jones, or at least you think Jones died, because the editing is so awful you can barely tell if the monster is drowning him or was just needing a cuddle that has gone wrong.

But then we get the apex of the movie’s schlocky turn. As if the writers realized they made a horrific water movie and didn’t reference Jaws, they give Weller’s Beck a “Smile, you son of a bitch” moment.

Beck, suddenly the action hero, tells monster eyes to “Say ah, motherfucker!” and explodes him with what I think is a flare or small explosive.

And there’s just enough runtime for Beck to punch Ms. Martin to a pounding sound effect fit for a Schwarzenneger vehicle, not the jab she takes.

For a meek geologist, Beck sure became an 80s action stud.

You can understand the filmmakers may have wanted to complete Beck’s journey from timid manager to man of the moment. Still, the wheels come off in these last segments. Whatever serious and scary bits the creators were going for earlier in the movie are out of touch with this cheeseball ending.

Let’s Not Watch Leviathan

Total Arbitrary Points Score: -2 Points

Leviathan’s producers put top-tier science fiction horror talent together and paired them with a capable cast.

But while the set designs and creature effects are sturdy, its plodding story and lack of exciting scenes sink the ship.

Though derivative, a popcorn version of Alien under the sea would have been welcome.

But as a sex-crazed degenerate dances his way over your eyes and monsters shrink from scary to silly in the light of day, this is a wet mess that thankfully flushes down the memory drain.

Despite the Peter Weller factor in full flow, I can’t recommend Leviathan.

Leviathan is rated R and was directed by George P. Cosmatos.

You can stream it free on Max.

You can watch the trailer here.

Disclaimer:

The factual information about the film in this review was gathered through online sources, such as Wikipedia, IMDB, or interviews. Misrepresentations and errors are possible but unintentional.