The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is a spectacular and deadly seriously intended monster movie. But it’s just not very entertaining. The attempt at a semi-documentary approach goes hand in hand with keeping a certain distance from the characters, which doesn’t even matter because the main character here isn’t a scientist, detective or journalist, but the titular primordial beast. Paradoxically, there are too few of the scenes in which we can enjoy the monster, with high-quality visual effects, no less. I would have enjoyed this film if I could have seen it in the 1950s, but in the modern age of Jurassic Park movies, this relic is an overly chatty and stale attempt at a Hollywood blockbuster. The banal scenes of the monster walking through the streets of New York are no longer the delight for viewers that they were back then. And the climax in an amusement park could also have been more imaginative and better developed. (19/11/2002)

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is quite fitting for its time, and at first glance, it might seem like it doesn't stand out in any particular way. The story is indeed quite clichéd, as are many other elements - the military, scientists, a strange sci-fi/scientific plot, and the destruction of a large city - but for me, any film animated by Ray Harryhausen is exceptional. It applies to this film as well, where it's evident that the animation by Ray Harryhausen adds something extra to it. The interaction between people, the puppet, and especially the environment is sometimes incredible, although it's true that Ray has even more sophisticated works in his filmography. Here, you can see a bit of a lack of budget and perhaps time constraints. (05/01/2014)

It gets off to a promising start, and the film's conversational first half sets up the expected destruction of New York City, but poor directorial invention and a build-up that is duller than a fight at a Kaufland checkout counter drag it into the mire of mediocrity during the monster's promenade through Times Square. But the execution of most of the scenes with the giant monster is certainly praiseworthy; they do not look ridiculous even today, and it’s all the more disappointing that they did not receive a more skilful director, as, for example, Jurassic Park would do forty years later. (03/12/2017)

Unfortunately, it’s rather boring. It’s interesting at first thanks to the opening atmospheric Arctic minutes, and then only thanks to Ray Harryhausen's fantastic special effects. The lizard attack on the city obviously inspired Emmerich's Godzilla and is the best scene from the whole film. By comparison, the ending in the theme park is meant so seriously and is so unimaginatively shot that it is ridiculous. I was amused by Lee Van Cleef's role, who hit the giant film monster with a radioactive grenade two years earlier than his future spaghetti western colleague Clint Eastwood sent a giant tarantula to hell in a jet. (28/09/2017)

In King Kong vs. Godzilla the Japanese brought Godzilla back to life after a submarine crashes into an iceberg, here the Americans let a certain "Rhedosaurus" come back to life as a result of a nuclear test somewhere near the North Pole. The introduction from the Arctic is suspenseful, believably presented, the cold does get under your skin. Then comes the classic monster movie formula and the typical characters: an know-it-all professor, his beautiful assistant, preferably with a doctorate, a handsome protagonist who saves the world, and an army that doesn't know how to deal with the monster and basically serves as scrub. And most importantly, the Rhedosaurus, who, as expected, takes it out on New York (poor New Yorkers, they always have to take the hit). The model of the monster is a classic Harryhausen, who didn’t change his signature at all since his debut to Clash of the Titans. As far as visual effects go, it's safe to say that for fans Harryhausen, this is a must-see, though the quality of the effects is very inconsistent. The mini-submarine diving to the bottom of the ocean where the monster temporarily resides is quite funny. The combination of models with documentary footage of a fight between a shark and a sepia looks really weird. The sinking of the fishing boat is crap, even for its time. The monster's rampage through New York alternates between brilliant moments and those in which the rear projection is very noticeable and the models are blatant. And you don't get to enjoy the monster much before the weird, quick ending. There’s no build-up and no fear from the protagonist. It’s a shame. (18/04/2004)