Film Review: The Black Hole (1979)
- Very Average Joe
- 15 hours ago
- 3 min read
Title: The Black Hole
Director(s): Gary Nelson
Screenwriter(s): Jeb Rosebrook & Gerry Day
Studio: Walt Disney
Released: 1979
Runtime: 1h 35m
Starring: Robert Forster, Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Ernest Borgnine, Roddy McDowall
Set in the year 2130, the exploratory ship Palomino has to make a course correction on day 547 of its trip. The crew of five humans and one robot discovers that this is due to a massive black hole nearby.
They also discover a derelict ship relatively close to the black hole that is strangely not being pulled into it. It is the Cygnus that disappeared 20 years ago, captained by the renowned Dr Hans Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell). There was an order for Cygnus to return to Earth but it is unclear whether the message was received at the time.
As the crew of Palomino moves in to take a closer look, they are in effect invited to board. The plot follows the crew of Palomino as they try to unravel the mysteries surrounding Cygnus.
The film is in essence a combination of sci-fi, a disaster film and James Bond, presumably because those were the genres popular at the time.
The opening act is mostly not bad. There is mystery and therefore some intrigue and tension. Although not outright horror, the film is somewhat dark and has elements of horror. Released just days earlier was Alien that also features the mysterious derelict ship. And The Black Hole has clearly influenced some subsequent films like Event Horizon (1997).
When the crew discovers that Reinhardt is alive, he reveals his reasons for not returning home and what happened 20 years earlier. Obviously, one cannot just take his word for it. Whilst Schell gives a good performance, the writing, the character design and the fact that he was Swiss-Austrian, makes the character too much of a Bond villain.
The conflict is not merely between the Palomino crew and Reinhardt, but also between the crew members. Captain Dan Holland (Robert Forster) is the realistic one, Dr Alex Durant (Anthony Perkins) is a fanboy of Reinhardt and so takes his side, Lt Charlie Pizer (Joseph Bottoms) is the young go-getter who always wants to do something, Harry Booth (Ernest Borgnine) is more interested in saving himself, and Dr Kate McCrae (Yvette Mimieux) is the token woman whose father was part of the Cygnus expedition so she has an interest in the ship.
Whilst this reads half-interestingly, they are all template characters. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but there is nothing particularly interesting about them either and not much is done with them. And that is the problem with this film: not much happens.
Although the set designs are decent enough and do contribute to the worldbuilding and feel of the story, it relies too much on clunky dialogue. It takes awhile to even remember the names of everyone because they are just that boring. The one exception is V.I.N.CENT the robot just because it is the robot.
Once it is revealed why Reinhardt is at such proximity to the black hole, one has to wait for him to do it… and then wait some more as the crew tries to work out what is really going on because Reinhardt clearly cannot be trusted. And then everything conveniently happens with all the other convenient action in the final act.
Although there are signposts to otherwise, the film is overtly sci-fi so when the end includes elements of something more supernatural or spiritual, it is a little jarring. And the fact that it is totally missing a denouement does not help.
It is a decent production, including the score by John Barry (who not surprisingly worked on many Bond films), but is otherwise a clumsy narrative that the cast—not even Schell—could save. At a runtime of about 1h 35m, one may think it is a tight film but it drags after the first act. The ideas are not bad but would work better as something like a single Star Trek episode.
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