Year
2005
Format
2 Discs, 3 80’ Episodes
Release
Date Out Now
Distributor
Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment
RRP
?9.99
The
Mini-Series
Solving
the mystery of the infamous Bermuda Triangle is perfect fodder for a
movie or TV series. All the ingredients for a great action adventure
mini-series with human interest are here – an intriguing
mystery, four mis-matched lead characters tormented by their own past
lives, and a generous helping of CGI effects – including
submarines, exploding ships, spectacular thunder storms and out of
control airplanes. Bryan Singer and Dean Devlin’s The
Triangle sounds like a recipe for success. Well, maybe…
Sam Neil
is shipping tycoon Eric Benerall. Having lost several ships in the
infamous Bermuda Triangle, Benerall gathers together a disparate
group of experts – a journalist (Eric Stoltz), a marine
engineer, a meteorologist and a psychic – and challenges them
to solve the age old mystery of the Triangle: Why have planes and
ships been disappearing there over the years?
After a
dramatic expedition in to the Triangle in an old submarine, the four
investigators begin to experience what appear to be hallucinations.
However, it soon becomes clear that they are really slipping in and
out of alternate realities. But caused by what?
Lou
Diamond Phillips is part-time Green Peace activist, Meeno Paloma who
is also having tricks played on him by time after a fateful attempt
to stop a Japanese whaling ship. Unfortunately, Meeno is unable to
comprehend what is happening to him and fears that he is losing his
mind when he discovers that he has a young son that he has no memory
of.
Of all the
cast, Lou Diamond Phillips gives the most engaging performance,
successfully portraying the anguish of the tormented Meeno.
Unfortunately, it is not until the very end of the story that Meeno
joins forces with the Benerall’s squad of experts. An earlier
integration of the parallel plot lines would certainly have benefited
the progression of the story.
With a
Dean Devlin and Bryan Singer storyline and some big names in the
cast, The Triangle was clearly planned as a TV ‘event’.
But with an overall running time of four hours, this does feel like a
moderately good idea for a movie has been horribly over-stretched and
padded out. As a result, the plot is permanently set to simmer and
never reaches boiling point.
Extras
A
twenty-minute promotional featurette on the making of the show,
originally produced by and aired on the US Sci-Fi Channel. Plus six
promotional interviews with Singer, Devlin and the main cast. Better
than nothing.
John
Ainsworth
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