Review of Fantastic Voyage (1966) by Kai82 — 01 Jul 2022

A classical science fiction movie with an interesting premise and unique story. Sadly the special effects which were excellent back then did not age that well but it would be unfair to criticize this for a 1966 movie.

The story is set in the Cold War time. The Soviet scientist Dr. Benes has found a way to shrink objects to microscopic levels which is an incredible useful and dangerous technology. However Dr. Benes wants to defect to the USA but is injured at the attempt.

He is in a comatose state as a blood clot is stuck in his brain. Even more it is in a place that makes a surgery impossible without killing him. So a plan is devised to use his shrinking technology to put a submarine with a team of specialist into his body to remove the blot clot but there is a time limit and it is also granted that the Soviets want to stop this.

Here I stop to avoid spoilers. The movie grabbed me with the idea, its story and characters. I was entertained from start to finish and praise it. The unique set up, interesting situation and race against time work well.

To be fair there is a huge (logical) error towards the end of the movie. I don't want to spoil it but think about what does not reappear. The special effects are really good for its time and as I watched it in my youth first the disparity was not that big.

Today it is far out of date but like I said this cant be used against the movie. Also I am no expert if it is anatomically correct but this is no valid point for an entertainment movie. The actors are excellent.

I praise the whole cast with director Richard Fleischer, writers Henry Kleiner / David Duncan and actors Stephen Boyd, Edmond O’Brien, Rachel Welch to name a few. While it was not a box office hit it inspired a lot of other movies / media to do similar things.

In theory shrinking should also be possible in real life as 99,9% of the atom is empty space but I bet this would violate several laws of of physic a non physicist like me does not know. However the idea is entertaining.

Overall I see this as forgotten classic and must see of its time. Its legacy is that it inspired countless other media to do the same.