Review of The Black Hole (1979) by James M — 28 Nov 2013

A nostalgic favourite from childhood. Overall this is a movie which objectively stands far better than people credit it for. It is a beautifully shot spectacle with some truly amazing effects for its time (the asteroid charging towards our heroes is a fantastic visual). What jars most about this film lies in two separate issues. Firstly, the film seems structured in two very different segments. The first half is a gentle paced mystery, full of suspense, threat and curiousity. The second halve turns into action/adventure, with gun fights, explosions and a faster pace to the narrative. These two segments work well on their own, but jar a little as a whole, and the biggest testament to this is John "Bond" Barry's score, which moves from gentle atmospheric minor arrangements into this big gung ho "hero to the rescue" motif. For me, I find this shift just accentuates the schism between the two halves of the movie. Secondly, the ending is too cryptic , attempting to be ambiguous but ending up looking frightened into making a decent conclusion.

Nevertheless, this is a good family movie if you take it for what it is. Suspense and spectacle for the adults, some gun fights and silly robots for the kids. Great at Christmas.