Review of The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) by Harry W — 07 Sep 2015

It's an okay little time travel 80's B-level flick. Visual effects are fun but very cheesy, Michael Pare isn't a very charismatic actor, and Nancy Allen... well, plays that supporting type of role.

The film admittingly dabbles into a lot of fluff, chases, etc. but it seems to delay the inevitable as Pare ends up joining forces with the people that he ran away from the whole movie, and who tried to kill him cause.

.. I don't know, to cover up a disaster with the failed experiment? It makes the film feel questionably pointless in a way. The love arc at times seems to kind of overshadow the character's motives to get back to his time and find answers, so while Pare and Allen don't work so badly together, its questionable whether their relationship and what led to an impact on the character's decisions in the end was really best for the film.

Can he really return to 1943 with everything he's seen? Questions aside, Philadelphia Experiment kind of avoids the intelligible scientific route in favour of character relationships and action. It's a bit sluggish and its focus may not necessarily be in the right place, but as it is, its dumb B-movie fun that has just enough intrigue to warrant a harmless viewing.