The Black Hole

The truly distracting thing about this (in a film full of distracting things) is that Dr. Reinhardt's ship, the USS Cygnus, seems to be made up of 98% empty space. A glorious mess of a movie.

Disney's hasty cash in on the Star Wars craze ends up hit-or-miss. Some of the sets and models look great, and others are laughable. The same can be said with the performances. Although Schell is great as the mad Doctor, the rest of the cast has countless embarrassing moments. The robot Vincent and his sharp-shooting Texan buddy are pretty sick, though.

Along with Star Trek: TMP (released the same day), the last theatrical blockbuster with an overture. Dated even for its time - it feels like sci-fi from the 1960s except for the special effects. Strangely, but also fittingly, the cast is middle aged as well; they all seem like has-beens from early technicolor HG Wells or Jules Verne adaptations. The highlights are the mesmerising ghost ship and it's haunting crew. Creepy when I was 7 years old...

Oh my, what a piece of Sci-Fi cinema... nice try, but once you are at the end, the only thing you ask yourself: Why?

This Disney _Star Wars_ cash-in opened the same day as _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ and like that movie is little more than a lot of big-budget FX in search of a story. Mostly just a remake of _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_ set in space. This has outstanding miniatures and matte paintings and a good score by John Barry but can't seem to settle on the right approach, throwing in everything from stormtrooperish killer androids to comic-relief robots to a confusing, 2001-style ending.

Beautiful trash. Nothing like a black hole to draw one's attention to the cavernous ineffectuality of meaning, the illusion of spirit, the inescapable futility of our toil when confronted by the uninterested tread of eternity, collapsing within the infinite into naught. This is a kid's movie. I'm fairly certain the robot that looks like Disney merchandise quoted Virgil at one point.

Even by 1979 standards this movie is cheesy. A few great actors, but the dialog is very tedious, and the scenes with robots are stupid. Some of the acting is very poor. The action sequences are ridiculous. Surviving exposure to space, and it causing a snow storm? WTF? The more I watched the dumber it got. Watch this to make fun of it, because there is no other way to enjoy it. It is all topped off with a terrible and stupid ending, with annoying music.

Suspend your disbelief for a while, forget about the laws of physics, and don't let Stephen Hawking know your watching it. Top flight cast in a movie that looks like it was an Irwin Allen disaster film. Spooky robots. Maximilian Schell is great (plus it's cool just to say his name... Maximilian Schell... so cool)

This looks fantastic throughout and then ups its visuals to incredible for the final act (which is basically 2001: A Space Odyssey for kids). Sadly, the story is simple and spread thin, straight out of a Star Trek episode (or that ilk) and very predictable. If you can bear the plodding pace, then I think it's pretty enjoyable. A heavy trim could work wonders.

This is essentially a spiritual successor to Forbidden Planet, except it lacks some of the legendary qualities that made the former such a classic. All of the instances of action are so awkward, and the music is similarly so. On the other hand, it's certainly something worth seeing for its design, from its matte paintings to its detailed miniatures, and while the ending is nonsensical in a rather uncompelling fashion, it's still kind of cool to see that kind of daring effort in a Disney movie.

How can I be the first person on Criticker to raise the similarities between this and Event Horizon?! The design of the ship alone makes me confident a young Paul W.S. Anderson sat transfixed watching this once upon a time.

At times it looks great but most of the time it's just embarrasing to everyone involved.

Quite possibly Slim Pickens greatest role.

Sci-fi classic with great set and character design, albeit with sometimes bad effects(wires showing on robots). Excellent adventure film with a solid concept and great ending.

Funny to see it after so many decades.

Håbløs. forældet og dårlig Disney forsøg i science-fiction genren. Håbløse skuespillere, alle over the edge og mangel på teknisk mestering.

A Star Wars-like space opera? More like a soap opera in space with heavy-handed dialogue similar to Star Trek minus the charm and substance. Lazer-guns're blazing in true Star Wars rip-off fashion, but it's all fairly tame. The cutesy 'funny' robots are straight out of Star Wars-lore too. Only redeeming factor is a great sweeping score by John Barry, which almost makes it worth sitting through. If you can stay awake.

It looks and feels 5-10 years old than it is.

This feels like an attempt to update the postwar space exploration epic for the post-Star Wars age. Unfortunately, it feels like one of the ones that ended up on MST3K, with super-slow pacing, stock characters directed stolidly, and plot twists that thud instead of wowing. That said, Bob and Vincent are fun robot pals, exponentially more engaging than the rest of the cast, and there are so many gorgeous sets and models. Plus, an artsy 2001-esque ending that doesn't make sense but does look cool.

Good effects and story but you don't really care about the characters. Nice effort by Disney though.

Quite over-rated, silly, very cheesy and much too Disney-fied sci-fi flick. A good story which I think deserved a more adult offering to it. The acting is also very weak for the most part.

The Black Hole, really? Way to hang a lantern on it Disney. This thinly disguised racial allegory sees a group of white folks confront a powerful black force. Peering within some see destruction, others salvation. With neither forthcoming we are left feeling deceived. Even allowing for its prescience, this is still boring.

So many odd contradictions, inconsistencies, and other errors it's hard to give it a higher score.

Highly misguided from start to finish. Clearly a wannabe _Star Wars_, heavy thievery from _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_, sluggish action sequences with conspicuously inappropriate music, silly plotting and dialogue (what the hell's a "space scientist"?), bad performance from Yvette... need I go on?

Enormous cast with primary school lines and a huge decor of a spaceship full of sloppy robots

a late 70s sci-fi movie that feels like a 50s sci-fi movie, and I don't mean in a good way.

Disney Studios' ambitious sci-fi effort is a throwback to 1957 Saturday matinee fodder, with thin story, cardboard characters. OK on that level -- with great special effects -- but should have been much better.

Clunky ripoff of all sci-fi movies released before it. Tonally inconsistent, with a kid-friendly robot followed by a seriously dark zombie slave storyline. A hot mess. Not a good film.

Disney's first attempt at big budget sci fi is bad, with a second rate cute robot that REALLy gives me the irrits

Production design is fucking incredible. Plus, Dr. Reinhardt really looks like Slavoj Zizek in space.

Really weak Star Wars wannabe.

Hayatımda seyrettiğim en aptal bilim kurgu. Bu kadar kötü bir senaryo yazılamazdı. Uzayda ne için dolaştığı bilmediğimiz bir uzay gemisi, kara deliğin yakınında unutulmuş bir uzay gemisine rastlarlar. İçinde insanların ve mal robotların olduğu gemi, kara deliği araştırır. Fakat bilim adamları umduğunu değil bulduğu ile karşı karşıya kalır. Daft Punk robotların rezilliği ile dolu film facia. Amerika'nın Dünya Kurtaran Adamı.

The action sequences and robots are laughable, but the set design and humanoids are wonderfully spooky and atmospheric. The ending aspires to 2001 and is quite intense.

Good film.

This film starts off really slow and then gets weird. A better script would have certainly improved this movie. Some of the performances of the cast are better than others, but a better script would have helped out. Overall this film is disappointing.

I like gothic horror and this one has all the trappings plus some. A mad monk, Mindless zombies, Iron golems, A mysterious red knight, A spooky castle and a stormy night for the blasphemous ritual. Unfortunately it's not dark enough and too actiony. And the final conclusion, While a wonderful image, is all too literal. Wow 1465 films ranked and this only my 2nd review!

So THIS is what happened to Chris Pine during the intermittent time period he's gone in A Wrinkle Of Time

46.875

I enjoyed this Disney sci-fi mostly because it's not half as lugubrious and pretentious as modern sci-fi has to be to get made and seen these days. I mean, those squat little robots were voiced by Roddy McDowell and Slim Pickens! A lot of the pleasures of The Black Hole come from the casting decisions, Maximilian Schell, Tony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, in particular, and in the ridiculous words put in their mouths.

well i liked vincent. i liked the atmosphere. i liked the overture, john barry's score was pretty good. it's too bad that until the very end not very much actually happens at all. the dialogue was atrocious, but i did love the line "habitable life" as if humans have become some kind of space parasite in the future. i might actually enjoy this more than the "51" im giving it...but putting that number any higher feels wrong so there it stays.

An underrated classic. The science is off enough to irk the sci-fi gang, but if you appreciate the gorgeously eerie set piece of the Cygnus and its haunting crew, you'll have a great time. Schell's megalomania-fueled Reinhart steals the show, alongside the cheerful robot, VINCENT, with his bevvy of inappropriately-timed quotes. The film looks astounding, the score is captivating and despite some questionable acting and the baffling ending, this childhood favorite still holds its own, today.

Surprisingly a decent film with a unique and creative concept. A good science fiction film although ending could have improved a lot but it was a challenging concept on how to end it.

silly silly silly

Underappreciated Disney SF classic -- wonderfully atmospheric; space is dark and spooky!

I was bored to death when I first saw this, but I appreciated it a lot more after seeing it on big screen recently. It's definitely flawed, but still interesting in it's anti-Star Wars approach, mostly taking place in two ships, limited characters (Schell a stand-out) and unfolding almost as a mystery film. Sets/models are actually quite impressive and have aged quite well which cannot be said of the robots which are look like they were added just to cash-in on Star Wars.

Just watched it and thought "hey this looks pretty damn good for a 50s sci-fi movie." For 1979 not so much, though....