I can't believe that I hadn't ever seen this before, and I am glad that Cameron got to make a riff on Close Encounters, in a film that notably contains more whimsy than anything else he has made. I enjoyed how scifi elements just on the fringe of believability, like mobile oil drilling platforms and breathable water, are subtle includes crucial to the plot. It's nice to see that the seeds of Avatar and, of course, Titanic are obvious here…
I understand why people who are nostalgic about this movie, but as a first watch in 2026, it reads as a serviceable pastiche of Indiana Jones, Lawrence of Arabia, and late ‘90s CGI horror without much soul. It’s rarely a good sign when the first ten minutes of a movie is V/O exposition to set up the action. It is pleasantly surprising that Muslim character aren’t all portrayed as oafs or savages.
Having a soft spot for anthology horror after spending way too many late nights watching UHF TV edits of crappy horror films and anthology horror series as a kid, I found this quite enjoyable and an interesting cultural artifact, to boot. Three tales as told by an encaged child about to be eaten by a suburban cannibal (as played by Debbie Harry) span a wide array of tonality and theme. The cast has a few gems (Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi,…
Rewatched this with the 1995 Criterion Laserdisc commentary track and loved it. It gave a lot of additional insight into both the production and the thought behind the script, though listening to the commentary about creeping fascism and corporate takeover of public life from the perspective of 1995 was pretty grim.
