Nautilus (2000)

Simply A Masterpiece

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Actually I could have given this movie a very high rating, given, it makes you laugh a lot, it's so badly done and everything is so fake, you actually laugh at all this. And that might deserve a higher rating.The very story on it's own is clearly the outcome of a combination of wrongly mixed drugs.Various stories run along the main plot. But first things first, the basics: A submarine time-machine that runs on diamonds, travels to the past to stop a drilling rig of inducing a worldwide cataclysm by perforating the mantle and destabilizing the pressure, making everything go kaboom.The movie starts with a diamond theft in the future where apparently all cars are exactly the same as in the 70's. The diamond burglars manage to get away from the police that followed them in an Ice- cream van or something alike, very shabby indeed. I never knew those vans where more powerful than police cars. Anyway, they just reach the beach and enter the sea and keep on swimming until they reach the submarine. This is when the movie starts for real! Well, so they say...The main character is like a fusion of MacGyver and Michael Knight. He is introduced rescuing a kidnapped guy, killing the first batch on the main floor with guns, and later on, on the first floor with a crossbow and a pen as an arrow, apparently because he doesn't want to be heard (surely the mass shooting downstairs went unnoticed to the ears of the kidnappers).The eco-terrorists have clearly no budget and have to assault the rig in a small Zodiak. Apparently they spent it all on the guns. Magic guns BTW that kill before even shooting, as can be seen when they enter the room full of machines with flashing buttons and pseudo-scientists that have been told to move their hands and touch buttons to appear more professional and scientific. Of the Nautilus crew assaulting the rig, I wont talk, that must be seen by itself.Not to forget the overtly sassy footage of a NASA rocket that now is a missile that intercepts F-18's.

When a big new drilling station named Prometheus is set to open out in the middle of the ocean, its main developer, Basim (Eschbach) hires Jack Harris (Norton) to be its head of security. This is needed because an eco-terrorist group named Equinox is threatening violent tactics to shut it down, because they believe it's not environmentally friendly. Just as Harris is dealing with these troublemakers, they get a message from the future in the form of a Star Wars-like hologram. Captain Brin (Kriesa) and his daughter Ariel (Wolfe) are planning to travel back in time on their submarine, the Nautilus, to stop the drilling station. They believe it will start a chain of events that will lead to catastrophic destruction and basically the end of the world. The developers, along with Harris, are skeptical, but the future-people are insistent. What then follows is a battle of wills and ideologies. Who will prevail? We can give you the bottom line on this one right away: the scenes with Richard Norton are worthwhile and entertaining. The scenes he does not appear in are boring and reach sloggish proportions. We could just end the review there, but we'll provide a few more of our humble thoughts. While Nautilus is not fast-paced, and is fairly typical of the DTV dreck that cluttered up the 2000's, it actually wasn't quite as bad as we were expecting it to be. We thought is was going to be an out-and-out sub slog, and were pleasantly surprised to find out there are some other elements mixed in.For example, the opening of the movie is decent, especially the introduction to Harris, Norton's character. The movie has a few mildly interesting ideas, but sadly not enough to propel a 90 minute feature along like the cinematic sub that it is. As usual for the B-movies of this time, there are plenty of actors that look like bigger names (but aren't), such as Brin, who looks like Sam Neill. There are scenes of actors calling out coordinates, which always make for thrilling viewing, and a nice dose of environmentalist claptrap along the way. And don't forget the awkwardly-placed stock footage. But Richard Norton is charming as ever, and he singlehandedly keeps this movie from being a total flop. Take him out of the equation, and this movie would be unwatchably horrid. We do, however, give it credit for having the ORIGINAL Prometheus (2012).Another name in the cast besides Norton would have helped...Don Swayze, Robert Davi, Matthias Hues, somebody. At least in his previous movie, Surface to Air (1998), director McDonald had Michael Madsen and Chad McQueen. Here, it's just Norton. But the power of Norton keeps the movie afloat. Get it? Afloat? Meh, just don't see it. (Unless you're a really big Norton fan).For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com

While Nautilus may not have had the budget of some of the larger Hollywood projects, they story, action, and acting of the main stars propels this above most attempts at Sci-Fi cinema released. While much of the attention centers around the martial arts prowess of Richard Norton, attention needs to be placed on the actor that portrayed Raoul, the leader of the Eco-terrorism group Equinox. Now known as the host for popular shows such as Shop till you Drop and Outback Jack, Roberto shines in his role here as a man with a mission to save the planet. Showing acerbic wit and physical dexterity, his screen time was a highlight of this film.Action, Explosions, Intrigue, Time Travel, Martial Arts, what more could a movie buff ask for?

The Cover for the DVD shows a very impressive Submarine. Unfortunately, the sub in the movie is a very different and extremely inferior sub, nothing like the cover picture. Even though this is a sub movie, 98% of the action take place between humans far from the sub. No Monsters, No Fantasy Elements, just mid 90's direct to video really bad action, with less than stellar players. If this movie had just added some good CGI stuff, it would have been much better. This movie has an ecological message to it, and while important, always brings a movie down. And of course, even though the name of the movie is Nautilus and is about a sub, there is zero connection between it, and the writings of Jules Verne. (What we need are some direct to video/DVD Captain Nemo movies that hold no relation to the books, other than the character and his sub, fighting lots of monsters and stuff.) This movie was less than stellar, but I did manage to make it all the through with out turning it off. The actors failed, but the story did make me want to see how it ended.