Juggernaut Reviews

A typical (but very British) 70's disaster film, full of silly errors and unlikely events that will have you shouting at your TV set (especially at the bloody kids) but it's all worthwhile thanks to a good cast, especially Richard Harris who acts like he's drunk for most of the film and goes around calling everyone and everything a bastard. You've got to love it!

Pretty exciting action thriller from the mid 1970's. Good cast, and the storyline keeps your interest. The ocean liner setting a plus. Richard Harris is good, as is Anthony Hopkins.

Usually incorrectly classified as a disaster film because of when it was released and the general subject matter, "Juggernaut" will probably disappoint anyone expecting a film that conforms to the broad outlines of that genre. A disaster film will set up a series of melodramatic plot strands that all culminate in the characters having to escape some form of catastrophe in progress. "Juggernaut" makes some perfunctory motions towards personal melodrama (the captain is sleeping with one of the passengers, the police officer in charge of the investigation's family in on the boat), but is much more concerned with the procedural plots of locating the bomber and defusing the bomb. This is a very British take on the police procedural. It takes a very roundabout way of getting to its climax, but once it gets there, it's quite thrilling. I'm not a big fan of Richard Lester's, or at least of his Beatles films, the Three Musketeers films and "Superman II". I do love "Petulia" and this film feels much more like that film in style and tone.

Monday, December 6, 2010

(1974) Juggernaut
DRAMA/ SUSPENSE/ THRILLER

13 minutes in after people had already boarded a cruise ship, sailing several miles away. It was later learned from an anonymous caller that 7 explosive barrel containers had been placed throughout the ship and that he will disclose information to deactivate them for a fee of 500,000 pounds or the bombs will go off automatically upon the next day at a specified time! Richard Harris stars as one of several bomb experts but is the person in charge of this group! I like the guessing games played with the bomb experts but some of the accidental deaths that occurred in this film are 100% percent avoidable especially in a real life situation!

2 out of 4

Pretty exciting action thriller from the mid 1970's. Good cast, and the storyline keeps your interest. The ocean liner setting a plus. Richard harris is good, as is Anthony Hopkins.