Behemoth is set in the small US town of Ascenion where several unexplained Earth tremors have caught the attention of the Government who send in a team of geologists to investigate & former resident & seismologist Emily Allington (Pascale Hutton) also decides to check out the unusual phenomenon which she believes may be connected to a dormant Volcano. However the truth is far worse, a huge tentacled monster has awoken & as it moves underground is causing these tremors & huge amounts of destruction to property. In steps ex military man Thomas Walsh (Ed Quinn) who is hired by a Government agent to guide him to where the equipment of his ill fated colleagues is. Stranded in the isolated mountain terrain both Thomas & Emily stumble across each other & face a fight for survival with poisonous CO2 leaking everywhere & a giant monster on the rampage to deal with...
This Canadian & American co-production was directed by David Hogan & is yet another terrible Sy-Fy Channel creature feature, really how many more of these turgid & throughly formulaic little films are we going to have to endure? There must be a market for them out there, I mean someone must be watching them, right? I think maybe because it's cheap television these things will continue to get made, & I know I'll be stupid & boneheaded enough to keep watching the damned things! When I first saw Behemoth listed in my TV guide as a giant monster film I thought it might have been a cheap remake of the rather good classic black and white monster film The Giant Behemoth (1959) but it isn't, no this is a boring creature feature with a supposed Eco message about us humans abusing the environment & mother nature striking back in the form of a giant monster. The script for Behemoth is very talky, the entire first half is vague exposition about something taking revenge on humanity for it's general behaviour & lots of people running around trying to sound serious about what's going on. None of this works, for a start it's relentlessly dull, the talk about the active Volcano goes nowhere, the ancient myth about monsters is too vague & again is never worked into the plot in any meaningful way. There is no explanation behind the events of Behemoth, whether the creature is some supernatural force or not is never indicated, the purpose of the Behemoth is also left unanswered & while the dialogue suggest that it is a worldwide phenomenon the Behemoth never attacks anything other than a small town. At that rate it would take it quite a while to destroy the entire world. Even though the IMDb plot synopsis indicates 'worldwide destruction' it never happens & is never even referenced. Then there's the US military guy, if the US Government & military are expecting the Behemoth why send just one guy & one rocket launcher in a suitcase? Why not send an entire army of soldiers all armed to the teeth with these weapons? The character's are poor, there's no emotional interest as I didn't care who lived or died & despite being so big & powerful the Behemoth only seems interested in just sitting on top of a Volcano & roaring. At just over 80 minutes Behemoth felt much longer as it plods along, all I can really remember about Behemoth are these two people running around a forest for an hour & not much else.
The only credible aspect of Behemoth that saves it from getting a one star rating are the CGI computer effects which are surprisingly good. The actual Behemoth creature when fully revealed at the end is rather impressive it has to be said, OK it doesn't do anything other than just sort of sit on top of the Volcano & roar but it does look good considering the usual Sy-Fy Channel junk we see. Some of the other effects aren't so impressive, the disappearing house & crumbling rocks in particular look bad but the main star of the show the Behemoth is one of the better looking Sy-Fy Channel beasties. Even though a few people die there's no blood or gore here, like I said the Behemoth is underused & apart from sink a few houses doesn't really do anything of note.
With a supposed budget of about $1,300,000 this was filmed in British Columbia in Canada with decent production values & nice enough mountain scenery. The acting is, as usual, forgettable with most of the cast phoning their performances in. The only cast member of note is William B. Davis who played the sinister cigarette smoking man in The X-Files (1993-2002).
Behemoth is a boring mix of ecological thriller & giant monster creature feature that has some surprisingly good CGI but little else to recommend it. Bland character's, a plot cobbled together from various ideas & a lack of monster action kill it dead. Even if it's on television for free think twice about wasting your time.
This Canadian & American co-production was directed by David Hogan & is yet another terrible Sy-Fy Channel creature feature, really how many more of these turgid & throughly formulaic little films are we going to have to endure? There must be a market for them out there, I mean someone must be watching them, right? I think maybe because it's cheap television these things will continue to get made, & I know I'll be stupid & boneheaded enough to keep watching the damned things! When I first saw Behemoth listed in my TV guide as a giant monster film I thought it might have been a cheap remake of the rather good classic black and white monster film The Giant Behemoth (1959) but it isn't, no this is a boring creature feature with a supposed Eco message about us humans abusing the environment & mother nature striking back in the form of a giant monster. The script for Behemoth is very talky, the entire first half is vague exposition about something taking revenge on humanity for it's general behaviour & lots of people running around trying to sound serious about what's going on. None of this works, for a start it's relentlessly dull, the talk about the active Volcano goes nowhere, the ancient myth about monsters is too vague & again is never worked into the plot in any meaningful way. There is no explanation behind the events of Behemoth, whether the creature is some supernatural force or not is never indicated, the purpose of the Behemoth is also left unanswered & while the dialogue suggest that it is a worldwide phenomenon the Behemoth never attacks anything other than a small town. At that rate it would take it quite a while to destroy the entire world. Even though the IMDb plot synopsis indicates 'worldwide destruction' it never happens & is never even referenced. Then there's the US military guy, if the US Government & military are expecting the Behemoth why send just one guy & one rocket launcher in a suitcase? Why not send an entire army of soldiers all armed to the teeth with these weapons? The character's are poor, there's no emotional interest as I didn't care who lived or died & despite being so big & powerful the Behemoth only seems interested in just sitting on top of a Volcano & roaring. At just over 80 minutes Behemoth felt much longer as it plods along, all I can really remember about Behemoth are these two people running around a forest for an hour & not much else.
The only credible aspect of Behemoth that saves it from getting a one star rating are the CGI computer effects which are surprisingly good. The actual Behemoth creature when fully revealed at the end is rather impressive it has to be said, OK it doesn't do anything other than just sort of sit on top of the Volcano & roar but it does look good considering the usual Sy-Fy Channel junk we see. Some of the other effects aren't so impressive, the disappearing house & crumbling rocks in particular look bad but the main star of the show the Behemoth is one of the better looking Sy-Fy Channel beasties. Even though a few people die there's no blood or gore here, like I said the Behemoth is underused & apart from sink a few houses doesn't really do anything of note.
With a supposed budget of about $1,300,000 this was filmed in British Columbia in Canada with decent production values & nice enough mountain scenery. The acting is, as usual, forgettable with most of the cast phoning their performances in. The only cast member of note is William B. Davis who played the sinister cigarette smoking man in The X-Files (1993-2002).
Behemoth is a boring mix of ecological thriller & giant monster creature feature that has some surprisingly good CGI but little else to recommend it. Bland character's, a plot cobbled together from various ideas & a lack of monster action kill it dead. Even if it's on television for free think twice about wasting your time.