Simply A Masterpiece

i must have seen a different film!!

Fresh and Exciting

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Excellent sets, atmosphere and cinematography. Dated story and science, but that doesn´t detract from the dark epicness that is The Black Hole.

Hey, never mind the bad reviews. It's a Disney sci-fi movie about spaceships, robots, laser fights and a black hole. It's meant to be entertaining and fun - it's not about physics. Plot: The crew on board the spacecraft USS Palomino - that is our friends Captain Dan Holland, First Officer Lieutenant Charlie Pizer, journalist Harry Booth, the ESP-sensitive scientist Dr. Kate McCrae, the expedition's civilian leader Dr. Alex Durant and the funny talking robot V.I.N.CENT (Vital Information Necessary Centralized - is nearing the end of a mission exploring the outer space. Then they stumble upon a ship that has been missing for 20 years, The Cygnus. The explorers go on board and discover that the entire crew of the Cygnus has disappeared, except for the brilliant but creepy scientist, Dr. Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell), whom we find out is on a mission to plunge into the black hole. The Cygnus, with long hallways and high ceilings, is designed like a mansion from the 18th century, the LV426 from Alien and Hugo Drax' secret base in the jungle from the movie Moonraker. Of course, Disney wanted this movie to be their Star Wars, which of course came out two years earlier. Well, it's not exactly that. More like "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea» - in outer space.Yup. It's cheesy and campy and silly. But I've loved it since I was a kid. And to be honest, for a Disney movie (their first pg-rated movie),it's pretty dark and claustrophobic. And the soundtrack by John Barry is a killer! And yeah, Maximillian - Dr. Reinhardt's robot - he's scary. Watch it on a rainy night with a mountain of popcorn.

A team of space travelers locates a long lost, massive spacecraft, the U.S.S. Cygnus, perched in space near an imposing black hole. They meet its commander, the mad genius Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximilian Schell), who's created an army of obedient robot slaves and who fully intends to explore this black hole and see what might lay beyond it. It doesn't take our heroes too long to realize that they should get out while the getting is good."The Black Hole" came along at a very interesting time during the reign of Disney Studios, when they took some unusual chances with their projects and dipped their toes into genres like fantasy, sci-fi, and horror. Also of note during this time are "The Watcher in the Woods", "Tron", and "Something Wicked This Way Comes". The result is a very dark and highly operatic piece of work that offers great fun, although it will have more appeal to older kids and adults than the very young due to its themes, plot details, and suggestion of violence. (As a matter of fact, some pretty nasty violence is suggested at one point, not that we ever see any blood or gore.) It does play as reminiscent of earlier works - Disney's own production of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "Forbidden Planet", "2001: A Space Odyssey", and "Star Wars".Some of the visual effects may show their age now, 37 years later, but overall, the movie is quite agreeable as eye candy, and looks especially nice in its intended 2.35:1 aspect ratio. John Barry's music score is somewhat repetitive, but also utterly thunderous and ominous, perfectly suiting the material.The human cast is steadfast and reliable, with Schell making the most of his madman role. It's hard to go too wrong with a group of actors including Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Ernest Borgnine, and the lovely Yvette Mimieux. As was the case with "Star Wars", the cute robot characters tend to steal the show, V.I.N.CENT (voiced by Roddy McDowall) and B.O.B. (voiced by Slim Pickens). The towering red robot thug Maximillian leaves quite the impression as well. Director Gary Nelson cameos as the drone whose mask is removed.Great fun overall, which is made all the more memorable by its truly haunting ending.Eight out of 10.

It's a shame The Black Hole was panned and largely forgotten after its release. There's a lot here to enjoy. The story is interesting, with a spaceship that was lost 20 years previous being discovered next to a giant black hole, its crew lost save for its eccentric and possibly insane captain and his crew of androids. As you can imagine, perilous shenanigans ensue.The cast is a mixed bag. The big hitters like Anthony "Psycho" Perkins, Maximilian Schell and Ernest Borgnine are excellent, the lesser names like Robert Foster and Yvette Mimieux less impressive. The real stars of the feature are the three main robot characters, Vincent, Bob and the menacing Maximillian. Comparisons to the recent Star Wars were made, and with hindsight you can understand why this movie was seen as inferior. Where Star Wars relied largely on a young and aesthetically pleasing cast with the likes of Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, Black Hole's main core consists of actors the wrong side of 40.The effects are impressive for 1979, and the ship interior is just huge. It's a good thing they got the ship designs right because not much happens outside of the ship. The music score is phenomenal. The script is a bit ropey, throwing out silly Disney-esque fluff one minute and following it up with statements like "Could this be an Einstein-Rosen bridge?" the next. Huh? Exactly.The Black Hole is much maligned, and unfairly so in my opinion. It's well worth a revisit. It's dark, brooding and menacing and more cerebral than what I expect from a 70s Disney production. It's no masterpiece but if we must make Stars Wars comparisons it pales next to The Empire Strikes Back but it's certainly as good as Return Of The Jedi.