Plot? What plot? Where we're going, we don't need plot! Ok, so there’s this mad scientist (Malcolm McDowell) who wants to solve the worlds energy problems by creating a tiny black hole and not getting sucked into it. Eight years ago a failed experiment with the black hole doovaloacky killed a bunch of hapless scientists (but not the mad one).
Along comes Eva Sodastream (ok, so it’s Soderstrom) who is the daughter of one of the hapless scientists, an accomplished particle physicist in her own right. She knows the truth about what the mad scientist is doing and seduces a random employee of Filadyne, the company the mad scientist works for, so she can get access to the labs and stop the experiment. Take a deep breath.
Will she succeed? Will Malcolm McDowell ever agree to do Tank Girl 2? Will the budget of $4.25 be enough to simulate a believable miniature black hole? Find out in The Void!
The entry for The Void on IMDB has a big ‘V’ next to it, meaning Direct to Video. Direct to Video usually means low budget. Low-budget usually means unknowns. Unknowns usually means bad acting. Bad acting usually means Boa vs Python. And so the cycle continues for this reviewer.
The Void has some exceptions to the rule though. While it unquestionably has a low budget we have three well known names as stars: Adrian Paul (from the Highlander TV Series), Amanda Tapping (from Stargate SG-1 TV series) and Malcolm McDowell (released from the movie villain’s retirement home for this project). Unfortunately restricted by cookie cutter script and cheap sets they never quite get the chance to shine.
The entire premise of the movie being that there is going to be a tiny black hole consuming the whole earth from the inside out is never really exploited to create any real sense of suspense or danger.
It’s not all bad though. Amanda Tapping is outstanding in her role and I am no particle physicist but the science seemed believable. Her explanations of black holes and supercolliders were reminiscent of her role in the Stargate series, I kept expecting Richard Dean McGyver to interrupt with a witty quip, alas he did not.
The video content of The Void on DVD is about right for the budget of the feature. The video problems are numerous but not too distracting. Grain is present and in quite a few scenes, edge enhancement is obvious and the image tends to be too dark in a lot of places. On the positive side no film artefacts are present and the image in generally clean and clear if a little soft overall (even with the edge enhancement).
The aural experience is equally devoid (pun intended) of options and quality. Available only in an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track sounding more like a mono track, the audio is equal to the budget and quality of the movie, abysmal. Dialog is muddy, unclear and quite often drowned out by effects and background noise. An ear splitting crank of the volume knob is required to distinguish spoken word from canned effects in some scenes. Surround use is minimal and bass was sucked into some kind of black hole. What remains is flat and unimpressive.
Another budget DVD release another dollar, I mean another static menu system and bare bones extras. The only extra on this disc is a self-promotional theatrical trailer shown at full screen with 2 channel sound. Nothing to write home about that’s for sure.
Despite some promise with the cast, The Void still sucks, literally and figuratively, even the tagline sucks, “It Will Swallow You Hole”, oh please.
