THE VOID (2001)
Not to be confused with 2016's The Void. No, this isn't cosmic horror. It's barely horror at all, but I wanted to review it to convince myself that it exists. I mean, I have a faint memory of seeing it on a shelf in the waning years of the video store. Ah, the video store. This is something I would have rented, so I'm surprised that I never did. While it can't be argued that any ties to the genre are tenuous at best, The Void does make use of primordial sci-fi tropes that ruled the day in decades past. We have a mad scientist, a crusty old curmudgeon played by...Malcolm McDowell? What is he doing here? He oversees Filadyne, an evil corporation bent on recklessly smashing particles together in a vain bid to create tiny bombs. Or something. Eva has crunched the numbers, and she believes that McD - er, Dr. Abernathy is on the verge of creating a black hole that could swallow the totality of civilization. So it's a race against time, which I realize doesn't sound too appetizing.
Maybe it does sound appetizing. Maybe you're into incomprehensible, near-cabalistic techno-babble. I'm on record as enjoying pseudo-science (or "movie science"), but I have to admit that The Void pushed me to my limits. The question is, why didn't I hate this flick? For starters, the cast is game. Amanda Tapping is solid as Eva. Apparently, she pursued a career behind the camera, but she's comfortable in front of it (though I'm pretty sure those were stunt boobs, not that I'm complaining). Her relationship with boyfriend Steven is reasonably well-developed. The digital effects are standard for the period. I knew what I was signing up for, so I'm in no position to gripe about CGI. Will I ever watch The Void again? Probably not. Do I wish I could have those 93 minutes back? Nah. I'm sure there are folks on Letterboxd who will try to be cute and tell you to "avoid The Void," but you have seen worse. My VCR has definitely seen worse.
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