RoweReviews
  • Viewing Log / Reviews
  • Search
  • Ramblings
  • Contact Me

Juggernaut (1974) - Richard Lester

10/30/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Setting sail for the United States, the guests of the Britannica look forward to all this behemoth has to offer.  Their fun and excitement is short lived when a mandman, who goes by Juggernaut, plants explosives on the luxury liner, demanding a large sum of money in exchange for instructions on how to successfully diffuse the bombs.  Nicholas Porter, a high ranking company official, attempts to persuade his superiors to pay the madman's ransom but they refuse, leading Nicholas to rely on Supt. John Mcleod to help track down the man responsible.  Richard Lester's Juggernaut is a tense and thrilling action/adventure that is quite the departure compared to most of Lester's filmography.  While many films of this ilk tend to be thrilling but intellectually empty, Lester has created a film that is far more intelligent both emotionally and socially than many of the films of this genre.  While the film is taut and tense, Lester injects the film with spurts of his trademark comedy, most notably using Roy Kinnear as a bumbling, entertainment director who comedic-ly tries to distract the passengers from the true danger they face.  Juggernaut eviscerates any idea that Lester cannot direct more serious fair, with the filmmaker using a mixture of handheld and wide shots that give this film a grand yet intimate feel.  This is a film that knows how to amp up the tension, my favorite device being the use of voiceover, one example being the juxtaposiion of  Juggernaut's demands with the passengers having fun on the ship.  A lot of fun from a pure escapism standpoint, Juggernaut is a sublte but seething commentary on bureaucracy and the perils of a system that doesn't take care of its own.  Fun and intelligent, Richard Lester's Juggernaut is one of the better films of its genre, using this bomb/hostage storyline to question government policies.  

Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Love of all things cinema brought me here.  

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Viewing Log / Reviews
  • Search
  • Ramblings
  • Contact Me