It boggles ithe mind to think about the plethora of idiots making science fiction films these days. Isn't it reasonable to assume that the venue of space would offer an incredible number of possibilities? Yet, movies like "Event Horizon" continue to be made. Here, the writer and director seem to take great pride in using all the tools at their disposal to erect an interesting story, only to resort to the most uncreative, primitive means of resolving it by basically stomping on it flat with the heel of their shoe. It's like Ridley Scott worked on the first forty-five minutes then handed the director's chair over to Ed Wood.

The story is that the research vessel "Event Horizon" reappears around the planet Neptune after mysteriously disappearing for seven years. The "Lewis and Clark" is sent to try and salvage the ship, rescue any crew and return. Aboard are Captain Miller (Laurence Fishburne), navigator Stark (Joely Richardson), emergency technicians Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) and Cooper (Richard T. Jones), engineer Justin (Jack Noseworthy), doctor D.J. (Jason Isaacs) and pilot Smith (Sean Pertwee). Also along for the ride is the "Event Horizon's" designer, Dr. William Weir (Sam Neill).

Once they near Neptune, Dr. Weir reveals that his ship is the first one ever capable of faster-than-light travel and that its disappearance wasn't unexpected. Naturally, people start looking at each other in weird ways, an indication in any science fiction movie that someone's about to have his head ripped off by an alien or about to board a haunted, infested ship where escape is all but impossible. If I'm captain, this is the time I take Dr. Weir, shoot him out of the nearest airlock and turn around.

I'm not precisely sure at what point director Paul ("Mortal Kombat") Anderson decided it was time to take a big, long piss on me, but I'm sure it coincided with his revelation that he no longer had a clue about what he was doing. I guess now that Paul has failed at this "thinking" thing, he can always return to his roots and make more movies based on video games.