Tss5078
Some films just shouldn't be re-made, however Hollywood seldom agrees with that statement. In the case of the Philadelphia Experiment, there was oddly a consensus not to remake it. For almost a decade, people tried and failed to get it done. After almost every star and major film company rejected them, the re-make came out in 2012, as a direct-to-video feature, with a much smaller budget and a cast that just left people scratching their heads. For those unfamiliar with the story, The Philadelphia Experiment was a military operation, intended to transport matter, much in the same way as they do on Star Trek. It was first attempted in the 1940s and failed, as a ship was lost with all hands on board. In 1984, a private contractor attempts to revive the project and the ship, with one surviving crewman, miraculously returned. I always found this to be a clever story and I enjoyed the original, but to do a b-movie remake of the film was just ridiculous. For starters, the special effects in this film were worse than the ones they had in 1984, and they couldn't get anyone to star in this thing. Aside from Malcolm McDowell, who I'm convinced will do anything for a check, the cast is nothing more than a bunch of TV show extras, literally. Nicolas Lea, surprisingly does a very good job with the lead role, but what's one good performance, when combined with an inexperienced cast and no budget? For what it was, the re-make of the Philadelphia Experiment wasn't as bad as it could have been, mainly due to Nicolas Lea, but it certainly fails to live up to the original in every way possible.
juneebuggy
When I PVR'd this I'd actually been hoping it was the original 1984 movie because I remember really liking it. I'm not sure if I would feel the same way about that 1984 movie today but regardless what I got was a 2012 SyFy channel remake.It wasn't as bad as I was expecting -it wasn't great either but okay for a B-grade made for TV movie. The story borrows heavily from the original, this time reviving the WW2 era experiment with the warship (Eldridge) rematerializing at a small airport with disastrous results, bringing death and destruction to the 21st century. Its up to the experiments sole survivor and his granddaughter to stop it.For the most part I liked the story or at least just went with it, there were some very dumb parts too. The acting was decent from Nicholas Lea as time traveller Bill Gardner and also from Emilie Ullerup as Gardner's (very pretty) granddaughter. They did a decent job together, decent action scenes and I particularly liked seeing how confused Bill was by 2012. The men fused into the ship (which I remember from the original) was cool as was the Eldridge transporting to strange places like the top of a skyscraper.Things fall apart completely by the end with major plot holes, Malcolm Mcdowell turning up (at what 100 years old?). The casting in general was all over the place starting with Michael Pare (one of the stars from the original movie) playing a bad guy here, a sort of hit man which was a shame. Gardner also seemed too old for his role as a supposed 20 something navy crewmember from 1943, if they were going to cast him then they should have just stayed with Pare, he still looked good. 10/28/15 *Filmed in Vancouver
LeonLouisRicci
There is still a chance that the Fortean/UFO/Paranormal Community will see a Movie based on the controversial claims about a Naval Experiment in the 1940's to render a Ship invisible to Radar. It is rife with Colorful Characters with Names like Einstein and Tesla inserted into the Lore. There are elements like Time Travel, Invisibility, and Scientific Parlance like Unified Field Theories and Space Time Continuum to spice things up.Books have been Written and Talk Radio has had its share of Researchers, Witnesses, and Believers making various claims and tweaking Imaginations. So the Mythology is Rich and just waiting for someone to climb aboard and do it Justice.So far the 1984 Movie of the same Name is an Entertaining piece of Fluff that is a Fun if Flawed Film. This one is not as good but contains enough of the Story to make it a bit Mystifying but is sunk by its lack of Intelligence and contains only a smidgen of connection to the "Real Life" Experiment. It relies on shoot em ups and is heavy on the Government cliché, lets stop this by blowing things up and if conventional Weapons fail, bring on the Mini-Nukes.Maybe worth a view but this is a Made for TV Movie that wastes a lot of Money on a lot of Hooey and is another one of those Syfy Originals that continues to embarrass the Network and their Name is almost synonymous with the foregone conclusion of Mediocrity.
thypoopie
I could not connect with the characters on any level keeping them strangers throughout the whole film. As good as the performers were with their respective characters the story appeared to fall short giving them that opportunity. I failed miserably to comprehend a motivation behind many scenes that appear to depict blatant irrationality. As much as I value Michael Pare's work, I don't feel that the kind of killer he was screened to play really had a place in the film.Although the complete retelling of a story so memorable is refreshing, I think it could have been much more successful without the killing and cold-hearted villainy.
AD
