JUGGERNAUT (1974) **1/2 And what would any '70s all-star cast disaster flick be without some major holes in the plot? Here, (1) the mad bomber prophesies that weather in the mid-Atlantic will be so inclement as to preclude putting passengers on rafts, (2) two of the seven "major" bombs blow up without apparent structural damages, so why not just seal the others off and explode them?, and (3) the great evilbomber genius was so clever as to wire all seven bombs in a radically unpredictable, but identical manner. Oh, well. So he was either a kinder, gentler evil mad bomber genius; or a dumber kind of genius one. But never mind all that! Will drunken bomb disposal expert Richard Harris manage to defuse anything besides a bottle of Scotch in time? Richard Lester is captain of the film, and puts together all of the materials needed to make a big boom...his segue shots are nice in the manner of an unexpectedly big wave in the middle of the set, and suspense is maintained throughout. Plenty of fun, also, playing "name that actor," as Anthony Hopkins, Omar Sharif, Roy Kinnear and David Hemmings take turns moving things along, and sideways. Actually, Kinnear's entirely unnecessary and incongruous scene as party director is probably the best one of the entire film, and not entirely unlike Lester's classic work with the Beatles. Hopkins is basically too good for this sort of thing, which Sharif acknowledges by occasionally diving jealously out of character, like a punk rocker at the YMCA barbeque. Unlike the fabled and fabricated punker, though, Sharif also details moments of pathos and sensitive detachment, in a manner that really shouldn't be compared to Greil Marcus' contemplation of Sid Vicious. So it's entertaining more than scary, uncomfortable more than turbulent, silk-screened rather than metaphorical.
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