Rating: Summary: good movie - BAD DVD Review: I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was about 9. It certainly piqued my interest in the paranormal, but at the time, I was unaware that the movie was based on alleged experiments by the US Navy. It's a B-sci fi movie complete with silly exaggerations, decent special effects, general cheesiness and the inevitable romance that ensues - in this case between a skeptical Nancy Allen and a confused Michael Pare. This movie is not to be taken very seriously.If you are looking for mindless entertaiment, this is an excellent movie to satisfy your craving. It may even spark an interest in reading further about the allegedly real Philadelphia Experiment.
Rating: Summary: Excellent B Movie Review: I remember seeing this movie for the first time when I was about 9. It certainly piqued my interest in the paranormal, but at the time, I was unaware that the movie was based on alleged experiments by the US Navy. It's a B-sci fi movie complete with silly exaggerations, decent special effects, general cheesiness and the inevitable romance that ensues - in this case between a skeptical Nancy Allen and a confused Michael Pare. This movie is not to be taken very seriously. If you are looking for mindless entertaiment, this is an excellent movie to satisfy your craving. It may even spark an interest in reading further about the allegedly real Philadelphia Experiment.
Rating: Summary: not as good as the second movie Review: I saw the second movie first and really liked it, so I rented the first one. Big disappointment. The story had almost no depth at all. You really didn't get to know the characters. There wasn't much of on the edge of your seat excitement. Also, I noticed some things that didn't make sense- this movie didn't have much scientific logic to it. For instance, the guys chasing the two time travellers needed them alive- yet they shot at them! Further, even before they shot at them the two ran- when they didn't have any reason to. And that older guy (won't say who) that knew what happened, wouldn't tell what happened for no reason that I can see. These things and more were just to irritating to overlook. But, there were some surprises and some paradox stuff that did make you wonder. And there was time travel. So, the movie wasn't a total loss. And maybe I would have liked it better had I seen this one BEFORE the next one. The sequel was really good- atlot more excitement and suspence, and more character depth. The sequel was about a horrifying alernate reality created by time travel that the main character of both movies- I forget his name- was the only one who knew that this wasn't the way things were supposed to be. (He remembered the orginal reality) It seems from other reviews that if a person likes one movie (1 or 2) they probably won't like the other. But, then they are very different movies.
Rating: Summary: Well scripted and acted Review: I thought it was well done. Smoothly takes you to the impossible - finding yourself in another time. Believable.
Rating: Summary: the philadelphia experiment Review: If you like SCIENCE FICTION <TIME TRAVEL>, this is one of the 20 best from the 20th century!
Rating: Summary: Don't Expect Sub-titles Review: If you plan this movie to have sub-titles, beware, an unusual dvd: No Sub-Titles included.
Otherwise, the movie is just good as it was twenty-years ago.
Rating: Summary: Great movie, DVD clarity is great Review: Just wanted to say that not only is this a great movie (time travel), but also that the clarity of the movie (on DVD) is very high. Especially in the outdoor scenes. Colors are great too. If you get the chance to view this on a computer screen (using the DVD drive in the computer), you will be stunned. Personal Computers use progressive scan DVD technology, which is like a line doubler. You get a much clearer picture. Makes the DVD's look like film. Regular DVD players that hook up to regular TV's (non-digital) are interlaced, and don't look as good.
Rating: Summary: Fun Time-Travel Movie from the 80's Review: Like another reviewer said, no subtitles on the DVD but the film is preserved in near-pristine condition. It was remarkable how crisp the images were. The DVD has trailer, scene selection, audio options and that's about it.
The special effects were very 1980's so you have to overlook that when watching the film. There's a great sequence where Manfred Mann's "The Runner" is used for background music. And a slight continuity error when the Porsche following (and eventually passing) our heroes disappears from the rear window. And I have to wonder, since our hero is so important to the military's time travel experiment, why are they shooting at him? (duh!). Oh well, makes for a little more exciting chase sequences. And then there's that whole time-space continuum thing, what with the events as they play out. Oops, better to not think about that stuff! LOL
One of the (1984) scientists shows up in another time-warp movie, "Groundhog Day." See if you can spot him. Also, one of the main doctors is the U.S. submarine captain from "Firefox." And there's a guy on the hospital elevator that later shows up as a bus passenger in "Speed." Nancy Allen gets the Good Samaritan Award for helping out some guys who steal her car, kidnap her, then her car gets wrecked. But then, how often does a girl get to date a guy that came across 41 years of time?
Michael Pare was definitely a good choice for the film; he plays the perplexed sailor pretty well. This would be a good double-feature for the time period with Jeff Bridge's "Starman."
Rating: Summary: Excellent movie, with an unusual twist. Review: The Philadelphia experiment is a classic in the Sci-Fi genre. What makes this movie really interesting though, is not the action, plot, or special effects. It is the fact that this movie is based on an actual military experiment. During an experiment to make a ship invisible to radar, the ship did just that, but it also became invisible to the naked eye as well. This may or may not be true, but it does make the story more interesting when this is considered. Even without it, it is a thought provoking story, with good visual effects.
Rating: Summary: An Experiment in Good Film Making Review: THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT is a pretty good, solid piece of B-Movie sci fi. Loosely based on actual events during World War II, the U.S. government tests a naval battleship to see if it can disappear from radar by using high powered electromagentic energy. The writers, producer (John Carpenter i.e. HALLOWEEN), and director, have used these events to create an entertaining time travel story in which during the experiment, two of the crewmen are transported through time to 1984 and must find their way back. At the same time, the experiment in 1943 is affecting a similar experiment in 1984 Nevada conducted by the same scientist, Dr. James Longstreet, (Eric Christams as the elder Dr. Longstreet in 1984 Nevada, and Miles McNamara as the young Dr. Longstreet in 1943 Philadelphia) creating a vortex and distruption in the space/time continuim. There are characters you care about, decent if not conventional time travel plot devices, just the right amount of special effects, the usual government personnel chasing the innocent time travel victim(s), and a love story thrown in for good measure. Michael Pare shows some pretty good emotional depth as David Herdeg, one of the crewmen sent into the future and he and Nancy Allen as Allison Hayes have pretty good onscreen chemistry. Bobby Di Cicco has a great supporting role as the other crewmen sent along with Micheal Pare. He practically reprises a role he played in the Steven Speilberg WWII comedy film "1941" as he uses the dancing skills he learned during the filming of that movie and uses it in the opening scenes of 'EXPERIMENT (Perhaps it was an in-joke?). Overall, an entertaining sci fi, time travel film that delivers. Movie should be noteworthy because released the same year he produced this movie, John Carpenter wrote and directed STARMAN with almost the same kind of pathos and romance/road trip film. Instead of a a man far from his time period (PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT), we have an extraterrestial far from home (STARMAN).
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