Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-09)

(Antfer) #1
ILLUSTRATION CREATED BY ZACK KUTOS USING KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES (PITT) AND PARAMOUNT/EVERETT COLLECTION (EVENT HORIZON)

W


HEN YOU THINK
of ’90s sci-fi,
big names
come to mind.
The decade
kicked off with
Schwarzeneg-
ger getting his
ass to Mars in Total Recall, and
didn’t stop until Neo dodged bul-
lets in The Matrix. In between
were highlights like Te r m i n a t o r
2 , Jurassic Park, Tw e l v e M o n k e y s,
The Fifth Element, Men in Black,
and Gattaca. All great films, rec-
ognized as such in their time.
And then there’s Event Hori-
zon, a weird Neptunian horror
almost universally loathed upon
its 1997 release. Take, for exam-
ple, critic Stephen Hunter’s
review from The Wa shington
Post: “If you want to have that
‘Event Horizon’ experience with-
out spending the seven bucks,
try this instead: Put a bucket on
your head. Have a loved one beat
on it vigorously with a wrench
for 100 minutes. Same differ-
ence, and think of the gas you’ll
save.” Hunter, like many of his
fellow cinematic sommeliers of
the time, didn’t have many nice
things to say about director Paul
W.S. Anderson’s creation.
But now, more than two
decades later, it’s a movie that
refuses to be forgotten. As Brad
Pitt travels on his own “some-
thing’s gone terribly wrong”

Sci-Fi
9
// BY DARREN ORF //

Ad Astra Goes to


Neptune This


Month. But Event


Horizon’s (1997)


Voyage Was Better


26 September 2019
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