2/10
Poorly written, error riddled & frankly terrible 'mockbuster' rip-off.
9 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
30,000 Leagues Under the Sea starts as Lieutenant Captain Michael Aronnaux (Lorenzo Lamas) is ordered to use his invention the Oxygenator, which turns water into air, aboard his small sub the Aquanaut 3 to dive down 20,000 feet to the stranded USS Scotia & save the 150 odd crewmen. Once Aronnaux & his small crew reach the USS Scotia they are kidnapped by eccentric billionaire Captain Nemo (Sean Lawlor) & held prisoner on his submarine the Nautilus where he reveals that he has stolen the nuclear warheads from the USS Scotia & intends to use them to destroy the Earth & create an underwater utopia. Aronnaux & his crew aren't keen on the idea & set out to stop Nemo in his destruction of our planet, as the fate of the human race hangs in the balance can Aronnaux stop Nemo?

Directed by Gabriel Bologna this is yet another Hollywood blockbuster rip-off from those people at The Asylum, do I really need to to say which Hollywood flick 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea rips-off? There's only one number difference in both titles although any connection to the classic Jules Verne novel '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' is purely coincidental. While the original Verne novel was set during Victorian times the makers of 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea decide to set the story in contemporary times although the basic plot of a sea loving genius who wants to start a new civilisation under the waves is present & correct. To be brutally honest 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea is absolutely terrible, the plot sucks, there's no pace or tension or drama, the character's & dialogue are awful & the film has many, many factual holes which are painfully obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense or general knowledge. For instance the submarine featured in 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea sinks to a depth of over 20,000 feet yet the crush depth of such a submarine is less than 2,500 feet & then there's the scenes of people diving & swimming at that depth with nothing more than normal clothing & simple air breathers. Also I think I am right in saying that at a depth of over 20,000 feet it would be literally pitch black since no sunlight can travel that far through water so why is everything illuminated so well? Why does that underwater Volcano intermittently prevent radio signals? The basic physics & facts of reality are completely ignored in 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea & it has no dramatic impact or weight because of it. The whole film is also incredibly boring, the pace is slow & the plot is very predictable with obvious character arcs, plot development's & a by the numbers 'hero saves the day & rescues the girl' style ending.

This film just looks cheap, from the rubbishy low lit sets that looks slightly more futuristic than your average warehouse corridor to the boring design of the costumes & underwater equipment. The sets are decorated by what looks like cheap car seats & I never really got the impression that I was on a modern, sleek ultra sophisticated state-of-the-art submarine. The sets & production design on Seaquest DSV (1993 - 1996) were far superior to this & 30,000 Leagues Under the Sea feels like a cheap imitation of it. This is strictly PG stuff all the way so forget about any fights or gore or action. The CGI effects vary, some of them are alright if a little basic while other's are awful like the giant squid things which look terrible.

With a supposed budget of about $500,000 this didn't have much spent on it & it shows since the film looks drab, dull & cheap throughout. Par for the course for The Asylum really, do they even try to make good films? The acting is poor from no-one I have ever heard of before.

30,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a cross between 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea & Seaquest DSV with less than spectacular results. The CGI isn't as bad as it could have been but all the errors that you need to suspend your disbelief & forget everything you know about the sea just sink it without trace.
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