Can we all just get together and decide that creating black holes of any size just isn't a good idea? One can't help but think of the experiments involving the Large Hadron Collider when watching The Void. The disaster scenario that plays out in this film isn't all that farfetched, as it hinges on the arrogance of select scientists and the reckless determination of a project head more than willing to take any risk to make his decades-long pet project come to fruition. A significant number of scientists in the real world don't play well with others, ignore or dismiss out of hand any criticism - no matter how valid - of their work, and have been caught red-handed tampering with their own data. Yet we're supposed to fully trust these guys when they tell us there is no danger whatsoever - even after repeated delays due to equipment malfunctions - hurtling particles together at extreme speeds. The reality is that one tiny mistake in their calculations could literally kill us all. Needless to say, watching The Void did nothing to ease my concerns about CERN.
Unfortunately, The Void just isn't that good of a movie. I give it exceedingly average scores all around. Amanda Tapping does her best to save the world as academic physicist Eva Soderstrom, but the script doesn't do her any favors. Her co-star Adrian Paul looks and acts like a human punching bag, and his penchant to make jokes during even the most serious of occasions is beyond annoying. Michael McDowell is, of course, quite good as the bad guy, Dr. Thomas Abernathy, but I for one am growing tired of his evil scientist shtick. The man is too prolific for his own good in movies of this type.
The folks at the Atomic Energy Commission are apparently unaware that Dr. Abernathy's project to create a clean and almost unlimited power source has already failed miserably eight years earlier in Luxembourg, resulting in the deaths of everyone involved in the project - except Abernathy, of course. One of those victims was the father of Eva Soderstrom, who has been after the covered-up truth ever since. She finally finds an "in" in the form of Steven Price (Adrian Paul), adjunct professor and high-ranking engineer in Abernathy's new company. After hacking into the data she needs, she quickly sees that Abernathy's computations are wrong, which means his imminent new experiment is going to create an atomic black hole that will either suck the earth into its dense depths or explode - either way, Planet Earth is seriously screwed. Unfortunately, she only has a few days to stop Abernathy and save the world, no one - including her engineer boyfriend - wants to hear what she has to say, and someone seems determined to kill her and anyone who might be helping her.
Don't let the box cover fool you. That huge sucking sound you hear is in fact Abernathy's particle collider, but you won't see it sucking in bustling city streets. That isn't to say there isn't some major damage brought to bear in this film - it's just not as extreme as you might be expecting. In fact, the special effects are one of the more effective aspects of The Void. It's just too bad the script doesn't rise to the occasion. This could have been much more than the exceedingly average film that it is.
