JuggernautTerrorists rarely take cruise ships hostage because governments don't pay ransom on people who take cruises.Back in the 1970s, however, commandeering cruise ships, like the one in this thriller, was commonplace.Passengers on the SS Britannic are thrown into peril when a terrorist named Juggernaut informs the ship's owner (Ian Holm) that there are explosives on-board set to detonate if he doesn't receive a healthy ransom.Meanwhile, a bomb specialist (Richard Harris) is airlifted in to defuse the situation, while a Scotland Yard detective (Anthony Hopkins) works on tracking down the mad bomber.Light on Hollywood theatrics due to its British production, this fictional account of a real life event that turned out to be a ruse is grounded and gritty in its storytelling. The classically trained cast also brings a high-level of professionalism to the crisis.Thankfully, the on-board entertainment tends to get a lot better under terrorism. Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Juggernaut is a well done action / disaster thriller which combines some good performances with great direction and scripting. An extortionist calling himself Juggernaut has planted several bombs aboard the ocean liner Britannic and is threatening to sink the liner in heavy seas if he is not paid off. The film follows an official from the cruise company, a naval bomb defuser, and London police officials as they attempt to prevent a catastrophe.What sets Juggernaut apart from a thousand other 'mad bomber' films is that to a large extent it approaches the threat from an official, even technical perspective. Rather than a maverick cop chasing the psychopath around the ship, we get highly suspenseful scenes of professionals trying to defuse bombs. The film plays up the difficulty of defusing a booby-trapped bomb, taking it beyond the film cliché of simply cutting the right wire. The heroes have to get through a variety of hidden snares within the devices before they even get to the wires. Indeed, the sub-plot involving the cruise official serves to remind us that this is not just a 'technical exercise,' that there really are lives at stake.Furthermore, the film does not succumb to the temptation to overplay its villain or make him a flamboyant maniac. Despite his code name serving as the title of the film, Juggernaut does not figure that prominently in the plot. When he does turn up, the performance is quite understated, particularly when compared to the head of the bomb squad. (Only Richard Harris would think that downing a bottle of scotch is good preparation for defusing a bomb.) Indeed, one can argue that the bombs themselves serve as the primary antagonist of the film with their fiendish designs.The acting in the film is quite good overall, even if the characters aren't always that well fleshed out. Richard Harris does a good job as the film's overall protagonist, lending him a sense of mordant humor that keeps him from becoming a stale action hero. Omar Sharif also does a good job as the ship's captain, even though his character is largely one note.Juggernaut does have some weak points. At times, the investigation back in London is given short shrift, so that it is difficult to follow. Furthermore, there are one or two scenes contrived for dramatic effect that take away from the film's realism. In particular, one scene where a young child gets access to a restricted area of the ship strains credibility. Still, the film definitely stands as a minor classic in its genre.

For the most part, the bomb disposal and the attempt to discover the bomber was moderately interesting, if a bit disjointed. Richard Harris performed adequately, but, of course, he was playing himself. Omar Sharif was wasted as the captain, most of the other adults had no reason for being there, and there were the two requisite "adorable" children thrown in for God knows what. The children's mother never knew or cared where her darlings were; I can only assume that they were the children of the producer, thrown into the picture as an act of good will. The entire film dragged for the middle hour, trying to establish some chemistry between the players and failing utterly, before finally producing one short burst of excitement, then petering out entirely.If you like Richard Harris, then, by all means, watch this. If not, don't waste your time.

It's an enjoyable suspense flick about expertly assembled bombs secretly stashed away on a passenger liner carrying 1200 souls. The name of the extortionist is "Juggernaut." The ransom is half a million pounds, which the British government refuses to pay since it does not deal with terrorists.The captain is Omar Sheriff. The team of the naval bomb disposal unit, sent out by airplane and parachute, is led by Richard Harris. Well, it's a tough situation, boys and girls. The sea is Force 8. The captain's illicit lover and entirely irrelevant girl friend, Shirley Knight, asks, "Is that strong?" Sheriff replies, "Yes." (The scale only goes up to 9.) The rough seas, though, make attempts to dismantle the seven bombs more dangerous and they also prevent the launching of lifeboats which, in the captain's estimation, would result in the loss of half the passengers.There are some semi-comic interludes involving the passengers but the main plot is taken up with Harris's tinkering with one of the bombs, knowing that if he finds a way to disarm it, the others can be quickly rendered impotent.Now, that sounds pretty dull. One can imagine with horror one of the stereotypical bomb dismantling scenes, which ordinarily take five minutes, stretched out to an hour and a half. Two thousand repetitions of questions like, "Should we (gulp) cut the red wire or the blue wire?" Instead, it's pretty engrossing stuff. While Harris fiddles with the wires, Scotland Yard is trying to track down Juggernaut in London, and the two threads run parallel, kind of like the copper wires in the cord to a floor lamp, only unshielded. Anthony Hopkins is quietly superb as the Scotland Yard guy and Harris is boisterous and compelling at the other end of the channel. Freddy Jones' appearance is brief but memorable.Two more points. (1) You don't need to know much about bombs or serial circuits to follow the goings on and be swept up in the suspense, any more than you need to know how to play pool to follow "The Hustler." (2) The writers have done a fine job of individualizing the principal characters and they've given Harris some superior dialog. "If this doesn't work, I'm going to be shocked by my own mortality." And, "You've heard about the goldfish? One says to the other, 'There must be a God. Who changes the water?'" Overall, it's not a work of art in any sense, but an enjoyable thriller about bomb disposal at sea. Craftsmanship rather than poetry.