Bermuda Island proves to be an enjoyable creature feature with plenty of gore
Bermuda Island opens with an action-filled sequence as a criminal, Diego Montalban (Noel Gugliemi), is apprehended by a group of federal agents led by Agent Victor Sweden (Wesley Cannon). In short order Diego becomes the centerpiece of a prisoner transport on a commercial flight, but not just any flight. This is a special airline.
The flight attendants and pilots work the ticket booth, the prisoner gets to fly first class, and there are two federal marshals that just happen to be on this flight of thirty people, fully unaware of the prisoner transport. Yeah, none of this is realistic, but Bermuda Island is closer to an episode of Fantasy Island than Lost.
This is a fun, but flawed movie. As a viewer, if you can let go of the massive gaps in logic before the plane crash, then Bermuda Island is enjoyable, because once you enter the Bermuda Triangle, nothing is supposed to make sense anyway.
Diego quickly devises an escape plan and we enter the realm of action movie once again!
However, this movie is not Diego’s story. It spends nearly 20 minutes building up Diego as a main character in what appears to be an action movie to this point, but then it takes a turn and the two most recognizable actors, Tom Sizemore and Noel Gugliemi, are out of the movie in an instant.
Without giving too much away, the plane crashes, and only about a dozen people survive. They end up on a mysterious island apparently in the center of the Bermuda Triangle.
At this point there is a complete shift in the storytelling. We get a different tone and a new set of main characters. While Agent Sweden stays in the picture, Carolyn (Sarah French) and Damon (Victor V. Gelsomino) take center stage as survivors of the crash.
As the group makes a survival plan, they meet Bruce (John Wells) who has been stranded on the island for quite some time and knows how to survive the island’s greatest threat.
No, it’s not the elements … it’s the monsters you have to watch out for on this Bermuda island. And from here on out, it becomes a B-movie creature feature as the survivors become victims and must focus on battling the creatures for the rest of the movie.
The glaring flaw of the movie is its tone. It starts of as a serious action movie, then attempts to become a horrific creature feature, but is a little too tongue-and-cheek to ever be scary (although it never really tries to be). But the reality is, this is B-movie goodness. Check your brain at the door and roll with what’s on screen — enjoy it. The filmmakers here aren’t setting out to make high art but to entertain.
The creatures themselves, are a little goofy, and would better serve the movie in a “less is more” capacity, but instead the filmmakers choose to make a point of showing these rubber suited monsters in all their glory, that aside, the story movies quick, delivers some good kills, keeps the body count high, and has a very unexpected twist.
There is some good gore and the story is compelling enough to make this a worthwhile watch.
As a whole, the ensemble cast performs admirably throughout, keeping things interesting. The most seasoned actors don’t make it past the plane crash, but French, Gelsomino, and Wells do a nice job of guiding the movie to its surprising conclusion.
Ed’s Grade: B
