A plane full of passengers crashes into the ocean, and the survivors must then come together to brave a mysterious and dangerous island in the feature Bermuda Island.
It has become somewhat of a trend recently, with smaller independent productions hiring actors who were quite big names decades ago to play small roles so that the film has a better chance of selling to worldwide distributors. While this strategy does somewhat work, the audience can be left somewhat disappointed by the size of the familiar face’s role, and by the performance as well, as many just “dial it in” and simply turn up for an easy paycheck.
Here we have Bermuda Island directed by Adam Werth and produced by Sonny Mahal. The film itself is not original and is obviously low budget to some degree, but it’s also plain to see that it had more money spent on it than a lot of the independent features that come across our desk. Sold as a thriller starring Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan, Heat, Strange Days) and Noel Gugliemi (Bruce Almighty, Training Day, The Fast and the Furious), when in reality, both actor’s characters don’t make it past the fifteen-minute mark, and instead, we are left with a group of actors whom you may only recognise if you are obsessed with smaller film productions like Arena Wars (another Sonny Mahal production) Tommyknockers (reviewed here) and Pretty Boy. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a film starring many up-and-comers or unknowns, but maybe don’t have famous cameos taking top billing.
The film starts with a sting operation. A group of detectives manage to finally bring down a gun-runner named Diego Montalban (Gugliemi) after a shootout in the middle of a street, that sees some deaths. The FBI then need to transfer him to Costa Rica, and they board a plane along with many holidaymakers and Tom Sizemore’s character Jonas who works as part of the cabin crew. After an elaborate escape plan that sees Montalban manage to steal the keys for his handcuffs from an unsuspecting FBI agent, another shoot-out occurs that results in Sizemore’s and Gugliemi’s death. The plane then hits a storm that “comes out of nowhere” and goes down into the ocean. The survivors of the crash (and there are plenty of them) swim to a nearby island and try to figure out a way home, but infighting and the appearance of some creatures who love the taste of human flesh both add spanners into the works. We then get a further sixty minutes of something that strongly resembles the hit TV show Lost.
Whilst many independent films suffer due to the lack of money that was available, Bermuda Island, unfortunately, fails in other areas that didn’t really require much money. The direction and script are not up to scratch and the movie actually fails in deciding what it actually wants to be and say. What starts as a crime thriller, merges into a comedy, then a horror, all the while actually looking like a TV show. The FBI sting with Montalban adds nothing to the story, and the shootout on the plane actually plays no part in the plane actually crashing into the sea, it’s like it was added just to get Gugliemi on set for a couple of days. Sizemore’s character as an air steward is the same, he comes in, says a few lines, and then dies, leaving fans who remember him being described as a massive talent after True Romance feeling saddened in seeing what became of an actor who carved out a career working with some of the best directors of the 90s.
The remaining characters are all very much cliched and stereotypical. We have a sex pest, a ball-buster, a Karen, a goth rock star, and many more, and all of them have a lot of lines and screen time, so much so that we don’t really spend enough time with any individual to actually start rooting and have any feelings for. So when they do start getting picked off one-by-one by the humanoid cannibal creature things, it means very little. The island itself is actually a decent location, and the props department did a great job, filling the beach with bits of the plane, luggage, and even an abandoned boat – it actually looks and feels like a desert island in the middle of nowhere. It makes me think that maybe Sonny Mahal could actually do something spectacular in the future, he is clearly capable of producing and finding money for his productions, but if he worked with more capable film-makers, not only would he make a profit and more, but he could actually churn out something that could potentially win awards and plaudits.
While I may have been critical of Bermuda Island above, what I can say, is that I can imagine it being an enjoyable romp if you are sat around with a bunch of friends and having a drink. You will likely laugh and snort for the near 90-minute run time.
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