X
- 1986
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 57 m
- 1986
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 57 m
Summary Allie Fox (Harrison Ford) moves his wife (Helen Mirren) and their four young children to Central America to form his own Utopia.
Directed By: Peter Weir
Written By: Paul Theroux, Paul Schrader
- 1986
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 57 m
- 1986
- PG
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 57 m
The Mosquito Coast
51
7.1
Where to Watch
Summary Allie Fox (Harrison Ford) moves his wife (Helen Mirren) and their four young children to Central America to form his own Utopia.
Directed By: Peter Weir
Written By: Paul Theroux, Paul Schrader
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
51
38% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 13 Critic Reviews
51
38% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
54% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
8% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Ford dials up the smarm of Han Solo and the hubris of Indiana Jones to portray a man who’s just smart, capable, and charming enough to be dangerous—to himself, his family, and the villagers.
Weir's orchestrated The Mosquito Coast's action to match Fox's progressive mental state, from rage to explosion to squalls and finally to hurricane velocity; however, the film leaves us not with an apotheosis, but exhaustion. [26 Nov 1986]
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 15 User Ratings
7.1
73% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
20% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
7% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 15 User Ratings
7.1
73% Positive
11 Ratings
11 Ratings
20% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
7% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
This movie is so good. The concept, acting, and everything else is amazing. This might be a weird comparison, but this movie is a lot like The Shining. (How the characters develop) and I love it for that. I've seen dozens of horror movies, old and recent. But the Mosquito Coast (a non horror movie) is ONE if the *scariest* movies I have ever seen. Modern horror movies are all just about unrealistic dolls, ghosts, and monsters. Fake isn't always scary, but the concept of this movie is so real, that it might frighten you. But it will intrigue you at the same time.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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It is hard to believe that a film as beautiful as The Mosquito Coast [adapted from the novel by Paul Theroux] can also be so bleak, but therein lies its power and undoing.
The Mosquito Coast is a work of consummate craftsmanship and it's spectacularly acted, down to the smallest roles (Martha Plimpton as a classically obstreperous preacher's daughter, for example), but its field of vision is as narrow and eventually as claustrophobic as Allie's. [28 Nov 1986]
The movie has been directed and acted so well, in fact, that almost all my questions have to do with the script: Why was the hero made so uncompromisingly hateful?
The picture's blandness - and hollowness - is startling when you consider the collaborators. [26 Nov 1986]
The problem is that the high-pitched whine of Allie's character finally vitiates not merely the viewer's sympathy for him, but sympathy for the movie he dominates, despite the care and courage that went into its making.
The Mosquito Coast is a very unique film. Maybe not unique for director Peter Weir, who is known for his slow and contemplative dramas, but definitely unique for star Harrison Ford. No action, no fight scenes, and no archaeological digs. This is a straight drama and Ford was rewarded by it being the only film he starred in to lose money. Playing eccentric inventor Allie Fox, The Mosquito Coast depicts Allie taking his family to Belize where he buys a small village. Fed up with American life and the perceived failure of it as a society, he sees the small village of Jeronimo as a paradise where they can start over. Unfortunately, things go haywire as he gets more-and-more erratic in his behavior. A slow descent into madness, Ford turns in possibly his best acting performance in the film and it is a film with various thematic layers courtesy of Weir.
One of the most readily apparent themes at play in the film is the perceived failure of the American dream. Winding down to the point where people buy things they do not need and sells things to people who also do not need them, commercialization has superseded ambition. Driving past migrant workers in America, Fox laments to his two sons - Charlie (River Phoenix) and Jerry (Jadrien Steele) - that he has no idea why they keep coming here. They work their asses off and for what? Nothing but abject poverty. Constantly complaining about the way in which America has spiraled downward into being practically a parody of itself, Allie Fox is a man who eventually proves just how hard it is to build a society. In Jeronimo, he builds his ice machine that produces ice from fire and provides preservation for food and air conditioning, but his greed and pride lead him to abusing his machine to kill intruders. Backfiring, he winds up quickly destroying his settlement. Viewed in comparison with the theme of the failed American dream, Fox essentially answers his own question. He works hard to build himself up with no expectation of monetary reward. He does it because he has to and he views this place as his best chance for happiness. For immigrants, their reasons are very much the same. Unfortunately, infrastructure of the country they arrive in winds up blowing up in their face and knocking them back down to square one.
Early in the film, Allie also rants about the world. Stating that war has changed immeasurably, he believes that no longer is either side entirely innocent in war. Rather, both sides are different shades of evil. This belief comes to fruition when he battles Reverend Spellgood (Andre Gregory). Bringing Christianity to the area via his missionary, he and Allie do battle and the Reverend accuses Allie of being a communist. Bringing Allie's villagers to his settlement and unafraid to use a gun and kill people, the Reverend is hardly a good man. His own daughter, who befriends Charlie, hardly even likes him. Yet, Allie himself is a murderer and a dangerous psychopath. For both, they felt the call to come out to this area in Belize - the Reverend because of God and Allie because of his rejection of American society - yet they quickly discover there is not enough room for the both of them. Mirroring war, they both quickly divide their settlements and stay the hell away from one another and neither are particularly good people with both exacting violence on one another and their settlements.
As is clear, communism, the red scare, and nuclear holocaust also play a key thematic role in the film. Accused of being a communist, Allie also tells his children that America was destroyed by a nuclear bomb after previously warning that nuclear holocaust was on its way. In the mid-1980s, the red scare may not have been nearly as prevalent as in the 1950s, but it certainly was still around and Allie plays on this paranoia with his own children. Unfortunately for him, he brings nuclear holocaust to Jeronimo with his inventions that pollute the water. The end result being that it is not machines or the warheads we need to be wary of, but the people in control of them. His machine would not have exploded had he not used it for his own nefarious purposes out of greed, pride, and anger. In essence, he was the reason for hellfire coming to his settlement and opened himself up to punishment for his own inclination to fall into excess. Similarly, nuclear holocaust would not be a fear if it were not for the people willing to use them for nefarious purposes. Nuclear energy could be used for good just as his machine could be used for good, but its purpose is perverted and used to promote various agendas or criminal enterprises.
Thematically important, The Mosquito Coast may be too slow for some, but it is undeniably riveting to watch unfold. Thrilling, dramatic, and horrifying, Allie Fox's descent into pure insanity and into a dangerous man is hard to watch and a compelling character study of a man who subtly becomes the evil he was warning his kids about in the beginning.
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An interesting take and loosely based on a novel written by Paul Theoroux. This Apple TV series provides more thought material than is typical of American film.
The acting is all very good and interesting to watch. The writing is very good and actually sometimes better than the original novel. So, even if you have read the novel and/or seen the 1986 movie I think most people will enjoy this TV series even more.
I'm compelled to say that I do not like Logan Polish's interpretation of Dina the teenage daughter. Perhaps because I anticipated something much better. I may have set my expectations too high. It seems to me that perhaps whoever decided to cast Polish for the part expected something different (based on Polish's past work) and unfortunately did not get a good result. The part of the 15 year old daughter is important to the series and it is unfortunate that it did not work out. I would wager a large sum that Polish did not screen test for the role. Or, maybe it was just a case of poor casting. Anyway, I think Polish has a lot of potential and I hope to see her in other roles that are a better fit for her.
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I just read some of the professional reviews of Apple TV's The Mosquito Coast.
As always, I am astounded at how incompetent professional critics are.
I'll provide a hint to potential viewers that may help you better appreciate the film.
The main character Allie Fox (husband and father) is a villain. According to the author of the novel, Allie Fox is partly based on the character Pap in the Samuel Clemens novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
If you are a father and a husband you might see a little bit of yourself (in a very exaggerated way) in the Allie Fox character.
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It can be seen as a genius gone horribly mad and abusive, or it can be seen as a genius who has always been blind to his ignorance and ethical rationality towards humanity and his family.
Kudos to Ford and his supporting cast to pulling off this tough cast of characters, but as stated earlier, the film can either work or not work at all if you consider what is being established during its first one-third runtime.
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Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Nominations
Young Artist Awards
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
