mikcomserv Review of The Sea Wolves

The Sea Wolves (1980)

Good premise, but at times, contrived, and stilted, with an over the top music score.

[6/10 · 29 September 2014]

(spoilers ahead) Although the cast was A list, the writing and direction was a bit over the top and cheesy at times, and hard to follow at other times. No matter how talented the cast, weak writing and direction still leave us with a mediocre story. Some of the cloak and dagger scenes were over-acted, to the point of being funny -- sort of like a kid trying to be sneaky, and we won't go into Roger Moore's love scenes, where he looked like he was puckering up to suck her face off.) However, of all the facets that detracted from an essentially good story, the campy musical score was at the top. It sounded like someone edited in some old background music used for a silent era film. I'm sorry, but playing upbeat or breezy music during a scene of intrigue or suspense tends to distract from the mood. Did the composer even score the music while the scenes played out in post-production? In the end, the film wound up looking like a low budget TV movie.