Threshold (1981)
7/10
Believable Blend of Science and Fiction
17 December 2019
I think the most attractive sci-fi movies are those that are closer to truth than fiction. I remember when Jurassic Park came out in 1993 (I see you Jeff Goldblum) it was such a hot topic. In fact, even though I was only a teenager, I don't think I'd ever heard the term DNA before. Jurassic Park popularized the three letter acronym and made us all believe that it may even be possible to revive a long dead species.

Threshold has a similar believability. Doctor Vrain (Donald Sutherland) is the world's preeminent heart surgeon. He has performed such cutting edge heart surgeries they could be considered miracles. But there are conditions he can't even fix.

Dr. Aldo Gehring (Jeff Goldblum) is a biologist that believes he can create an artificial heart. As he put it, man didn't fly by mimicking a bird, they flew by creating a machine different than a bird. So trying to mimic a heart is similarly futile. Dr. Aldo invented a heart with a tiny steam engine that uses just a drop of water that it constantly recycles to drive it. And instead of pumping blood as a normal heart would by contracting and expanding, it uses a vortex action to pump blood throughout the body.

Threshold gives us that perfectly believable blend of science and fiction. It gives us that with the drama of a hospital movie/show that so many of us love. In the end, we all want to see lives saved because it gives us hope. And maybe that's what the true appeal of Threshold is--that it instills hope.
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