I must say from the outset that I found this film very disappointing indeed. The premise is ludicrous: cleaning lady at a top secret government research centre (at some time/place in the Cold War) discovers (and falls in love with) a creature that is half-man and half sea creature (in a very unconvincing costume), with little explanation of where it came from or what was the purpose of the research.

For a film that clocks in at just over 2 hours there is little to keep you engaged for that length of time (as any film worth its salt over the 100-minute mark should).

Having said that the story/plot just seems to go nowhere, and none of the main characters are interesting enough to hook you in and care about them. Also as has been mentioned in other reviews, the diversity of characters seems to be little more than a box ticking exercise.

How this fish out of water won the Oscar for best picture & director (amongst others) will remain an eternal mystery. (One can only assume that the Academy has finally lost the plot as to what a top notch film actually is.)