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Virus | Year: 1999 Classification: Horror Directed: - John Bruno Actors/Actresses: - Kate Bosworth - Donald Sutherland - Jamie Lee Curtis - William Baldwin Flawed, but not fatally In an interview with one of the celebrity magazines, Jamie Lee Curtis listed two films she wished she had never made: "Grandview, USA," and 1999's "Virus." The two movies couldn't stand further apart in subject matter-"Grandview, USA" is one of those treacly coming of age films that appear on the scene every year or so. "Virus," on the other hand, is a huge budget science fiction film designed to bring in millions from audiences who favor bombastic effects over character development, logical continuity, and an intelligent script. While I think Curtis's statements about "Virus" a tad extreme, the movie surprisingly tanked at the box office despite its heavy reliance on shock and awe production values. When I recently viewed the movie on DVD, I more or less enjoyed the film. I did, however, come to understand why it ultimately failed at the box office. Curtis shouldn't fear any lasting damage to her career from "Virus," however. With her cult status from the "Halloween" franchise and her increasing forays into family comedy ("House Arrest," "Freaky Friday"), she should continue to rake in the bucks well into the future. "Virus" begins with an eerie disaster. An amorphous, glowing cloud-like object from outer space invades the Mir space station just as the satellite's crew is about to transmit important information to a Russian ship on the ocean. The object, whatever it is, manages to send itself down to earth and directly into the boat's computer system through this transmission link. The ship's electronics go instantly haywire, with people screaming and running all over the place. Fast forward a few days to another boat on the high seas, this one a barge transporting merchandise through a storm. Helmed by a grizzly old tar named Captain Robert Everton (Donald Sutherland) and manned by a crew including Kit Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Steve Baker (William Baldwin), the boat flounders in the rough waters and loses its cargo. Everton isn't popular with his crew; his steadfast refusal to cut the barges loose almost caused the entire boat to sink. It turns out Everton's entire life savings was bound up in that cargo, a fact that causes him immense distress until someone spots an abandoned boat a few miles ahead. Filled with sudden optimism over a lucrative recovery fee, Everton and his crew board the vessel. And wouldn't you know it? It's the Russian research craft we saw at the beginning of the movie. The ship is in sorry shape, drifting in the ocean with no crewmembers and no power. Still, Everton recognizes the value of his find and figures the finder's fee should be worth millions. As long as no one on the boat is alive, the captain and his crew should collect the money. In the meantime, they have to turn the power back on and sail the ship into harbor. The trouble begins at this point. An unfortunate "accident" sends the research vessel's anchor plunging through Everton's boat. Now trapped on the Russian ship, the crew of the cargo boat Cybernetics has never looked tastier... A team of Russian cosmonauts encounter a strange, malevolent electrical being in space just before transmitting data down to a research vessel, the Vladislav Volkov in the South Pacific, and inadvertently wind out transmitting the being. In the meantime, the tugboat Sea Star is struggling with a large cargo in tow and gets caught in Typhoon Leiah, with some spectacular special effects on the storm in this scene. After loosing the cargo they must head for the eye of the storm in order to repair their boat, and meet up with the abandoned and derelict Russian research vessel. The captain claims the vessel as salvage and sets alight the crew's dreams of big money in the salvage fees. When they power up the Russian ship in order to bring her in, they unwittingly release the electrical being, starting up all the monstrosities it had already managed to create before being shut down by the remaining survivor of the Russian crew. The visuals are superb on the cybernetic creations, gory and disgusting; and the suspense as the survivors struggle to best the living, intelligent being is palatable and thick. Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Sutherland, and William Baldwin give excellent performances, and the supporting cast as well. Derelict ship, creepy monster, lots of action, sexy heroine...and lots of blood and guts give this tasty morsel five stars on my list. Enjoy! Won't Make You That Sick After All Virus didn't exactly light up the box office, during its original theatrical run, back in 1999. It was panned by most critics as nothing more than schlock. While it's not a great sci-fi film, it is better than I thought it would be, and deserves a spot on anyone's rental list. When a sea going tug boat is crippled by a typhoon, the crew has little choice but to ride it out. They soon discover a high tech Russian ship with a lone surrvivor aboard. The crew tranfers to the Russian vessel, where Captian Robert Everton (Donald Sutherland), Navigator Kit Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Steve Baker (Billy Baldwin), soon discover that something deadly has taken over the ship's systems. They must now fend off attacks from "water warriors" who have manifested, to stay alive. At first glance, the story sounds positively absurd, and it is. But thanks to director John Bruno, who won an Oscar for his effects work on James Cameron's underwater(logged) adventure The Abyss, and Curtis, the film stays afloat. Based on an original Dark Horse Comics story, the film moves at lightning speed, which helps mitagate some of its problems. Sutherland is also fun to watch, as he chews enough scenery, for two films. And I was very delighted to find the effects were darn good (Bruno's expertise came in handy) too. The DVD extras are pretty much standard fare, given the response, the film got from folks. There's a by the numbers Electronic Press Kit (EPK) style making of featurette. You also get to see a couple of nice deleted scenes to go through. Production notes, the theatrical trailer, weblinks to Dark Horse, and film highlights top off the bonus material. As I say, Virus doesn't light up the world of cinema, but it does have just enough to make it a decent rental. *** and a half stars Buy Virus at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Virus Search with the Priority Search Engine on Virus This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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