VIRUS by DeWyNGaLe Rating: C+
On August 14th, 1998, Virus was supposed to be released. Six months later it was finally released in theaters. I hoped in this six months time, they improved the quality of the movie, but unfortunately, I wasn't impressed. The cast is great, the plot is original, and the setting isn't really all that bad. If a little more effort and time was put into Virus, it really could have been good. It may be another action flick on a boat, but it isn't the worst of them. William Baldwin, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Donald Sutherland star. When a mysterious force takes over a satellite in space, everything is killed. It travels through the computers, controlling them. The remains of the satellite plummet into a ship directly below it on earth. The ship is wiped out by this "virus", as it travels along.
An American ship containing a crew of researchers finds this ship. The crew contains Steve, played by William Baldwin, Foster, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, Captain Everton, played by Donald Sutherland, Richie, played by Sherman Augustus, Woods, played by Marshall Bell, Hiko, played by Cliff Curits, and Squeaky, played by Julio Oscar Mechoso. Their boat is sinking, so they must board the Russian ship that they see. They board the ship and find everything to be destroyed. They become scared when they find blood covering the walls. Strange things start going on on the ship. Little robot creatures that walk are abducting the cast one by one. The critters use their bodies to walk and talk and kill. The survivors find out that the aliens are trying to start a new species on earth, and they need humans and electricity to operate. They want to take over earth.
The crew goes through a lot to try to stop this form of life. They find a survivor from when the ship was taken over by the life form. Her name is Nadia, played by Joanna Pacula. She explains to the crew what is going on and how all this came to be. She explains the life form to them and tells them what happened when the species took over the ship. She is much help to them, and she tries her best to tell them what is going on. They must sink the ship to get rid of them all. They plan on detonating the ship to sink it, but the aliens discover the plan and destroy the detonator. More twists and turns arise, but Virus pretty much sticks on one thing for way too long. Not many things go on during Virus, which makes it boring to watch.
The thing that kept Virus from becoming good was the acting. William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland do pathetic jobs of acting. The acting was fake, and you could tell they were acting. You couldn't believe their roles at all. They didn't let you feel the terror that they were going through unlike Jamie Lee Curtis did. Sherman Augustus also did a good job of acting. Richie was the only character that I cared lived or not. Most of the characters are underdeveloped and unlikable. Another thing that was bad about Virus was the fact that it was extremely predictable. I could tell what was going to happen at every moment.
It may sound like I hated Virus, but there was a bright side. The concept was very good, and it could have gone a long way with a better cast. The special effects were great. They looked very realistic, and it seemed like they weren't even produced by computers. The aliens look very realistic and creepy. Some of the concepts may be extremely unoriginal, but all in all the alien concept was pretty good. Virus could have been great, but it turned out to be another pointless horror/sci-fi movie.
The Bottom Line- Special effects aren't everything.
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