Virus Movie Review
Jamie Lee Curtis is no amateur when it comes to horror movies. Most honored with the title of 'the girl from Halloween', she is the mother of horror victims. And now, in Virus, she hopes to reprise the starring role of a successful horror film. Halloween: H20 was extremely disappointing, and I was hoping for more in Virus. I got more, but not a completely successful film.
Virus opens nicely. After a splendid display of pyrotechnics and some cool shots from space, the crew (the main characters) of the Sea Star board the Russian research vessel and search its dark interior, spooked by the fact that there is no one there. And then it begins to gradually roll downhill. The first victim's curiosity is aroused by movement in a pipe, so, of course, he squeezes his entire body inside, well aware that someone is on the ship. He dies, but nothing much is shown.
As the movie progresses, the key inhabitants of the ship are revealed to be little robotic spider things. There are some big robots as well, equipped with machine guns and some human flesh, but they aren't very exciting. Instead of scary chases through the ship, the bad guys and good guys just shoot machine guns at each other. Almost exciting.
The second disappointment was Donald Sutherland's character. While he fit the role good, the character was a waste of screen time. He'd rather risk his life than give up a barge of expensive goods... and he also decides to give up man's survival to cash in the boat for cash, by attempting to help the creature get to land. All his decisions were dumb, and completely unrealistic, although, most of the other characters weren't much better. As mentioned earlier, the first victim scurried into a dark pipe to investigate a strange noise. Others did such stupid things as tamper with a robot's brain, set a timer for fifteen minutes instead of for one, and so on. Most of the dialogue was pretty primitive.
And finally, the ending. Like so many others, include Stargate and ID4, the bad guy is destroyed by a bomb, and he watches in fear as he knows what is about to happen. But I didn't really get how the two survivors got out... the way they did was impossible.
Luckily, Virus maintains enough action and creepiness to provide some enjoyment. I actually jumped in three parts, which was rare, and some of the other scenes were pretty suspenseful. Virus, while being very stereotypical, was mediocre at best, but still fun to watch.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.