william (willsgb)
This is one of those typical 90s action flicks with a bunch of get-up-and-go characters with a bad apple or two mixed in with them, a simple premise that isolates them and the unforeseen extra-terrestrial threat for the course of the movie, and a particular angle which gives the movie a unique theme. It's not the most intelligent movie you'll see, but all things considered, the premise of an electricity based ET taking over a Russian scientific vessel which a salvage crew have to contend with, survive and ultimately prevent from reaching wider civilisation is pretty nicely realised I thought. For the most part the acting is convincing, particularly from Baldwin, J.L. Curtis, C. Curtis, Augustus and Pacula, with only Sutherland seeming a little off-key at times in my opinion, as the grizzled, negative old sea captain. But for the most part I thought the actors and actresses contributed to the fun with some committed acting. The CGI was visibly distinguishable, but not game-breaking; it was convincing enough, with some good make-up work and monster design as well as mood-setting, character-laden sets and locations.I really liked the concept of the alien life form itself; it comes from a spaceship that's seemingly composed of stable plasma, which passes close by earth and through a Russian spacecraft, transmitting a passenger through to the ship on the water. what it intends to do with humans, who it identifies as a virus itself, is to overcome them, and then use them as spare parts to establish physical, useful forms with which it can set up shop on our planet and do whatever it wants to do.One thing that did stand out as I was watching the film was just how many references the film seemingly borrowed from, as though the film itself were behaving like the alien in it, borrowing aspects from other films and welding them together haphazardly to establish a functional form of its own. Now, don't get me wrong! it's not necessarily a bad thing; it's not downright plagiarism in this case, instead, perhaps intentionally or perhaps unintentionally, it actually adds a level of exploration and/or parody of the science fiction medium to the film; allow me to elaborate with examples. I've seen many mentions of other films and stories this film reminded people of, and here are several examples I noticed myself; first of all, there are many parallels with The Abyss - naval setting, crew member who goes mad and turns on the others for whatever reason, the additional threat of a hurricane, and even the appearance of the spaceship of the aliens, that ephemeral pinkish hue; Sphere, where the crew communicate with the alien entity through textual conversations on a computer, just like in Virus; The Andromeda Strain, which is a story about an alien virus coming to Earth and wreaking havoc; Terminator and perhaps also Robocop, clearly alluded to and used as inspiration for the half machine half human cyborgs the alien builds; John Carpenter's The Thing, which also featured an alien which liked to assimilate humans into itself, as well as Richie's paranoia near the end about not trusting Foster and Steve about whether they were still themselves or whether they were modified by and under the influence of the alien; and finally, most of all, The Matrix.This film contains many startling similarities with and aspects of The Matrix, which was released in the same year as Virus, unlike all the other films I've pointed out which were released before 1999. It is difficult to say whether they were aware of the similarities, perhaps aware of the development of the matrix, or whether this was a pure coincidence, but let me list those similarities; a hive mind of an electrical, ephemeral nature, who wishes to overpower and, crucially, Control the human race and use human bodies for its own purposes; a sentience which acquires knowledge and exists, 'lives', electronically, through computers and signals and transmissions; a rapidly evolving, technologically adept and extremely intelligent intelligence who develops machines to act in its interests in the physical world; and how about the look and design of the machines? those clustered red 'eyes', recognise them from anywhere? how about the sentinels of the matrix? So, what we ended up with was a patchwork of themes, filming styles, plot devices and references, which come together to create an overall entertaining, committedly acted story about a particularly macabre, calculating, and very alien, extra-terrestrial being, who interrupts a slapdash, mismatched crew of seamen, a few grizzled malcontents and the rest gung-ho young working folk, who think they've stumbled upon the salvage of their lives, but are sorely mistaken, as well as the original Russian crew of the ship, and the spacecraft, which it overwhelmed, used and slaughtered, of course, and must overcome many obstacles, a few self-inflicted, to prevent this dangerous entity from finding a way to undo its isolation and snowball in power and overcome the whole world potentially. they find this predicament in the eye of the storm and must go through the storm to prevail, in more ways then one.Perhaps I shouldn't write a synopsis for anything ever again, heh. Sorry about that. But this is nonetheless something visceral, entertaining, and, if you see it from a particular angle, a rather smart poke at the fourth wall, a science fiction story which is built from parts of many others, the result of which could be more then the sum of its parts, or less, depending on what you're looking to get out of it - smart, allegorical science fiction what-if? brainless horror-SF caper? 90s action movie? personally, I just took it for what it was, and was left intrigued and impressed. it's no classic, but it's worth seeking out. 6/10.
