The premise of "The Andromeda Strain" is hardly unique. A deadly organism (this one from outer space, which has been brought back to earth by a crashed satellite) is loose and threatening a world-wide plague, and a team of scientists is brought together to try to figure out the solution. There are a lot of movies that follow the same basic story outline. Most of those movies tend to place most of the emphasis on the organism and its effects - on the "plague" caused by it, if you will. This movie might explain why those other movies place so much emphasis on the organism and its effects.
Basically, my feeling as I was watching this was that the writers chose to place far too much emphasis on the technology involved in the fight against the organism. So we spend most of our time inside this futuristic facility called "Wildfire" that's full of fancy (for the day) computers and medical technology and lasers and awfully impressive looking suits. I had the impression throughout that the movie was trying to dazzle me with the technology it was depicting rather than with the story it was portraying. I don't argue that there was some suspense, particularly near the end as the organism was let loose and the facility automatically set itself to a self-destruct status, but that then led to the very cliché "countdown" as the only one who can stop the self- destruct has to do it while the computer voice is saying "three minutes and thirty seconds to self-destruct," etc. In the background there's a still relevant portrayal of the debate between science and politics (should the president listen to the advice of the scientists or not?) The cast for the most part works pretty well together and there is a decent enough mystery about the old man and the baby and why they survived the initial infection when the rest of their small town in New Mexico was killed when the satellite brought the organism to town.
But the technology part of this was overdone, to the point at which it detracted from the story. Again, my feeling was that the viewer was being directed not to the fight against the organism but to the wonders of the technology being portrayed. That was a weakness. The story could have been better developed and better portrayed, and it could have been far more exciting and suspenseful. (5/10)
Basically, my feeling as I was watching this was that the writers chose to place far too much emphasis on the technology involved in the fight against the organism. So we spend most of our time inside this futuristic facility called "Wildfire" that's full of fancy (for the day) computers and medical technology and lasers and awfully impressive looking suits. I had the impression throughout that the movie was trying to dazzle me with the technology it was depicting rather than with the story it was portraying. I don't argue that there was some suspense, particularly near the end as the organism was let loose and the facility automatically set itself to a self-destruct status, but that then led to the very cliché "countdown" as the only one who can stop the self- destruct has to do it while the computer voice is saying "three minutes and thirty seconds to self-destruct," etc. In the background there's a still relevant portrayal of the debate between science and politics (should the president listen to the advice of the scientists or not?) The cast for the most part works pretty well together and there is a decent enough mystery about the old man and the baby and why they survived the initial infection when the rest of their small town in New Mexico was killed when the satellite brought the organism to town.
But the technology part of this was overdone, to the point at which it detracted from the story. Again, my feeling was that the viewer was being directed not to the fight against the organism but to the wonders of the technology being portrayed. That was a weakness. The story could have been better developed and better portrayed, and it could have been far more exciting and suspenseful. (5/10)