Virus (1999)

User Rating:

4.4/10   

Director:

John Bruno

Writers (WGA):

Chuck Pfarrer (creator: Dark Horse Comic Book series: "Virus")
Chuck Pfarrer (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

15 January 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Thriller | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Life on earth is in for a shock.

Plot:

When the crew of an American tugboat boards an abandoned Russian research vessel, the alien life form aboard regards them as a virus which must be destroyed.

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Alien | Sea | Typhoon | Virus

Cast

Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Kit Foster
William Baldwin	...	Steve Baker
Donald Sutherland	...	Captain Everton
Joanna Pacula	...	Nadia
Marshall Bell	...	J.W. Woods Jr.
Sherman Augustus	...	Richie
Cliff Curtis	...	Hiko
Julio Oscar Mechoso	...	Squeaky
Yuri Chervotkin	...	Colonel Kominski
Keith Flippen	...	Captain Lonya Rostov
Olga Rzhepetskaya-Retchin	...	Female Cosmonaut
Levan Uchaneishvili	...	Captain Alexi (as Levani)
David Eggby	...	Norfolk Captain

Also Known As:

Virus (France)
Virus - Schiff ohne Wiederkehr (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for sci-fi violence/gore, and for language.

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

France | UK | Germany | USA | Japan

Language:

English | Russian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KNT | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:IIB | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Newport News, Virginia, USA

Company:

Mutual Film Company

Trivia:

Chuck Pfarrer explained in an interview that the comic book was based on the script that he wrote in the early-'90s. Because of the special effects that the script called for, it was impossible to make the script into a movie at that time, and he handed it to Dark Horse Comics who published it in 1995. Several years later, when special effects technology had caught up, Pfarrer revised the original script.

Goofs:

Continuity: Once aboard the Russian ship, when the crew is about to enter the control room for the first time, you can see through the ships windows to reveal a ship yard on the opposite side rather than open sea and the storm.

Quotes:

[seeing the Russian vessel explode on the horizon]
Norfolk captain: That's one hell of a flare.

Movie Connections:

References "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987)

Better than evreyone makes it out to be

A mediocre storyline (i.e. Titanic) can become a world class film with character development, believable dialogue, and, for lack of a better word, some Hollywood magic. This film could have been a blockbuster with less action, less noise, less effects and more humans being human. Look at 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jaws, Titanic and countless other films, and you'll see that the story was about as interesting as Virus, and the actors, equally talented. Virus failed to deliver characters that we could believe and identify with.

I still recommend this film highly, as its interesting, it contains Jamie Lee Curtis (a hottie) and Donald Sutherland (a 20th century legend), lots of effects and action. In a way its sort of fun to watch quality actors attempt to make the best of horrible dialogue.

A 7 out of 10 for storyline and casting