Virus (Widescreen)

"Virus" begins with an eerie disaster. An amorphous, glowing cloud-like object from outer space invades the Mir space station just as the satellite's crew is about to transmit important information to a Russian ship on the ocean. The object, whatever it is, manages to send itself down to earth and directly into the boat's computer system through this transmission link. The ship's electronics go instantly haywire, with people screaming and running all over the place. Fast forward a few days to another boat on the high seas, this one a barge transporting merchandise through a storm. Helmed by a grizzly old tar named Captain Robert Everton (Donald Sutherland) and manned by a crew including Kit Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Steve Baker (William Baldwin), the boat flounders in the rough waters and loses its cargo. Everton isn't popular with his crew; his steadfast refusal to cut the barges loose almost caused the entire boat to sink. It turns out Everton's entire life savings was bound up in that cargo, a fact that causes him immense distress until someone spots an abandoned boat a few miles ahead. Filled with sudden optimism over a lucrative recovery fee, Everton and his crew board the vessel. And wouldn't you know it? It's the Russian research craft we saw at the beginning of the movie.

The ship is in sorry shape, drifting in the ocean with no crewmembers and no power. Still, Everton recognizes the value of his find and figures the finder's fee should be worth millions. As long as no one on the boat is alive, the captain and his crew should collect the money. In the meantime, they have to turn the power back on and sail the ship into harbor. The trouble begins at this point. An unfortunate "accident" sends the research vessel's anchor plunging through Everton's boat. Now trapped on the Russian ship, the crew of the cargo boat discovers troubling evidence of a decidedly sinister series of events. The sole survivor of the disaster, a research scientist named Nadia (Joanna Pacula), tells Everton and company about an alien life form that took over the ship's power grid, a creature that used parts of the boat to build killer robots to wipe out the Russians. Since the first thing Everton did when he got on the boat is turn the power back on, the alien is once again on the loose. The organism tells the humans that it wants to wipe out all the people on earth because it considers them a virus. Neat. In the meantime, cloud creature consoles itself with turning Everton's crew into gruesome looking cyborgs. "Virus" turns into an extended chase scene through the bowels of the Russian ship as Curtis, Baldwin, and the dwindling others attempt to destroy the life form.

"Virus" is a predictable, by the numbers science fiction film. While the special effects work looks good (not great, unfortunately), and there is a bit of gore to liven things up, the character development falls flat. Sutherland slums his way through his role as the scheming Everton. Curtis tries hard but ultimately fails to muster much interest in her tough woman role. William Baldwin is, well, William Baldwin. If you went into this one looking forward to a great performance from him, you deserve the disappointment you will inevitably find. The rest of the cast serves as cannon fodder. This isn't to say I despised "Virus." There are a few things of interest if one looks hard enough. For example, I roared so hard with laughter over Sutherland's metamorphosis into a cyborg that I hurt myself. Everton tried to make a deal with the alien but quickly fell prey to its murderous designs. When we next see him, he's been turned into some hideous half machine, half human monstrosity, but he still has his captain's cap parked (and at a jaunty angle, too) on top of his head! Too funny! Why does he still have that hat on? Maybe the script thought the audience would fail to recognize him.

"Virus" tends more to the ridiculous than anything else, but it's not a lost cause. As long as you go into the film expecting to see a formulaic plot, you'll probably enjoy most of it. Supposedly, the DVD version has a ton of extras, but the disc I watched didn't have any on it except a trailer for the film. Would I watch "Virus" again? Probably, if it showed up on cable and I had two hours to kill. I wouldn't, however, buy it or rent it again. If you want great science fiction, rent "Aliens," "The Terminator," or a dozen other memorable movies. If you're just looking to slum for awhile, watch "Virus."

In the meantime, the tugboat Sea Star is struggling with a large cargo in tow and gets caught in Typhoon Leiah, with some spectacular special effects on the storm in this scene. After loosing the cargo they must head for the eye of the storm in order to repair their boat, and meet up with the abandoned and derelict Russian research vessel. The captain claims the vessel as salvage and sets alight the crew's dreams of big money in the salvage fees.

When they power up the Russian ship in order to bring her in, they unwittingly release the electrical being, starting up all the monstrosities it had already managed to create before being shut down by the remaining survivor of the Russian crew.

The visuals are superb on the cybernetic creations, gory and disgusting; and the suspense as the survivors struggle to best the living, intelligent being is palatable and thick. Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Sutherland, and William Baldwin give excellent performances, and the supporting cast as well. Derelict ship, creepy monster, lots of action, sexy heroine...and lots of blood and guts give this tasty morsel five stars on my list. Enjoy!