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.
Release Year: 1999
Rating: 4.5/10 (12,927 voted)
Critic's Score: 19/100
Director:
John Bruno
Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, Donald Sutherland
Storyline When a typhoon cripples their boat, the crew sails into the eye of the storm, where they discover a high-tech Russian communications and research vessel adrift. Only one Russian crew member is still alive, raving about "intelligent lightning." They soon discover that an alien life form has taken over the ship's computers and is churning out mechanical warriors. With their own boat destroyed, the crew must battle the creature as the ship reenters the storm.
Writers: Chuck Pfarrer, Chuck Pfarrer
Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis
-
Kit Foster
William Baldwin
-
Steve Baker
Donald Sutherland
-
Captain Robert 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
Opening Weekend: $6,013,640
(USA)
(17 January 1999)
(2018 Screens)
Gross: $14,010,690
(USA)
(14 March 1999)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
Because of the ship being mothballed in the James River Reserve Fleet, on the border of Isle of Wight County and city of Newport News, the ship was covered in rust and disrepair when the filming started. For the movie, one side of the ship was painted and dressed up, leaving the other half in poor condition. Hence, only one side of the ship was ever filmed on camera for the movie.
Goofs:
Factual errors:
In the eye of a storm, the sea isn't calm as depicted in the movie.
Quotes:
[to Everton who had just pulled a pistol on him]
Baker:
You ever pull a gun on me again... Captain Everton:
You'll what? Baker:
You figure it out.
User Review
Compilation of other genre movies
Rating:
Don't take this movie too seriously, and Virus is actually an enjoyable
romp, that pays homage, excuse me, rips off many venerable movies from the
same and similar genres.
It starts of as an X-Files episode, turns into The Perfect Storm,
Sutherland
is clearly inspired by mad Quint in Jaws, then the movie becomes Johnny
2.0
meets Robocop and Alien II.
The drawbacks are of course obvious - the Life Form behaves more like a
space moron, than a higher form of intelligence. If it was the latter, it
would simply have the entire crew set port in Australia and have taken it
from there. Instead, the "humans are viruses" approach simply brings it
down. Bummer. Billions of miles of space travel, and it gets bested by the
motley crew of a tugboat with a demented skipper.
Anyway, 21 years after Halloween, Jamie Lee still looks delectable with a
perfect figure. The rest of the crew are funny and charming, in a
forgettable way. Sutherland puts in the best acting he has in years, which
isn't saying too much as he has been phoning his performances in since
JFK.
Anyway, this movie is low on originality, but if you like the genres
above,
it is a pretty nice diversion.
0