Virtuosity
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.48 You Save: $6.51 (72%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.49 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Virtuosity
Movie Review: Overdone Premise, But Great Acting From the Two Leads
Summary: 3 Stars
2001's Academy Award Winner for Best Actor, Denzel Washington really picks up his heels in pursuit of his predecessor in receiving that honor in his role as a futuristic cop out to avenge the murders of his wife and daughter at the hands of a computer-generated serial killer.As Parker Barnes, a cop who has also done jail time for unintentional killings in the line of duty, Washington's sloe-eyed intensity is plausible as he convinces the authorities to let him redeem himself by catching the demented and demonic Sid 6.7. The camera treats him with a lot of reverence and sympathy in the scene where he is stripped of his clothes and dignity while on his way to get a computerized implant during incarceration, and while flashing back to the deaths of his family. His tatooed body is somehow, a rather pityable sight.
But bad boys in the movies have more fun, and when Russell Crowe's lead villian hatches into his current and more evil incarnation, he gives a full revelation of his heavy-set triangular frame, dancing about his creator's laboratory in a gracefully choreographed ritual just before mutilating himself to test his ability to regenerate. Much of the time, he speaks in halting, brief sentances, and has an appropriate coldness, as do his normally more expressive pale aquamarine eyes. One did have to agree with the self-analysis made upon seeing himself in the screen in the discoteque. He was beautiful, and he even looked much better in the purple suit he stole than the victim from whom he took it.Occassionally, he fails to keep a straight face while taunting his victims, especially in the discoteque.
When the two leads interact, it's hard to focus on anything or anyone else. The horror of Sid's crimes can be overshadowed by his taunting of Barnes, especially during the chase scenes, during which both come across as two naughty children who need to sit down, be quiet, and take their Ritalin. Washington's marked determination in the face of Crowe's taunting adds to this effect.But it also reveals the two actors'apparent real-life amusement with each other, and a lot about Crowe's prankish nature.
Kelly Lynch rendered an assertive performance as Madison, Barnes'partner. Intelligent young Kayley Cuoco was well cast as Lynch's daughter, the last of Sid's victims.
Louise Fletcher had the other outstanding female lead as the commissioner.
As they close in on Sid, his taunting becomes more annoying than outright infuriating. Crowe breaks into that wry, Cupid's-Bow-Mouthed smile of his, which while attractive, is so smug and arrogant we feel glad that Denzel gives him few good smacks at some point before the story comes to its conclusion.But it wasn't a dull chase, and we feel glad that in the virtual world, a cop is given some opportunity to correct a few past mistakes and bring down a killer. The line between the virtual and real worlds becomes blurred. But ultimately, this ode to the hazards of modern technology gone amuck(and the icky blue slime that purportedly comes with the territory) makes us glad that to the best of anyone's knowledge,computerized monsters like Sid aren't that big a problem, as we have enough flesh-and-blood ones to deal with in real life.
Movie Review: Clear demonstration of where star power can carry a movie
Summary: 3 Stars
"Virtuosity" is by no means a great movie. Simply put, it is a typical late-summer, action-thriller, popcorn flick. But, it's a case where the performance of the lead actors transcends the quality of the story. The story itself involves a cop named Parker Barnes who has fallen on hard times after being unable to stop his wife and daughter from being murdered and accidentally killing innocent civilians in pursuit of the man who committed the crime. His attempt at redemption comes at the hands a computer program that is the composite of profiles of several hundred serial killers and mass criminals (including the one who murdered Barnes' family) called Syd 6.7. Syd 6.7 somehow managed to break free of his computer-generated environment and is wrecking havoc on the general populace. Only Barnes seems to have the ability to defeat him. It's an interesting premise, but its execution is pedestrian at best. What keeps the movie afloat is the perfomances of Denzel Washington as Barnes and Russell Crowe as Syd 6.7. Washington effectively portrays Barnes as a man who's struggling with the demons of his failure years earlier and who wants desperately to defeat Syd as a kind of salvation for himself. Crowe, who was a relative unknown at this point, plays Syd with as a bit of an over-the-top psychopath (which is to be expected given the characters psychological makeup), but also manages to do so with a bit of wit and charm that makes Syd seem like an almost likeable anti-hero. Denzel Washington's credentials as one of the best actors in the business were well known prior to the making of "Virtuosity". He had won an Best Support Actor Oscar for "Glory" and should have won the Best Actor Oscar for "Malcolm X". His known strengths allowed him to transcend less-than-stellar material to make this movie enjoyable. Afterwards, he went on to memorable roles in "Courage Under Fire" (for which he should have been nominated for an Oscar, but wasn't), "The Hurricane" (for which he should have WON the Oscar, but didn't), and "Training Day" (where he finally got his due with a Best Actor Oscar, ironically by defeating Russell Crowe).
Russell Crowe was practically unknown the public's eye at the time of this movie. He had made a memorable impression as a Neo-Nazi skinhead in "Romper Stomper", but few had seen this flick. His handling of the Syd 6.7 character demonstrated an acting ability that hinted at the promise of a long movie career. He subsequently followed "Virtuosity" with his first truly star-making role as tough-as-nails cop Bud White in "L.A. Confidential". His acting range continued to show itself in roles such as corporate whistle-blower, Jeffrey Wigand, in "The Insider", and as Roman warrior, Maximus, in the Oscar-winner "Gladiator" (for which Crowe, himself, won a Best Actor Oscar).
While nothing more than summertime confection, "Virtuosity" is a fun watch if for no other reason than you get to see two of the best actors around perform their craft well together to help a mediocre movie become a entertaining one.
Movie Review: Predictable with some interesting twists
Summary: 3 Stars
The movies premise is that Virtual reality is used to train cops in the future, but the bugs aren't out yet. A programmer in his attempt to provide bad guys for the cops to catch, creates a super bad guy to train the cops. This super bad guy, somehow has the ability to exceed his programming and then the brilliant programmer (under this bad guy's influence) decides it would be a great idea to make him "real". Real meaning embodied in the read world via nano-technology.
Denzel Washington is a jailed cop that has been done wrong via the system. Of course he is the convict that volunteers to try out these VR programs and when this super bad guy gets out, he's the one they call.
Russell Crowe is magnificent as the oozing bad guy, he has the face and the body language that can inspire your dislike. A younger Kevin Spacey in that sense.
The violence in this movie though it is not the blood and guts of other movies, was upsetting. Of course I have a weak stomach, but maybe it was the suddeness or "realness" of it.
At the end, the good guy gets the bad guy, but in a cool way.
It wasn't a bad movie, the premise was okay. You can see the "Robocop" influence where an industry centered around using technology to provide law enforcement is sometimes society's worst enemy. Not so much because the concept is bad, but the human aspect of misusing that concept is so likely.
Denzel Washington does a decent job as the good guy, though this role does not stretch him at all. It was an okay movie, I would not watch it twice though.
Movie Review: Bits, Bytes And A Bad Guy ~ When Reality Just Isn't Enough
Summary: 3 Stars
Four years before the Wachowski brothers took us into the cyberspace world of 'The Matrix' director Brett Leonard brought the world of virtual reality to physical form with the arrival of Sid, version 6.7.
Sid (Russell Crowe) is a creation of LETAC, a law enforcement training center where police engage in hostile situations within the persumably safe confines of virtual reality. There they confront the most heinous of virtual criminals, Sid. Sid is the ultimate in evil, a composite personality of 150 serial killers. Highly intelligent and absolutely mercilous he is a hard kill in cyberspace.
However when Sid devises a means by which to transfer his bits and bytes out of his virtual prison and into a physical form the game of death and destruction take on serious consequences. With Sid now roaming the streets of Los Angeles looking for "fun," the job to stop him falls to one of L.A.'s finest, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington), the police officer who has had the best results against Sid in virtual reality.
While the production values of 'Virtuosity' come no where near the wonders of the 'Matrix Trilogy' it is nevertheless a well constructed plot with two extraordinary actors playing adversarial roles.
Movie Review: Okay, But Not Great Sci-Fi Thriller
Summary: 3 Stars
With Virtuosity having Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, you would think, or at least hope that this would be an all-time classic. But instead, this film is a fairly solid, not bad, but not great film, where special effects and an overwrought screenplay almost upend two of the best actors of our generation.
In Virtuosity, a world of the future has developed a novel way to train police officers. They take a computer program and imbue it with the personalities of over 100 serial killers, and put officers into virtual reality training using the model, known as SID 6.7. As these things tend to go in science fiction films, artificial intelligence runs amok, and Sid 6.7 implants himself in an android and goes on a rampage.
The only solution to thwart SID 6.7 is using an ex-cop, Parker Barnes, who been in jail for a while to catch. The rest of the film is a cat-and-mouse chase between SID, played by still largely unknown Crowe and Barnes, played by Washington.
The film has cool special effects, an interesting plot, and two great actors anchoring the movie. But the script weighs things down, and the ending confrontation seems to go on forever. This film is not bad, but it could have been a lot better.