Virus
(1999)
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A Russian science ship in the South Pacific is attempting to line up its satellite dish with a Russian space station. An alien energy mass envelops the space station and invades the ship's navigational equipment by way of data transmission.... Some days later the Sea Star tug decides to claim salvage on the Russian vessel which appears deserted except for one remaining crew member.... |
Oscar-winning visual-effects artist and James Cameron protégé John Bruno emphasises effects over plot in his dreary directorial debut and adds insult to injury by making those effects merely tarnished knock-offs of The Terminator, The Abyss and Aliens. A sinking tugboat crew takes refuge on a deserted Russian science vessel during a typhoon only to find it harbouring an alien energy force. Derivative of everything from Leviathan to Deep Rising, Bruno's hybrid mass of genre clichés simply joins the dots and doesn't even entertain on a schlock level. Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland give career-worst performances in this lame-brained terror tripe, with the final robot monster looking more like a mobile junkyard than anything truly scary.