Rating: 3.5/5
The military enters a small town and finds no sign of life. Bodies strewn everywhere. No signs of pain or struggle, just struck down where they were — adults, children, pets — everyone. Their blood turned to clotted powder — nothing on earth can do this.
If your favorite part of Star Wars is the meeting where they look at the Death Star diagram, here’s about two hours’ worth. The movie chases scientific accuracy over a compelling story.
And yet, I was hooked. I wanted to know what the Andromeda strain is. It’s like an episode of House, where they keep talking about symptoms, doing tons of tests, and dealing with bosses who don’t understand what’s happening.
The visual effects for the computers were pretty cool. I loved all the images they did with the strain growing and pulsing.
It’s odd, but the cinematography only stood out when they were surveying the town’s dead people. The filmmakers posed all of the bodies into striking forms and compositions.
They kill a rhesus monkey to see if the virus affects them. :( In real life, the cage had oxygen, and they filled the room with CO2, so when they opened the cage, it passed out and was immediately revived — you can see the person’s shadow with the oxygen mask in the shot.
I’m into a thriller that can keep my attention and keep violence to a minimum.