The Andromeda Strain

The Andromeda Strain

Realistic to a Fault

One of the most frequent complaints any movie fan hears about movies in general is that the film treatment of X profession or fill-in-the-blank social issue is not "realistic". To which my response is, yes, because movies aren't real life. If it was realistic, chances are you probably wouldn't want to watch it.
Such is the case with The Andromeda Strain. Written by Michael Crichton, who was still working on his M.D. at Harvard Medical School at the time, the novel, which screenwriter Nelson Gidding and Director Robert Wise took pains to faithfully adapt, is nothing if not realistic. Every scientific fact, every piece of technology was either in existence or theoretically possible (and much of it has been realized since). This does not, however, make for very riveting viewing.

The story deals with a satellite that crashes in a small Nevada town, carrying with it a spaceborne contagion that rapidly spreads. The film then unfolds over the next few days as scientists race to isolate and cure this hitherto unknown disease.

The trouble is that 'race' is a relative term, most of the film deals with scientific inquiry which in the real world takes years, or even decades, but is compressed to a mere 131 minutes, but even at such great compression, it is apt to seem tediously long and dull to those not of a scientific bent to begin with.

So, for the limited audience of hard science fiction fans out there, it may be a pretty decent show, particularly for the accuracy of the various sciences such as microbiology and biochemistry portrayed in the film. For the vast majority of humanity, it's likely to be a really long yawn-fest. (originally reviewed Oct. 26, 2013)

** out of *****

Contagion

Midling Thriller Based On A Very Possible Scenario 

(originally reviewed on July 21, 2012)

I've mentioned before that 4 decades of Star Wars has made it so the general public thinks that if it doesn't have lasers or robots, it's not science fiction. Obviously that's not the case as demonstrated by Contagion. Contagion is a science fiction film, specifically one where the science we are talking about is the biological sciences, and is based on the actual events of the recent outbreaks of Avian and Swine Flues. The heroes here are scientists, racing to try to isolate the virus and mitigate its damage.
It's understated in typical Soderbergh fashion. And while it's a well made, if subdued, indie thriller, it's already been done a lot of times before: The Andromeda Strain and Outbreak come immediately to mind. Its most redeeming factor is perhaps a greater realism than its predecessors.

It might be worth a look for fans of medical thrillers, or those that want to see a zombie apocalypse film sans zombies. Otherwise, I wouldn't make it your first choice film on a Friday night.

***1/2 out of *****