Outbreak Movie Review

Director Wolfgang Petersen (Shattered, In the Line of Fire), an expert in the thriller genre, stumbles badly here, along with star Dustin Hoffman. An animal smuggler (Patrick Dempsey) sneaks a rare African monkey into the U.S. Unfortunately, the monkey carries a deadly virus, which infects the smuggler, and those with whom he comes into contact. The plague begins to spread through a California suburb, requiring the help of military disease-expert Hoffman, and his ex-wife (Rene Russo), a scientist with the Centers for Disease Control. They search for an antidote as the virus continues to mutate, and they uncover a secret government plot to exterminate the victims to prevent the spread of the disease. Despite scientific pretensions, the film ends with the traditional chase scene, this time in a military helicopter. Hoffman looks ridiculous wandering around in his bright yellow airtight suit and is hardly a threat to Arnold or Sylvester as the next action hero. Both Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland give solid performances as military higher-ups at odds with each other. Based on two books: Richard Preston's The Hot Zone and Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague.

1994 (R) 128m/C Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kevin Spacey, Patrick Dempsey; D: Wolfgang Petersen; W: Laurence Dworet, Robert Roy Pool, Laurence Dworet, Robert Roy Pool; C: Michael Ballhaus; M: James Newton Howard. New York Film Critics Awards ‘95: Best Supporting Actor (Spacey). VHS, LV WAR