Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040023
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Like both of those films, it's fast-paced, violent and well-acted with intelligence and dark humor laced through the action. Director Brett Leonard builds on some of the same gimmicks he used in his first film, "Lawnmower Man," to tell a much more interesting and well-constructed story.
As the title suggests, the film begins in "virtual reality." Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington), wearing a ridiculous uniform that's quickly discarded, and a partner are tracking a criminal through a simplified cityscape. The year is 1999 and they're in a police simulator. The target is Sid 6.7 (Russell Crowe), a computer creation whose ruthlessness is matched by his wit. He's been programmed to combine personality traits of the world's most famous murderers, including the one who killed Barnes' wife and daughter.
Of course, Sid manages to get out of virtual reality and into real reality with the help of his creator (Stephen Spinella), and Barnes is sent after him.
There are a few other important wrinkles to Eric Bernt's plot, but that's the gist of it. As long as the film is concentrated on the conflict between Barnes and Sid 6.7, it's terrific. For Denzel Washington, this is relatively lightweight material, so he's able to make it work on a higher level than it otherwise might. He gets able assistance from a spirited Russell Crowe who looks and sounds like a young Mel Gibson.
Crowe is able to hold his own with his co-star, and it's almost impossible to overstate the importance of a good villain in this kind of movie. If he's not as strong and as interesting as the protagonist, the formula just doesn't work. With these two, it does.
The film is much weaker with supporting characters. Kelly Lynch plays a one-dimensional criminologist who nudges the plot over the slow spots, and her daughter is a true chip off the old blonde. The kid's reason for being in the film couldn't have been any more obvious if the subtitle "future hostage" had been projected on the screen when she's introduced.
They slow down the narrative momentum toward the end, but the long middle section is dazzling. Leonard piles one big scene on top of another, never letting the pace flag. Along the way, movie fans will catch references to John Woo's "The Killer," "Die Hard" and even "Saturday Night Fever." The special effects, created by Leonard's L2 company, combine conventional "morphing" techniques with interesting bits involving blue "nanoblood."
Despite all the hype that has surrounded the season's more heavily promoted blockbusters, "Virtuosity" is the movie that action fans have been waiting for.
It's probably going to be the sleeper of the summer, and if Hollywood runs true to form, expect to see the mega-budget sequel, probably to be called "V2," on theater screens in the summer of '97 or '98.
Virtuosity ***1/2
A Paramount release playing at the Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Mall 6. 95 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, nudity.|
by CNB