Leofwine_draca I was pleasantly surprised by this entertaining B-movie which, while hideously clichéd, still manages to deliver the goods in terms of suspense. It's a fast-paced action adventure which flies by while you're watching. Okay so the plot is really just a jumble of bits from THE TERMINATOR and ALIENS to STAR TREK and HARDWARE plus more than a nod to last year's DEEP RISING, but it's given a fresh perspective via some expensive-looking sets and a glossy sheen.I for one always enjoy these "people wandering through dark corridors getting picked off one by one" sorts of films, especially when the monsters are good, and they're very good in this film. Before they really appear the first half builds up some real suspense and atmosphere as Donald Sutherland and his crew discover an abandoned ship, floating in a mist cloud Mary Celeste-style. The producers gathered together a fun bunch of actors and actresses to play the B-movie types who get picked off one by one.Firstly we have Jamie Lee Curtis as the tough heroine who (surprise, surprise) turns out to be one of the sole survivors - trust me, I'm not ruining anything here. Curtis looks pretty old in this film but turns in an adequate performance. William Baldwin is the hero of the group, always going on ahead and shooting first. He's fine. Donald Sutherland also turns up, surprisingly, and even more surprisingly gives a pretty awful performance. For a start he's supposed to be Irish but he can't do an Irish accent, and also he gives a very hammy performance as the drunk captain. Joanna Pacula also appears and strangely doesn't seem to have aged at all in ten years - she looks as good as she ever did.I liked the way that the mechanical monsters in this film started off small and gradually grew bigger and bigger. The first time we see them is when they are little insect like robotic things, scuttling about and amassing components to build bigger and better things. After some disturbing scenes in the ship's hold, androids start to appear, the dead flesh having been recycled and used a new - these androids look very good, gory and gruesome and quite frightening too. From then on the giant robots keep getting bigger and bigger until this gigantic machine appears at the end to attack the few survivors. This big beastie is absolutely phenomenal, the CGI animation has never looked better! As well as the above average special effects, we also get some effectively gruesome moments in which killed crew members turn up as automatons. They're pretty sick looking and extremely cool. There is also some brief gore, one poor guy has a hole punched through his body! The requisite number of shells and bombs are also spent during the film's running time - it's obvious where the budget was spent, on visual spectacle, just as I like to see. If you're a fan of waterlogged chillers in the mould of DEEP STAR SIX and LEVIATHAN, then by all means watch this entertaining B-movie - it's a lot better than its reputation would have you imagine.

King Kong I'd read that Jamie Lee Curtis considered this the worst movie of her career. I suppose I then went into it expecting something quite awful, but was surprised to find it wasn't nearly as bad as so many horror/sci-fi films out there.The acting, whilst not the best I've seen from the likes of Donald Sutherland, William Baldwin or Jamie Lee Curtis, is hardly the worst acting you could unfortunately expect from movies of this genre. It was also good to see supporting actors in there such as Cliff Curtis, whom I'm immensely enjoying watching right now in Fear the Walking Dead, putting in solid efforts. The production values are quite competent. Camera work, lighting and sound editing are all a pass.The plot was nothing new but is always a favourite of mine. It seems that whenever a movie comes out about a person or crew investigating a derelict/abandoned ship, space station, military base or some such other thing, I'm all over it. I suppose this hearkens back to my favourite movie of all time being The Thing and always hoping for something just as good.A very pleasant surprise was the lack of CGI use. If looking back on the late 90s and early 00s has proved to me anything in retrospect, it's that CGI-laden movies made then by today's standards look utterly terrible. Some did okay, like Event Horizon and Twister, but others are just awful to look at, such as The Scorpion King and The Phantom Menace. Virus, to me, was comparable in special effects to the movie Screamers in that it has its CGI moments when it calls for them and ONLY when it calls for them.Overall, I'd give this one about a 6.8 out of 10 if I could rate a little more accurately. It won't set your world on fire, but it's hardly the worst way you could spend an evening on the sofa with a beer and a movie.

Buskieboy While not a mega sci-fi hit it does have a very creepy vibe. The story is simple and a variation on many but not too predictable in that you really don't know who will get it or when. Overall the tension gets tighter and tighter as the film progresses and you are not cheated by the end. The creatures are actually very well done and creative. They are quite menacing and gives the film the creep factor I spoke of. The acting is good as it has a solid cast and a decent script. The set itself is an actual ship, not a man made fabrication. It makes for a nice late night time waster or Sunday afternoon movie. The creature effects are actually so good I'm surprised they didn't get a slew of awards.

Sean Crawford I'll admit, I was very skeptical when I started this movie and then realized how poorly overall it had done. I was surprised to find that it really wasn't that bad. It definitely wasn't the worst movie I had ever seen, not even close. The movie was genuinely creepy. The only thing that prevented my complete satisfaction was how stupid the premise was. But once you got past that, it was kind of enjoyable. The animation was actually good, and it wasn't clear to me if any one of the crew members would get off the ship. Normally it's easy to see the 'hero of the movie', that appears to be unstoppable in their success. No such limitations in this movie.Overall, an enjoyable movie that should have done much better than it did.