Subject: REVIEW: OUTBREAK

From: [email-masked] (berardinelli,james)
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 19:16:57 GMT

OUTBREAK
		       A film review by James Berardinelli
			Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli

RATING (0 TO 10):  6.9

U.S. Availability: general release 3/10/95
Running Length: 2:08
MPAA Classification: R (Graphic disease, language)

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Renee Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland,
          Cuba Gooding Jr., Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Spacey
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Producers: Arnold Koppelson, Wolfgang Petersen, and Gail Katz
Screenplay: Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool
Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus
Music: James Newton Howard
Released by Warner Brothers

     Apparently, it isn't enough for a plague to be the villain.  A
microscopic entity, "one billionth [human] size" with the potential of
wiping out the population of the United States in 48 hours, doesn't
represent a sufficient threat.  Therefore, OUTBREAK has decided to give
us a nasty, power-mad U.S. army general who is more concerned with
pursuing his own agenda than saving a couple thousand citizens in the
small California community of Cedar Creek.

     The problem with OUTBREAK is that extraneous plot elements like
Donald Sutherland's general, a couple of aerial chases, and an
unbelievably contrived search for a monkey, keep getting in the way of a
chilling horror story.  What would happen if a contagious, lethal virus
with no known antidote, got out of control?  How would the citizens,
doctors, patients, and government deal with the situation?  In this film,
we're given tantalizing glimpses of that scenario, but the need to
interject action and adventure for a momentary thrill robs OUTBREAK of
dramatic power.

     Yes, this movie is an entertaining and sometimes wildly-exhilarating
ride.  The helicopter chase sequence is thrilling--only it doesn't seem
to belong here.  And, when the movie is over, any more-than-cursory
consideration of the plot reveals gaps that even sizable doses of
coincidence and contrivance can't completely fill.  OUTBREAK is not one
of those pictures that improves in retrospect.

     The story opens with a fast-paced, dazzling display of firepower as
an entire village is annihilated in Zaire's Motaba River Valley.  Ordered
by two army types (Donald Sutherland and Morgan Freeman), this is deemed
the only viable "cure" for a rampant plague.  Many--both the sick and
the healthy--die, but the virus is kept from spreading, at least for
the better part of three decades.  But in 1995, it shows up again, only
this time it's not restricted to Africa.  Brought across the Atlantic by
an infected monkey, the Motaba infection mutates into a more deadly
strain, and begins to attack the American public.

     A small group of dedicated professionals are the first--and
perhaps only--line of defense against the virus.  These include Col.
Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman); his ex-wife, Robby (Renee Russo); his best
friend, Casey (Kevin Spacey); and the newcomer to the team, Maj. Salt
(Cuba Gooding Jr.).  Defying direct orders from Freeman's General Ford to
stop the investigation, Sam uses all the resources at his disposal to win
the battle against his microscopic foe before one of his loved ones is
stricken.

     As directed by accomplished film maker Wolfgang Petersen (IN THE
LINE OF FIRE, DAS BOOT), OUTBREAK is a beautifully photographed,
competently-acted piece.  Dustin Hoffman is carefully contained as
Daniels, never straying over the top.  Cuba Gooding Jr. gives a stable,
if sometimes cliched performance, as the "sidekick."  Freeman and Russo
are solid in supporting roles.  Only Sutherland, sporting an American
accent, can't avoid chewing on the scenery.  His portrayal, like his
character, would be more at home in DR. STRANGELOVE than here, and it's a
sore spot that the movie never quite recovers from.

     Most viewers are likely to enjoy OUTBREAK, especially coming as it
does in the midst of a veritable wasteland of general release
pictures.  It's an escapist thriller with good guys to root for and bad
guys to hiss at.  Yet the source of lamentation is not what's on
screen, but what could have been there.  No one likes to be teased, but
that's exactly what this movie does to us, with predictably frustrating
results.  Fluff--especially the variety with a lot of flashes and
bangs--often makes for perfect light entertainment, except when, as in
the case of OUTBREAK, it starts out with the promise of so much
more ... a promise that is never fulfilled on a higher-than-superficial
level.

-James Berardinelli ([email-masked])