Metacritic reviews

In the end this is Hoffman's movie, and it's refreshing, finally, to see him not as an oddball or eccentric but as a decent, capable guy who is ultimately a lot more intense than most people.

The thriller occupies the same territory as countless science fiction movies about deadly invasions and high-tech conspiracies, but has been made with intelligence and an appealing human dimension.

Outbreak is an expert what-if nightmare, albeit occasionally tempered by conventional distractions. [10 Mar 1995, p.2B]

Petersen pulls off the thrills at a stomach lurching pace, and with its requisite Hollywood ham - husband and wife reuniting over piles of haemorrhaging bodies - loud performances, crashing stunts and a fearsome, hypochondria-inducing conceit, there's barely room to catch your breath, let alone cry foul.

Outbreak is an absolute hoot thanks primarily to director Wolfgang Petersen's rabid pacing and the great care he brings to setting up the story and its probability.

It's a B-movie with A-accouterments.

For today’s filmmakers, the addiction to kinetic overkill has become a disease in itself.

This movie is an entertaining and sometimes wildly-exhilarating ride.

Outbreak has the feel of a movie written by a committee of writers -- it's totally lacking in personality.

The effort to turn Outbreak into an action picture insures that little of it will be believable, regardless of how much scientific data has been woven into the story. The film's shallowness also contributes to the impression that no problem is too thorny to be solved by movie heroics.