After outrunning a typhoon at sea, a strong-willed tugboat navigator and her crew discover a high-tech alien life form that's taken control of a Russian research vessel and aims to destroy o... Read allAfter outrunning a typhoon at sea, a strong-willed tugboat navigator and her crew discover a high-tech alien life form that's taken control of a Russian research vessel and aims to destroy on a massive scale.After outrunning a typhoon at sea, a strong-willed tugboat navigator and her crew discover a high-tech alien life form that's taken control of a Russian research vessel and aims to destroy on a massive scale.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
Joe McDuffie
- Asbury - Villager
- (uncredited)
Matthew Sullivan
- Coast Guard Man
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Featured reviews
That's one hell of a flare
This is a terribly great film, everything that is wrong with this flick just couldn't stop me from laughing, got to love 90s sci fi sorta b movie level, though we do have quite the cast everything just feels very off with the film, yet if you want to enjoy something for a laugh this would be the film, the effects are poor, the acting is very wooden, and the plot is well been done many times before. I first court this film on late night tv in the uk back when channel 5 used to do there late night films that were always guaranteed to be a terrible movie and had the wonderful pleasure to rewatch the film found on YouTube, this is a little bit of a guilty pleasure. Enjoy!
Compilation of other genres is the perfect title
I love cheesy underrated movies like this! It really is like a mix of X-Files, Alien, Robocop, and Terminator. Loaded with an awesome cast and some ridiculous mindless writing not meant to be taken seriously. Sci-Fi like this really should be appreciated more!
Compilation of other genre movies
Don't take this movie too seriously, and Virus is actually an enjoyable romp, that pays homage, excuse me, rips off many venerable movies from the same and similar genres.
It starts of as an X-Files episode, turns into The Perfect Storm, Sutherland is clearly inspired by mad Quint in Jaws, then the movie becomes Johnny 2.0 meets Robocop and Alien II.
The drawbacks are of course obvious - the Life Form behaves more like a space moron, than a higher form of intelligence. If it was the latter, it would simply have the entire crew set port in Australia and have taken it from there. Instead, the "humans are viruses" approach simply brings it down. Bummer. Billions of miles of space travel, and it gets bested by the motley crew of a tugboat with a demented skipper.
Anyway, 21 years after Halloween, Jamie Lee still looks delectable with a perfect figure. The rest of the crew are funny and charming, in a forgettable way. Sutherland puts in the best acting he has in years, which isn't saying too much as he has been phoning his performances in since JFK.
Anyway, this movie is low on originality, but if you like the genres above, it is a pretty nice diversion.
It starts of as an X-Files episode, turns into The Perfect Storm, Sutherland is clearly inspired by mad Quint in Jaws, then the movie becomes Johnny 2.0 meets Robocop and Alien II.
The drawbacks are of course obvious - the Life Form behaves more like a space moron, than a higher form of intelligence. If it was the latter, it would simply have the entire crew set port in Australia and have taken it from there. Instead, the "humans are viruses" approach simply brings it down. Bummer. Billions of miles of space travel, and it gets bested by the motley crew of a tugboat with a demented skipper.
Anyway, 21 years after Halloween, Jamie Lee still looks delectable with a perfect figure. The rest of the crew are funny and charming, in a forgettable way. Sutherland puts in the best acting he has in years, which isn't saying too much as he has been phoning his performances in since JFK.
Anyway, this movie is low on originality, but if you like the genres above, it is a pretty nice diversion.
Better than evreyone makes it out to be
A mediocre storyline (i.e. Titanic) can become a world class film with character development, believable dialogue, and, for lack of a better word, some Hollywood magic. This film could have been a blockbuster with less action, less noise, less effects and more humans being human. Look at 2001 A Space Odyssey, Jaws, Titanic and countless other films, and you'll see that the story was about as interesting as Virus, and the actors, equally talented. Virus failed to deliver characters that we could believe and identify with.
I still recommend this film highly, as its interesting, it contains Jamie Lee Curtis (a hottie) and Donald Sutherland (a 20th century legend), lots of effects and action. In a way its sort of fun to watch quality actors attempt to make the best of horrible dialogue.
A 7 out of 10 for storyline and casting
I still recommend this film highly, as its interesting, it contains Jamie Lee Curtis (a hottie) and Donald Sutherland (a 20th century legend), lots of effects and action. In a way its sort of fun to watch quality actors attempt to make the best of horrible dialogue.
A 7 out of 10 for storyline and casting
Great Film for 1999
Missed viewing this film and greatly enjoyed the film from beginning to the very end. The actors all did a fantastic job and the special effects were outstanding. Jamie Lee Curtis,(Kelly Foster),"Drowning Mona",'2000, for a while played the only female with quite a few men on a simple tug boat. However, Kelly was the daughter of an Admiral in the US Navy and could handle herself quite well. The captain of the tug boat was Donald Sutherland,(Capt. Robert Everton),"An American Hauting",'05 who drank most of the time, but still was capable of handing his Tug. There is also a Russian Space Ship that is involved in the film along with some very unusual Aliens who cause havoc on a very large Russian ship. William Baldwin,(Steve Baker),"Last Hour",'06, gives a great supporting role, acting as a know it all, and is taught some very serious lessons. Great Sci-Fi, considering it was produced in 1998 or 1999.
Did you know
- TriviaBecause the ship had been mothballed in the James River Reserve Fleet (on the border of Isle of Wight County and the city of Newport News), it was covered in rust and in disrepair when the filming started. One side of the ship was painted and dressed up for the movie, leaving the other half in poor condition. Hence, only one side of the ship was ever filmed on camera for the movie.
- GoofsThe tug shown is one that would be used in a harbor or perhaps for short-distance towing, not in the open ocean. Furthermore, the short-chain method shown is not suitable for ocean towing. It would have snapped in any decent roller, and would not have lasted for more than a few minutes in the storm shown.
- Quotes
Goliath Machine: You are virus!
- Alternate versionsThe DVD contains three deleted scenes:
- a discussion between Foster and Richie, in which Richie says he doesn't like Foster aboard a ship, which is followed by a discussion of Hiko's tattoos. Then Hiko tells Baker about his ancestors and his greatest fear.
- an extended version of the scene where Foster and Baker flee using the rocket motors.
- the original entrance of Everton into the Antenna Control room, which was changed in the theatrical release because the studio felt that adding computer generated robotic legs would cost too much and because the test audiences didn't like the line "It's me: Bob."
- ConnectionsEdited into The Thing Below (2004)
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Vi-rút không gian
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $75,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $14,036,005
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $6,013,640
- Jan 18, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $30,657,854
- Runtime
- 1h 39m(99 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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