Virtuosity (1995)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Brett Leonard

Writer (WGA):

Eric Bernt (written by)

Release Date:

4 August 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

Justice needs a new program

Plot:

A virtual-reality serial killer manages to escape into the real world.

Plot Keywords:

Serial Killer | Virtual Reality | Android | Ex Cop | Nano Machines

Cast

Denzel Washington	...	Lt. Parker Barnes
Kelly Lynch	...	Madison Carter
Russell Crowe	...	SID 6.7
Stephen Spinella	...	Lindenmeyer
William Forsythe	...	William Cochran
Louise Fletcher	...	Elizabeth Deane
William Fichtner	...	Wallace
Costas Mandylor	...	John Donovan
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Clyde Reilly
Kaley Cuoco	...	Karin
Christopher Murray	...	Matthew Grimes
Heidi Schanz	...	Sheila 3.2
Traci Lords	...	Media Zone Singer
Gordon Jennison Noice	...	Big Red (as J. Gordon Noice)
Mari Morrow	...	Linda Barnes

Also Known As:

Asesino virtual (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Assassino Virtual (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Asesino virtual - El tiempo se acaba (Argentina) [es]
Programmé pour tuer (France) [fr]
Virtuality (Italy) [it]
Virtuosité (Canada: French title) [fr]
Virtuosity (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong futuristic violence, some brutal beatings and some language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 (cut) | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:R-18 | New Zealand:R16 | France:-12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Sweden:15 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Chile:14 | Denmark:16 | Germany:18 (JK/SPIO) | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 | Spain:18 | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #33489) | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Forever Cemetery - 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Denzel Washington took a role in the film because his son asked him to do so.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the shootout, as they run to the roof, Sid pins Parker down behind a girder with gunfire. As he fires, ricochets bounce off the railing around him even though Parker has yet to shoot at him.

Quotes:

SID 6.7: I'm a fifty terrabyte, self-evolving, neural network, double backflip off the high platform. I'm not a swan dive.

Movie Connections:

References Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Soundtrack:

Party Man

It Had A Lot of Potential

Virtuosity is by no means a great movie or a good movie. It is barely above average. That though is because of Russell Crowe's character: SID 6.7 who possesses over 150 serial killer personalities. He is just supposed to be used to train police but he escapes from his virtual reality to the reality. That sounds pretty interesting and this premise could be taken into many different directions especially since he is such a complex character you could go so many different way going about to make this film. Though this movie did not take the worst direction it did not take the best one. This movie went for pure action and no real drama or meaningful message. Now that is OK but it lacked in doing this because of the: The directing which was average by Brett Leonard. He made this into a very exciting TV movie which it is not. He had two very talented actors in Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe yet he was not able to generate the excitement and fast pace feeling that is needed to make a good action movie.

The writing is also at fault too. The writing was not great here. It seemed to have a lot of overused themes such as the cop trying to retain the high status that he used too have and also the idiot cops getting in the way. That is also OK but the dialog made this interesting idea into a movie that was not so unfamiliar. Not much originality in here despite having such a unique character. That is always the script's fault whenever this happens. The writing and directing just made this movie so frustrating to watch.

You cannot blame the acting. You could see that Denzel Washington, already an established actor at that time, and Russell Crowe, not established, really tried to push this movie forward. Yet there was little to work with which made them look really average.

This movie could have been much better if it was made more into a action/drama about the our inner battles. Considering that SID 6.7 had 150 personalities the storyline of his character could have made him have a battle within himself. Now this was done to a minor level which really annoyed me. They are many other ideas or methods that could have really made this movie something but of course this did not happen. It went for cheap effects, an over used clichéd storyline with a little bit of a twist. That may work for some people but not for me.

I'am giving this movie a 6/10 rating because it had so much potential.