Written August 22, 2008
Warning: This film review reveals most of the plot of the movie.
| Overall rating | B |
| Script | B |
| Acting | C |
| Effects | B |
| Plot | B |
Last night I sat down in front of the television and slipped one of my favorite movies into the DVD player. This is a science fiction film from the early seventies known as The Andromeda Strain, and way back in those days it was quite terrifying. No, this is not an oddly named Freddy Kruger or Jason flick. It's a movie, based upon a very good book, about the discovery of a new disease.
The plot of the Andromeda Strain is very straightforward. Simply put, a mysterious illness has killed everyone in a small town in the American desert. It's quickly established that this has something to do with a small satellite which touched down near the town.
The movie slowly works it's way through the reconnaissance of the town, both from the air and on the ground, the declaration of a "wildfire alert" and the recovery of the satellite. A team is called to action; a team which has been prepared for exactly this eventuality.
When the team arrives at a top secret laboratory deep in the desert, they begin a long and excruciatingly dull (for the viewer) decontamination process. I was fascinated with this part of the movie when I was in my teens, but now it seems hopelessly outdated and about as exciting as watching paint dry.
Two survivors are found in the town: a small child and an alcoholic old man. Somehow these two survived the plague. Now the team works to find out why these two survived while everyone else died. There is an additional mystery: some people died instantly, and others took their time passing away.
The remainder of the film, after the exceedingly long decontamination scenes, deals with finding the answer to the riddle of this new form of life. These scientists journey to find that answer is fascinating, and the final conclusions are most interesting.
For it's time, Andromeda Strain is an excellent movie. I clearly remember sitting in the theater, on the edge of my seat, anxious to find out the answers. What was the strange disease? Why did the child and adult survive?
In this more modern world, here in the 21st century, Andromeda Strain has lost it's terror and it's glitter. In these days since 9/11 and the very real Anthrax scare that followed, and after the depth of the Russian and American germ warfare efforts became widely known, somehow the movie is no longer terrifying. Modern audiences are thrilled by CGI and massive special effects budgets, and I'd venture to guess that most everyone nowadays won't make it through this film.
Which is a shame, because this is actually a very good dramatic film. It's very faithful to the book of the same name, has a solid storyline, reasonable acting and, for it's time, excellent special effects.
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone, but be warned, it is a drama, not an action adventure. For some of the longer scenes, the fast forward button on the remote is very useful.
Unless otherwise noted, all photos and text is Copyright © Richard G Lowe, Jr.