MPAA Rated – Unrated
It’s ?? Long
A Review by:
– The Dude on the Right
| The Andromeda Strain Movie Stats & Links |
|
| Starring: | Benjamin Bratt, Eric McCormack, Christa Miller, Daniel Dae Kim |
| MPAA Rated: | Unrated |
| Released By: | Universal Home Video |
| Kiddie Movie: | Only if you want them to fear aliens. |
| Date Movie: | She will probably snuggle with you. |
| Gratuitous Sex: | Only a little talk. |
| Gratuitous Violence: | There are some quality kills. |
| Action: | Nah. |
| Laughs: | A chuckle or two. |
| Memorable Scene: | The “countdown to destruction” scene is stupid. |
| Memorable Quote: | None. |
| Directed By: | Mikael Salmom |
Watching a “made for TV” movie on DVD is kind of weird, simply because the movie can’t fully flow as “commercial break” pauses are prevalent throughout, but I have to say that if you are looking for a decent “This is the end of mankind” kind of movie, in the spirit of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes, put the 2008 version of “The Andromeda Stain” on your list of DVD’s to watch. And sure, I hate to put the “Star Trek” reference in there, but like most TV shows, “The Andromeda Strain” gives you about two hours and thirty minutes of set-up, conflict, theories, and then is able to wrap up the solution for the devastating problem in about fifteen minutes. Such is TV sometimes.
Here’s the story…
A satellite crashes to Earth and suddenly a small town of people finds itself dead. Also finding themselves dead are the first military folks to find themselves in the town. It’s now time to bring in the scientists, including Dr. Stone (Benjamin Bratt in a role I kinda like him in), Dr. Noyce (Christa Miller in full “I have to overact” role), and a few more, seeming to have to fight, of course, with the government folks, especially General Mancheck (Andre Braugher), who don’t want to give the scientist folks the necessary information to solve what might be something to destroy mankind.
Low and behold, as the story plays out, “The Andromeda Strain” deals with all kinds of things, like wormholes and creatures at the bottom of the oceans, and as our scientist folks decipher all of the clues, damn, wouldn’t you know it, they are in a super-sealed bunker where a simple accident might also destroy humanity.
This DVD review will be quick because I will simply say that as much as “The Andromeda Strain” has lots of potential as a “here comes the end of humanity” movie, it so much loses itself in becoming totally predictable, especially as a “made for TV” movie (although being an A&E TV movie does allow for some quality kills), complete with a “self-destruct” sequence, with countdown music, when Dr. Stone, thankfully, is able to save the world with only a couple of seconds left before we are doomed.
I’d say you should rent it, but the extras on the DVD aren’t that spectacular, so maybe you should just wait for A&E to replay the mini-series, and find out why we might want to pay attention to what is really going on at the International Space Station.
This DVD gets 2 ½ stars out of 5.
That’s it for this one! I’m the Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
DVD: It’s got some extra stuff, but unless you are a total sci-fi geek, you won’t care.