|
 The
Andromeda Strain (1971)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Universal Studios / 2003
Directed by: Robert Wise
Written by: Michael Crichton, Nelson Gidding
Cast: Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid &
Paula Kelly.
Review by Annie Riordan
A military satellite crashes back to Earth outside of the
small town of Piedmont, New Mexico. But when the military
heads out to recover it, they discover it has brought
something back with it: a deadly alien virus which has
decimated the population of Piedmont save for an old man and
an infant. A small and elite team of scientists are brought
in and assigned a deadly task: figure out what, exactly, the
Andromeda Strain is, how it works and how to stop it before
it can spread, causing a worldwide catastrophe.
I’m not going to lie to you: if you suffer from ADD, have
the attention span of a caffeine addicted chimpanzee, or
just prefer your horror/thrillers with lots of action, blood
and more action, The Andromeda Strain will bore you right
into a five year coma. The cast is doughy, pasty and all
look the same - even the woman! The entire film takes place
mostly on one laboratory set which is as bland and as
colorless as the cast and there’s no gore, no sex, no
violence, no nothing.
But...oh yes, BUT!
The Andromeda Strain is an absolutely fan-fucking-tastic
tale of paranoia and claustrophobia. It’s those goddamned
dull lab sets that close around our brilliant but stressed
out cast, the very repetitiveness of their tasks that drives
you to the edge of your seat, the boring, everyday reality
of the characters, the epileptic subplot and the sudden
burst of fear-charged action at film’s climax that makes
this film so incredible. If you can sit still and think a
little bit, it’ll hook you before you even realize it.
Ultimately, it works because it seems so utterly possible,
and very frighteningly real. |
