Review of Virtuosity (2014) by Brandon H — 07 Nov 2007

Oh, the things you find in a Wal-Mart bargain bin for only $5! Before "American Gangster", Denzel Washingston and Russell Crowe starred in this 1995 sci-fi thriller, that's a minor black-eye in their polished resumes.

At the time, Zelly was far established as a leading man, while Crowe was still up and coming. The two have since moved on to far greater heights in their careers, but for what it's worth, "Virtuosity" is a bad movie that leans more towards fun, than abysmal.

What works is chemistry the two deliver in playing out this taunt, psychological cat-and-mouse game, that started in virtual reality (remember that?) and is taken into reality. The confines of VR are stripped away, making for an absolutely deadly playing field.

Crowe's Sid 6.7 is a sadistic loose cannon, who gets a rush out of killing people and craving attention. A construct of mulitple personalities of serial killers, he uses one of them--the man who killed his opponent's wife and child--to toy with Zelly's Parker Barnes, a tormented ex-cop tuned prisoner, who became the closest to outsmarting Sid in VR.

To make matters worse for Barnes, Sid has the ability to regenerarte himself, upping the ante for his killing spree; the more he kills, the more accoutablity is left with Barnes. Aside from the chemistry, however, the movie's almost cheesy to the point where you might question why Zelly and Crowe chose to work with this.

Considering the respectable body of work both actors have done before and after the Oscar wins, imagine this being the "direct-to-video" feature they'd have, if both of their careers went the way of Steven Seagal--this is SO beneath them.

But if you're willing to check your brain at the door and ignore the fact these are two Oscars winners in a B-movie, Virtuosity is still worth a look. And it was worth the $5 DVD. (Last year's M:I:3 was in the bargain bin, too, but only the single-disc version.

I wonder what that says about Tom Cruise?).