Next time I watch it, I'll know when to tune out. The Andromeda Strain is two films – a really good, contemplative look at man's struggle against the unknown, and a mediocre science fiction B-movie – that were put in a blender together, and the result spooled between two reels.
Andromeda strain movie synopsis movie#
I like watching a movie and figuring out what didn't work and why, and what should have been done, because as an aspiring filmmaker I want to be able to identify those moments in my own work, preferably at a time when I can still correct them. For me personally, watching movies that almost work, or that don't work but have really interesting elements, is almost as rewarding (if not more so) than watching a near-perfect one.
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So I know I went on a rant about not really recommending this movie, and it not being good, but here's the thing – it's certainly not bad. I remember the exposition in the book being interesting, and fortunately for my understanding of the plot I remembered most of it, but this is the kind of movie that, had it played in one of my film classes later at night, and I had gotten up particularly early that day, I might have woken up halfway through and been terminally confused until the lights came up and the professor started lecturing. The biggest problem is that the pacing needs a serious kick in the ass. (As an aside, you could arguably make a drinking game out of every moment of casual sexism in the film, but I suspect the average male wouldn't realize how much drinking this would entail.) While the editing could possibly be blamed for not saving the dead spaces in the pacing, it frequently makes the scenes that work far more interesting than they have any right to be, particularly when it employs split-screen effects. The actors play their lamentably underwritten roles laudably, particularly Kate Reid as the irascible Dr. The movie has really cool special effects, which it's careful not to show off often enough to stretch its budget. I'd rather a movie leave me behind than keep me waiting. I know they're actually talking down to the audience, not each other, but it strains our belief in the world of the story. There are a number of scenes that work perfectly well throughout the film, they're just invariably split up with scenes that drag on too long and too often sound like the scientists are talking down to each other. I'll stop summarizing the plot here, because watching the scientific discoveries unfold is really the main reason to be watching this movie, but unfortunately I can't passionately argue here that you should sit through the movie for the compelling and fascinating science parts because frankly they're only a little less dry than the exposition. It's hard to look from my 21 st century understanding of computers on the "bleeding edge" of lab sophistication as depicted in 1971, but there's still cool stuff going on, like the room that burns off the outer layer of your skin. The thing I can say for Andromeda is that it at least plays its exposition against the setpiece of the hyper-advanced lab. Science fiction films, especially older ones, often have problems with exposition. So okay, Andromeda Strain takes its pleasant time getting to the interesting science parts, the "how does Michael Chrichton make looking through a microscope so tense?" scenes I remember from the book when I read it so many years ago, but that's okay. Eerie things are clearly afoot, so they pick up the satellite and two survivors they found, and transport them all to the safety of nearly an hour of exposition, split up only by an endless decontamination process for the four scientists. The perceptive surgeon soon realizes their blood has completely clotted when they make a cut on a corpse and it spills out like sand. We want to see crazy shit brought to life on screen, and the next scene, featuring Hall and Stone, provides in the form of a town whose inhabitants appear to have all died seemingly where they stand. Mark Hall.īut let's be fair: the reason we're here is that we want to see some science fiction. Ruth Leavitt and the perpetually annoyed young surgeon (I can only that was his personality trait), Dr.
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Charles Dutton the grumpy anti-authoritarian woman, Dr. Of course, things do go very obviously wrong, but fortunately there's a top-secret government project to protect against the remote possibility of an alien disease breaking out on Earth, and they're quickly rounded up in scenes that allow each character to demonstrate their defining personality trait: the no-nonsense leader and organizer of the program, Dr. The government decides it'd be a good idea to launch satellites that scoop air from the edge of space, hoping to find a biological weapon that the Soviets can't counter. The Andromeda Strain (1971): English, 169 min, directed by Robert Wise, written by Nelson Gidding (based on the novel by Michael Crichton), starring Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, David Wayne, Paula Kelly and George Mitchell.