Today Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are regarded by some as two of the finest actors on the planet. Back in 1995 however, they seemingly had no qualms about signing up for this kind of sci-fi nonsense.
Taking numerous elements of The Lawnmowe... (read more) Today Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are regarded by some as two of the finest actors on the planet. Back in 1995 however, they seemingly had no qualms about signing up for this kind of sci-fi nonsense.
Taking numerous elements of The Lawnmower Man, The Running Man and Robocop, this is a thriller which hung on the notion that virtual reality suits would really take off. They didn't, which only serves to make the film seem even further redundant.
Denzel is the convict who is testing a new type of VR software designed to train policeman, offered a full pardon when computerised bad guy Russell makes his way into the real world. It's extremely daft but it's peppered with a good amount of violence for the gore hounds and Crowe and Washington are both good enough actors to always be worth watching. Crowe seems to be having a wild time as the psychotic Sid 6.7.
Sadly what is shaping up to be an entertaining if some what ludicrous movie pushes the silliness button too hard and a bunch of Crowe's scenes enter the realm of pantomime which undermines his character and the tone the movie had been beginning to build.
The lack of story starts to become apparent and without any real motive for Sid 6.7 being loose in the real world the movie begins to unravel rather quickly. The ending is tense if a little predictable and Virtuousity finds itself in that all too popular club of movies which disappoint as there seems to be a good movie fighting to get out from beneath the bizarre comedy scenes.

During the 90's V.R. was all the rage. Once director Brett Leonard hit with The Lawnmower man, Hollywood had the bug. But the fad was just as short lived as the TV show V.R.5. The Lawnmower Man 2 sunk like a stone and Virtuosity garnered terrible ... (read more) During the 90's V.R. was all the rage. Once director Brett Leonard hit with The Lawnmower man, Hollywood had the bug. But the fad was just as short lived as the TV show V.R.5. The Lawnmower Man 2 sunk like a stone and Virtuosity garnered terrible reviews so tinsle town found other interests. Here, Brett Leonard (Highlander: The Source) directs the then up and coming Denzal Washington (cop with a shady past), pitting him against Russell Crowe (the literal embodiment of a killer computer programmed with nothing but serial killers). Crowe gives a riotous performance as the vicious killer, proving early on why he went on to be a Hollywood superstar with Gladiator, Body of Lies and State of Play. Washington (The Mighty Quinn, Deja Vu, Cry Freedom) is wasted on this pap though (indeed, he only did the part as his son asked him to accept) as is Kelly Lynch, both of whom are buried by an inept plot with Grand Canyon sized plot holes, obvious twists and one note characters. One for Sci-Fi geeks, Washington or Crowe fans only. Crowe and Washington would re-team for the far superior American Gangster 10 years later.

One of those guilty pleasures really.
It's not what we've come to expect from Washington & Crowe since they made this back in 1995. It's definately no masterpiece, but it's one of those movies that you can watch with found memories of how bad films ... (read more) One of those guilty pleasures really.
It's not what we've come to expect from Washington & Crowe since they made this back in 1995. It's definately no masterpiece, but it's one of those movies that you can watch with found memories of how bad films used to be.
Crowe really does seem to revell in his over the top performance as Sid 6.7. He really should play psychopathic killers more often.

Interesting for Russell Crowe's pre-bigtime performance which stands up, sadly the story doesn't and it is a lesser effort in the sci-fi genre.

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