Outbreak

This is a great movie, very well done. It's so realalistic that it is scarey. Makes you really wonder and pray this will never happen in our lifetime.

I'll keep this short. Of all the virus genre movies I have ever watched, this one is by far the best. The acting was superb as was all else associated with this movie. Of all disaster movies in general I have watched, this ranks near or at the top of the list, bar none! Where was this gem hiding all this time?

THE PLOT: After a deadly incurable African virus is brought to a Northern California coastal town via a monkey, the military moves in to quarantine the village. While Dustin Hoffman seeks to find an antidote, the two generals in charge of the quarantine (Morgan Freeman & Donald Sutherland) strangely decide to annihilate the town. Can Hoffman find a cure in time? And, even if he does, can he stop the firebombing?

I remember when Wolfgang Petersen's "Outbreak" came out in 1995; the idea just never interested me. Big mistake, because this is an outstanding picture. Although viruses are so small they're invisible, they have the potential to be the biggest monsters of all. Certain deadly viruses, if let loose, can easily wipe out an entire town in a mere couple days. This is the scenario in "Outbreak." It could happen and is therefore realistic, which naturally makes the story more horrifying than most horror flicks or monster movies.

But "Outbreak" is more than just a scarey what-if story, the second half involves a military cover-up and is edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, all the way to the final minutes. It's like an avalanche that slowly builds momentum.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is also on hand in a significant role as Hoffman's partner in the race-against-time. And, for those who care, there's a romantic subplot about Hoffman and his ex-wife Rene Russo. Will they get back together?

The locations are magnificent, filmed in the coastal towns Eureka, Arcata and Ferndale, California, all in the extreme Northern part of the state, just South of the Redwoods and West of Bigfoot territory (i.e. Willow Creek). The African sequences were filmed in Hawaii.

BOTTOM LINE: This is top-of-the-line cinema -- equal parts scarey, dramatic and suspenseful.

I love disaster flicks and this one did not disappoint. It had all the qualities I love about such movies: the person/people who puts money/ego ahead of people's safety dies, the hero gets the girl, and the hero goes back into the disaster area when everyone else is leaving.

This DVD is a replacement for the VHS tape I had. I read Robin Cook's book and it was great, but even though the movie doesn't exactly follow the book, it is a great movie on its own.