Virus

Remember the computer virus that Will Smith used to kick alien ass in Independence Day? Well, in this sci-fi disaster flick, the aliens "are" a malevolent electronic infestation that takes over a high-tech Russian research ship caught in the eye of typhoon. The aliens' conduit to the ship is a data transmission from the Mir space station as it is engulfed by the lifeform's dreamy blue mass. Also in the eye of the storm is a sinking tug. Her crew are delighted to find dry ground aboard the ghost ship, which promises a salvage mother lode, but then the power gets switched on and the mammoth vessel springs to life -- literally. First come the little electronic scatter bugs, which look like something out of Errol Morris's Fast Cheap and Out of Control. Then the gory half-human, half-machine assassins, ridiculously tethered by power cords.

Based on the Dark Horse comic-book series, the plot itself is a gory concatenation of Hardware and Event Horizon -- two of cinema's more forgettable sci-fi thrillers. The cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin, and Joanna Pacula, put in a yeoman effort to little avail. Even Donald Sutherland in the potentially juicy role of a self-serving old sea dog goes down with the ship in this suspenseless big-budget "thriller." At Cinema World, Framingham, the Hoyt Westborough, Leominster, Marlboro, the Solomon Pond Hoyt, and the Worcester North Showcase.

-- Tom Meek