Directed by:
Robert WiseScreenplay:
Nelson GiddingCinematography:
Richard H. KlineComposer:
Gil MelleCast:
Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly, George Mitchell, Ramon Bieri, Kermit Murdock, Richard O'Brien, Peter Hobbs, Eric Christmas (more)Plots(1)
A government satellite crashes outside a small town in New Mexico – and within minutes, every inhabitant of the town is dead, except for a crying baby and an elderly derelict. The satellite and the two survivors are sent to Wildfire, a top-secret underground laboratory equipped with a nuclear self-destruct mechanism to prevent the spread of infection in case of an outbreak. Realising that the satellite brought back a lethal organism from another world, a team of government scientists race against the clock to understand the extraterrestrial virus – codenamed “Andromeda” – before it can wipe out all life on the planet. (Arrow Films)
(more)Reviews (4)
With no unnecessary special effects, just impressive scenery with a minimum of actors, this film amounts to a solidly suspenseful game played for time with an unknown toxin. It has a clever theme, an intelligent script, and a few atmospherically packed moments, and the only thing keeping the film below the highest standard is ultimately tiresome runtime.
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Robert Wise tried to take a "serious" approach to the material and created a sobering spectacle of what a deadly epidemic of the future could look like. He relied on contemporary scientific theories, and his greatest desire was clearly the believability and rationality of the story. He consciously abandoned the usual genre clichés, which is commendable, but in the end, a somewhat sterile spectacle was created, suffering to some extent from excessive length, exaggerated emphasis on dialogues, and that it is overall static. It's worth a decent three stars, but it's not a film that I would feel any desire to revisit. Overall impression: 60%.
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I've read the novel and it's very good and engaging. For the most part, the filmic adaptation is merely a faithful transcript which, unfortunately, doesn’t have much in store for those who have read the original. The non-readers, though, will appreciate the undeniably palpable tension.
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Very good sci-fi that manages to feel epic, but at the same time modest and even intimate. It is also given by the fact that it focuses on a disease that most likely came from space. Why didn't it kill one baby? And why didn't it kill one old man? A very well-executed film where you yourself feel like you could get infected. And most importantly, you don't know what the consequences will be.
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