Alerte !

I loved this movie when it first came out and found it just as enjoyable upon a recent re-watching. Afterwards, I noticed that it carried the same IMDB rating of 6.6 as a more recent disease-disaster movie, "Contagion", which I find perplexing.

While "Outbreak" was fast-paced and carried an engaging plot with an exciting climax, "Contagion" played out like a BBC documentary, with no real plot, no character development, and no climactic finish. Both movies had great casts, but I felt that they were largely wasted in "Contagion" since the characters were incidental to the virus and you never become invested in anyone's welfare. Neither is wholly realistic, but at least one is entertaining.

I challenge fans of the genre to watch both movies and vote to correct what seems to be a great injustice to "Outbreak", which is clearly a more entertaining movie.

Hoffman is a U.S. Army doctor who specializes in disease control, and is burdened with personal problems following a recent divorce. He and his research team have their work cut out for them when they're assigned to try and contain a new, terrifyingly deadly virus that's made its way from Africa and caused an unprecedented epidemic in a small U.S. coastal town. It's a race against time as they try and locate the host animal carrying the virus, as well as save the lives of the town inhabitants before his Army superiors can carry out their own agenda. Suspenseful, well-crafted thriller is not always surprising, but it is believable and acted with conviction by a dynamite cast. ***

Despite of being from 1995, then "Outbreak" is still a movie that very much holds it own and is very watchable even now in 2020. Well, especially more so now in 2020 given the Covid-19 situation. Which, incidentally, is also the reason why I opted to sit down and watch this classic one more time.

The storyline in "Outbreak" is very riveting and captivating, drawing in the audience quite fast, with a very intense and interesting storyline. This movie is essentially about a small outbreak of a new strain of virus that crosses borders and quickly turns into a very dangerous virus that runs amok and out of hand.

Aside from a very interesting storyline, then the movie definitely also benefits from having a very impressive cast ensemble, which includes the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Donald Sutherland.

"Outbreak" is a movie that can be watched again and again, and it never ceases to be as intense and interesting as it was the first time I watched it. For this accomplishment the writers Laurence Dworet and Robert Roy Pool really deserve a lot of praise. And also director Wolfgang Petersen did a great job with this movie.

If you haven't already seen "Outbreak" for some reason, now is the right time, especially with the pandemic situation happening in the world today.

My rating of "Outbreak" is a very solid seven out of ten stars. I can warmly recommend that you take the time to sit down and watch - or re-watch - this movie, because it is very intense and very entertaining.

Adaptation of Richard Preston's 1994 nonfiction book "The Hot Zone" stars Dustin Hoffman as Col. Daniels, a medical scientist doing research on an Ebola-like virus isolated in an African village; after Daniels is taken off the assignment and the virus invades the United States, he learns some hard truths about how our government is run. Serious material as commercial entertainment; those hoping for a more intellectual or subdued approach to this topic will be disappointed, for the film is designed as a thriller for the masses and not as a docudrama. It's well-produced and gripping, yet one wonders how seriously the filmmakers are actually taking it. Hoffman (miscast, but personable and ingratiating) leads a strong cast including Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Donald Sutherland, and Cuba Gooding Jr. (terrific as Hoffman's assistant). **1/2 from ****

When a disease in Africa is found , extreme measures are necessary to stop a rapacious epidemic , as dinky Colonel Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) of the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases is sent to discover it . When he reports back to his chef officer General Ford (Morgan Freeman) and tells him that they should put out an alert on this disease but the General that since the disease is so far away and not airborne that it can't possibly reach the U.S . However, a monkey from that part of Africa was captured by a man (Patrick Dempsey) and brought the USA and tried to sell it but when the person he tried to sell it to rejected it he released it. Col. Daniels wants to look into it but General Ford denies his request so he turns to his estranged ex-wife (Rene Russo) , who works at the Center for Disease Control or CDC to look into and they discover it's the African disease but since it kills very quickly, Col. Daniels feels that it's been contained until another outbreak and learns the virus makes the bubonic pest look like a cough . The virus expands rapidly in the air like a common cold but the Army superiors have an agenda to their own . Meanwhile Hoffman must contain the virus that's somehow made its way from Africa to the USA and the events go awry . But military intelligence (Donald Sutherland) have other plans to avoid deadly virus in which a sub-continent the size of America may be consumed and decimated .

Suspense thriller with plenty of action and intrigue about a deadly virus is spread in the air . The pictures results to be a metaphor for AIDS panic in the same way that 50s extraterrestrial films mirrored fears of Red Menace . The story shows the scientific methods by which such viral ills are identified and tracked , including touches on the ethical problems as germ warfare , elimination of infected and several others . Nice performance for all-star-cast as Hoffman , Russo , Morgan Freeman as a good general , Cuba Gooding Jr as intrepid official expert on helicopters , Kevin Spacey as helper and many others . Appears unjustly uncredited T.J Walsh as US President , Dale Dye and Lance Kerwin . Colorful and appropriate cinematography by Michael Balhaus , Clint Eastwood's usual . Stirring and adequate musical score by James Newton Howard . Good direction by Petersen who does have its thrilling moments , most of them in the first half , though the second half degenerates in a superhero movie in which Hoffman turning into an one army man -almost caricature and barely credible- against the military intelligence represented by nasty Donald Sutherland . Wolfgang Petersen has directed very good films since his beginnings in Germany with ¨The Neverending story¨ and ¨Das Boot¨ ,after that , he emigrated US where realized ¨Night of shattered crystals¨, ¨Enemy mine¨ , and the successful ¨Air Force one¨and ¨The patriot¨ , though his last film was a semi-flop , the remake ¨Poseidon¨. Rating : well worth watching , better than average .