Contaminated Man

Back away from the movie. Do not touch it with your bare hands. The director must have been away shooting another film. Edited by monkeys. Ug.

In 1986, David is coming home to his wife Kelly, who is finishing an art work (which later appears on David's desk) and planning to put on something skimpy. The hot night they were planning never happens.

In 'present day' Budapest, Joseph has been fired after 22 years. He enters a room where he is not authorized to be, a room where most people have to wear 'space suits' because of dangerous substances. After an incident, David's HAZMAT team is called in. Holly is also investigating the incident--as a possible terrorist act. We know where this is going when Holly meets David and says, 'Cool suit! Are we expecting Martians?'

The company president won't reveal what is inside, calling the specifics 'trade secrets'. David must visit Lilian, the CEO--they have a history after something she did in the United States.

I won't say who 'Contaminated Man' is, or whether he knows what he is doing. I will only say that everyone he comes in close contact with dies within an hour, while this 'Typhoid Mary' only has a bad cough. One other person is immune, because he went through tests with the same chemical, a pesticide that has become very dangerous, possibly because there were plans to use it as a chemical weapon in war.

Whoever made this movie had trouble making up their mind what type it would be. There were some quite exciting chase scenes, especially in the second half, but sometimes it was quite slow. At one point, it seemed like the solution would be too easy, but the movie had thirty minutes to go, so a new twist was added to make it more interesting.

Sometimes the movie could be chilling, with otherworldly music, as danger was suggested. Once, the video looked normal but the audio resembled a 78 RPM record played at 33--quite effective. And sometimes it was more of a romantic comedy.

Overall, the result was pretty good--for a TV-movie, anyway. Not too much violence--though one person got shot and the blood just spurted out. Not every opportunity was taken to show gore (fine with me), even though there were plenty of chances.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

If you like your films either direct-to-video or limited release,Anthony Hickox is a generally reliable guy.His previous two Dolph Lundgren films,Storm Catcher and Jill Rips,have been proof of this.But the one thing that bogged those two films down,his mysterious quiet audio dubbing,is just one of many things that bog this plodding hash.The mighty really have fallen in the case of Peter Weller.One time lead star of quite possibly the greatest film of all time,Robocop,he has now been reduced to playing a bumbling menace who spends the majority of the film jarringly carrying some model airplane around with him.William Hurt and Natasha McElhone,one time big screen actors,should also be noted in nauseatingly stereotypical,ineffective roles as the action hero and romantic interest respectively.Throw into this a tired,cliche ridden killer virus story (with the government corruption and everything)which relies too heavily on subtitles at the beginning and all you have to occupy your time is the beautiful photography of the snow capped hills.And you didn't mean to spend an hour and a half watching that.*

The movie starts right off with a flashback to earlier days when David R. Whitman (William Hurt), a biochemist, accidentally dispatches his family with a virus. Years later a guard at a chemical plant is dismissed and, in an attempt, to get his job back he accidentally causes a spill of the same virus.

Now the chase is on to catch the contaminated man. In the process we have questions. Was it the first incident and accident? And is this time an accident?

We watch the standard team of good guy hazmat team and bad guy NSA banterer as the contaminated man keeps getting away and causing havoc.

So, what is new about this film? NOTHING So, is there any socially redeeming value? NO Is the ending any message? NO

Some people like to watch the same formula over again to see the nuances of actors or scenes.

There ain't any nuances here.

Still, it could have been worse.

"The Contaminated Man" is an efficiently but also very routinely made thriller, unoriginal and unexceptional in the extreme, right down to the ruthless "national security" agents who value the secrecy of their projects more highly than human life itself. For what is essentially a chase film, there is not enough urgency in the story. Peter Weller is remarkably convincing in a role that requires him to look much older than he really is, but he fails to gain much audience sympathy - he may be captured or he may escape, but we don't care very much one way or the other. (**1/2)