Chimera Strain

I must commend the filmmakers that they even managed to tackle such a sensitive subject but the issue of morality and the dilemmas it poses becomes central to the film- at the expense of the entertainment. The visuals are amazing including some stomach churning stuff involving operation room objects. Its all pretty much in one setting (the main character's science lab) but the inventive camerawork and editing are good enough to not let that matter. Interesting concept- flawed execution.

Some good, some not so good, The good: acting, plot, sets, medical sci-fi aspects. The not-so-good: over stylized lighting, confusing plot. Still it was better than the avarage crappy indie movie that comes out of sundance or cannes.

Chimera Strain by Maurice Haems could have been a great film- It looks amazing and the acting is sublime across the board. Henry Ian Cusick is so bloody good he deserves a nomination somewhere just to get noticed. However, there are some problems- for one the pacing is disjointed and off. Scenes seem rushed and many times a long take scene is immediately followed by a bunch of short ones, which dispenses the flow of the film. The script is good but there is way too much dialogue. Mr. Haems should know that the "show don't tell" rule also applies in a way that one should make the character do things to back their intentions and not just say it. That's for plays. All in all, this is a brave effort and I feel any science fiction lover should see this.

On the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein comes a new science fiction film based on similar concepts of immortality and the arrogance of science. Chimera Strain is worth your time simply because of its unique concept. The ending seems a bit rushed, but the overall product is worth your invested time

This is just one more "Scientist playing God and failing miserably" story. It doesn't matter that the reasons he fails are morally extinct and that the way he handles crisis is to succumb to apparent psychotic strength, because he is a nice scientist that can't do violence. A cliched and ridiculous promise that doesn't really do justice to scientists (or mad scientists for that matter). No person of science would be intimidated by a psycho boss lady and her uber strengthy hench... person. It took three thirds of the movie to reach an obvious conclusions, only to change things as a superfluous twist that no one needed.

Bottom line: a movie in which all people acted for the money, rather than for the idea of the film, resulting in a boring, cliched, pointless plot and a sub mediocre performance.