Alerte imminente

It could have been worse. This movie is at the low end of expectations for a made for tv film. Fortunately, it is not available on DVD or VHS tape and had to be taped off of tv with commercials intact, but zappable. Most of the bad acting can probably be blamed on the script, because it is hard to conclude that what is up on the tv screen is nothing less than corny. The movie begins realistically enough but quickly goes downhill with lots of the dialog feeling forced and overly sentimental. At least Nastassja Kinski has the lead role as the scientist who has to find a cure for a bio-warfare, fatal virus. She and her on-screen daughter are the only ones to escape from the script alive and only because of Nastassja's screen presence that carries most of the scenes that she is in. Early on, Nastassja, dressed in a black Ninja type outfit, is a member of a destroy mission, somewhat reminiscent of Nikita of "La Femme Nikita," the tv series. Then she is plunged into a poorly thought out remake of "The Andromeda Strain," but without the aid of Michael Crichton. If the script were actually realistic, then we poor American citizens are in a world of trouble because the so-called national security is not even second rate, but probably fifth rate. If the writers are smart, they would be wise to never admit that they wrote this script because it has been very poorly researched with god-awful dialog and situations that only a real professional like Nastassja can escape, including a scene that seems to have been lifted out of "Paris, Texas." Most of the acting is hammy and some might find that amusing or something to laugh at because it is so bad.

This is actually the worst movie I've ever seen. There's so much to complain about that I don't really have time to list it all. Low budget doesn't normally mean bad movie, but in this case - wow! It's so bad, in the worst way possible, that it's not even worth seeing just for a laugh, one only gets irritated. I never got the feeling that the world is in trouble at all since nothing was shown. No one seems to care about anyone, not even close family, at least not more than for appearances. There's no time line. You never get a clue what the virus does, how long incubation time is, why you die from it or anything, and it seems you live for quite a while after getting the disease even though it's supposed to be the worst ever, the virus just isn't believable in any way, neither is the cure. They tell everyone about the presidents place of hiding, on national TV. The presidents only concern is his own wellbeing.

I could go on for the rest of the night, but I don't want to tell to much about the storyline. However, don't watch this crap. The makers should get arrested.

Definitely a made for TV B-movie stereotype at its best. A disease is killing the human race, and its down to the first family to save the world. Aint America great?

Absolute cack, starring LA Law reject Harry Hamlin as Mr President.

Sweet: I have to defend the writer of the film who did manage to get a certain amount of emotional situations into the film. I found the acting to be Ok. It is always difficult to act or judge acting in fictitious films of this nature. How do we know how people would cry about dying relatives etc? I know I've never been in a situation where 50% of the world population was dying. But I have seen people distressed crying and they would be deemed unrealistic in a film.

Bitter: Most of this film is embarrassing. Despite being English I know that America has tighter security on its president than we do on the Royal family and the PM put together, so the whole island, planes, terrorist bit really made it difficult to take any of this film seriously.

Sympathy: For the people who were conned by the, "I've got a great film where a deadly virus sweeps the planet, the president is caught between his job and his family who are desperate to help the suffering. This woman is fighting for a cure but ends up quarantined from her daughter who resents her mother being away from her after her fathers death."

"Hey this has real dramatic potential... no wait, wait, who filled it out with this pile of....

This film is absolutely appalling! It is so cheesy that it's almost impossible to turn over. ~I~ could provide better security than the Secret Service are depicted with. ~I~ could provide been biological analysis than the CDC are depicted with.

I admit I may not be the #1 fan of the US, but even I am offended at how incompetently and unrealistically everyone is portrayed as being.

The science is shot to hell, the reality is shot to hell. The guys who wrote this script have not a single clue -- do they even live in this reality? *GRIN*

All that said, if you enjoy 1980s-style, unrealistic, paranoid, badly-made, badly-acted B-movies, you will watch this and giggle at how much one may gather by scraping the bottom of the barrel. New depths in storytelling are plumbed in every minute. More clichés than you can shake a stick at, effects undeserving of the sobriquet "special", acting so bad that you know babies better at it and more cheese than France, Holland, Switzerland and the whole of Scandinavia.

If you want a good story, well told, look elsewhere. If you have nothing better to do than watch a film where everyone involved in it should never be employed again, then sit back and enjoy!