Only an old man hooked on Sterno (product placement?) and a colicky baby seem immune. It’s a puzzler: This infectious disease outbreak causes grisly death, suicide and homicidal behavior within minutes. Stone assembles the crew in an underground undisclosed location, trying to figure out what’s killed nearly an entire town’s population. We have to be ready for anything!”ĭrinking games may emerge around the vintage “Star Trek” flashback moments, when members of the team bark instructions at the hardware: “Computer, post all results!” “Computer, check all irradiated samples!”īenjamin Bratt is leaden as epidemiologist Jeremy Stone, leader of the pack of scientists. They’re joined by Eric McCormack (“Will & Grace”) as Jack Nash, the intrepid reporter who breaks out of rehab to chase breaking news through the Utah desert, and Ricky Schroeder in uniform as virologist Bill Keene, amazingly straight-faced as he delivers monotonously urgent lines: “The rate of mutation is likely to increase post-blast. George Mancheck, an Army biochemical research officer, and shaggy(!) Daniel Dae Kim (“Lost”) as Tsi Chou, a microbiologist. Some of the most dramatic surprises are the hairstyles of actors slogging through the four hours over two nights: Blond-tinted(!) Andre Braugher as Gen. When it verges on camp, it’s not smart enough to be funny. When it tries to be serious sci-fi, this “Andromeda” strains. Their seizing, writhing bodies litter the streets their deaths get multiple replays. Most memorable from the whole stinking exercise is the sight of dozens of extras enacting horrible deaths, aided by special effects and thick makeup. Truly awful acting and often silly dialogue botch any tension. Instead, eminent producing brothers Ridley and Tony Scott have prolonged the flick to miniseries length. With bioterrorism a timely topic, and with plague an enduring AIDS metaphor, you’d think the plot would engage on a visceral level. “Andromeda Strain” mutates into bloated two-night miniseries – The Denver Post
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