Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Outbreak’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I’ve always found it fascinating how sometimes, cinema as a whole tries it’s best to stay relevant to current events because, that’s no easy task when it comes to film. After all, making a movie is a long and drawn out process that works in stages and because of that, trying to make a motion picture that’s relevant to something currently happening in society tends to bring about poor results when all is said and done. Because often times, a rushed production flat out misses the mark and does a poor job of analyzing the subject it wanted to tackle, or…the moment it wanted to highlight has passed and is already being forgotten by the public at large.
 
But sometimes, the right people are in place behind the scenes and they do a phenomenal job of chronicling an important moment in our modern society and those are the kinds of films we talk about and show others thanks to their powerful relevancy. But in reality, a lot of films that try to capitalize on a hot moment, end up being a mixed bag at best, one that features a healthy mix of the relevancy in question with just a hint of cheese, and while that sounds like a bad thing, it’s actually not since those types of films can be supremely entertaining and for proof, look no further than a movie that tried to highlight the potential dangers of a powerful virus in 1995’s Outbreak.
 
Now the virus in question that this motion picture works to highlight is the Ebola Virus, which became quite the talk of the town when it was discovered that an airborne strain of this nasty little bugger, one that doesn’t infect humans, was present in a small outbreak at an animal facility in Reston, Virginia in 1989 and this little incident, and the history of the virus as a whole was highlighted in the 1993 novel, The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston and all of that matters because at the time, this book and the Ebola Virus freaked people out to the nth degree and everyone was wondering as to whether or not this sucker would potentially infect humans in the United States. 

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Enter this movie, a creative exploration of what would happen if by chance an airborne strain of hemorrhagic fever jumped to humans and well, I need to give credit where credit is due, the early part of the story is where the good stuff is present in the film, since there are some genuinely scary moments that arise from seeing the virus infect the small town of Cedar Creek, California and I tip my cap to Director Wolfgang Petersen for finding a way to make a normally invisible virus a tangible enemy for the audience to fear. And perhaps the most chilling scene in the movie is when we see someone infected with the fictional Motaba Virus hacking and wheezing in a movie theater, and the live and virulent particulates from that cough circulate throughout the theater and let me tell you, that moment sent chills down my spine when I saw it on the big screen and I wasn’t the only one who experienced that since the theater went silent in that moment.
 
But alas, quality moments such as that are nowhere to be found in the third act of the film when it de-evolves into an action flick. Wherein the story becomes a predictable race against time to save the people of this town, and the world, from the evil of men and this killer virus as Colonel Sam Daniels and his friends run around the countryside trying to find the host animal. And this part of the movie gets so over the top and so cheesy that there’s an actual helicopter chase sequence as soldiers following orders try their best to stop Sam and well, this particular change up in the storytelling design outright robs the film of its power, unfortunately. Yet while it appears as though this little twist ruins the movie, believe it or not, it’s quite watchable even as the script unravels before your eyes.
 
That thanks in large part to the top-notch casting of the film, since Dustin Hoffman plays Sam and he sells every single moment as only he can, and he is bookended nicely by performances by Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland, Rene Russo and Cuba Gooding Jr., and they too offer up straight laced performances that add a sense of realism to this film and while the third act of this flick is an outright mess, make no mistake about it, this is a fun motion picture. It truly entertains and if you’re looking for a fun, rollercoaster ride of a movie, then look no further than this one because it will definitely keep your attention and keep you rooting for the good guys to save the day. 

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