When a satellite crashes, it releases an alien virus that wipes out most of a small town, and threatens humanity.  A team of scientists tries to figure out how to stop it before it is too late.

CRITIQUE

The Andromeda Strain was a four-hour A&E miniseries; here, stripped of all its commercials, this is a two-disc film that clocks in at just under three hours.  The result didn’t really need that long to tell, and feels it at times; there are some sequences here that feel like padding.  But the result has a lot that works, and though there are some bad low-budget TV special effects that are distracting, this hangs together well enough to merit a rental if you missed the original airing.

The tale is based on a novel by Michael Crichton that was adapted into a 1971 feature film.  This miniseries keeps the basic tale of a group of scientists trying to figure out how to stop the virus, while also opening it up to include some chilling scenes of the virus causing people to die or go crazy, as well as a subplot involving a TV reporter trying to uncover what is going on while also trying to protect himself from government forces trying to cover everything up.

The cast here is a fairly solid group largely culled from TV, with Benjamin Bratt, Ricky Schroeder, Christa Miller, Viola Davis and Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) playing the scientists, and Eric McCormack (Will and Grace) playing the reporter.  The tale is at its best when it focuses on the scientists trying to figure out what the virus is and how to stop it; the group plays off each other well, while the filmmakers have done a good job creating a high-tech lab where a lot of this takes place.

The special effects are very clunky, however, particularly late, when the disease is spreading across the country; there are also a lot of awkward FX shots of infected birds.  A late sequence in which the scientists are trying to save the facility is also underwhelming handled and dragged out too long, particularly since we know there is no way that all these characters are suddenly going to die, and the challenges they face feel contrived.  The explanation for the disease also gets very complex along the way, and it has some real logic flaws in the whole story.

Still, I found myself getting caught up in a lot of this; there is a ticking clock here, and the race to find a cure and save the world does have some good moments.  The actors are solid, even though most of the character development just feels like wasted scenes; this is the kind of tale where the characters aren’t as important as what they are doing.  Ultimately this isn’t great, though there is enough here to merit consideration as a rental.

THE VIDEO

The Andromeda Strain is presented in widescreen.  Despite it being a TV series, the  picture quality is generally very good, with the exception of a cheesy special effect or ten.

THE AUDIO

The Andromeda Strain is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Digital.  Dialogue, music and sound effects come through clear.  There are English subtitles for the hard of hearing.

THE EXTRAS

There’s a full-length Commentary featuring director Mikael Salomon, executive producers David W. Zucker and Tom Thayer, and editor Scott Vickrey.  They talk about the film from scene-to-scene in somewhat nuts-and-bolts but generally-interesting fashion.

Terra Incognita: The Making of the Andromeda Strain is a 26–minute documentary focusing on the filmmakers and some of the actors talking about the process, including filming in Canada and the special effects.

Visual Effects Breakdowns is an 11-minute piece showing some of the special-effects works, though a lot of this is also in the previous piece.

There is also a Photo and Design Gallery that has 110 production photos.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s a little too long and it occasionally drags, but it also manages to be fairly involving, all things considered.