Contaminated Man (2000)
In this science fiction thriller, David Whitman (William Hurt) is a chemist who lost his wife and child in a freak accident and is trying to rebuild his life on his own. While doing research, Whitman discovers a series of mysterious deaths that seem to follow in the path of Joseph Mueller (Peter Weller), a seemingly ordinary man who works as a security guard. Unknown to Mueller, his body carries a strange contaminant that's deadly to many people, and Whitman is desperate to find Mueller and stop him before he can cause more deaths.
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the audience applauded
Instant Favorite.
hyped garbage
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
When a film starts with a man unintentionally killing his young family with an immediately-fatal virus within the first couple of minutes you know that A) you're in a world that bears only a passing resemblance to reality and B) you're probably going to wish you hadn't bothered watching it by the time the film is over. I started watching mostly because William Hurt is a quality actor (it's unfathomable to me why he would accept such a badly-written part in such a ludicrously told story) and also because I have a weakness for killer virus stories even though this genre of film is rarely worth the effort. Even a relatively ambitious project like Mick Garris's TV adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand was disappointing in the extreme.Anyway, I soldiered on, and increasingly began feeling as if a creeping virus were taking over my own body. One that made me at first restless and then sleepy. After the film's prologue in golden California we are transported to the cold grey winter of Budapest, presumably because production costs are cheaper there. A lab worker (Peter Weller, virtually unrecognisable from his Robocop days) accidentally becomes infected with the virus but, like Hurt's character, is able to live for a week or so as a carrier while those he touches die within a minute of contact. Hurt shows up, looking a little geeky it has to be said, with long hair and no hairpiece, to at first lock horns with Natasha McElhone before they join forces to track down Weller (who, bizarrely, goes on the run with a large model airplane) with whom.Hurt shares an increasing affinity.Things get progressively sillier as the film blunders towards its daft climax, and we are left to (presumably) cheer two 'heroes' who gleefully infect a hardnosed government agent with the very virus they had been attempting to stop Weller from spreading. Weller and McElhone belong to that breed of second-string actors who live off the pickings those higher up the pecking order instantly dismiss, but William Hurt is clearly slumming here, and presumably only in it for the money a fact which is almost as disappointing as this film.
I watched the entire movie recognizing the participation of William Hurt, Natascha McElhone, and Desiree Nosbusch. I'm glad that I had no idea of the presence of Peter Weller. At the end of the movie I said "THAT was Peter Weller?" Kudos to Mr. Weller for an outstanding performance. Weller played a major character, and his performance was such that I didn't even recognize him.Overall the plot was bad, the writing was bad, and the performances, aside from those of Nosbusch and Weller, were subpar. The scenery and setting were interesting, and Weller was amazing.4 stars, of a possible 10.
For God's sake people, let's try to get it right. The Weller character isn't carrying a virus or a pathogen or anything else biological and the Hurt character isn't a disease expert. Hurt plays a hazardous waste clean-up guy for the UN. Weller gets a dose of pesticide in the face that metabolizes into a chemical that causes instant fatal allergic reaction to anyone he touches.This may seem like a trivial difference but at least it's a new idea, not just a recycling on any number of other movies, dating back at least to the Satan Bug in 1965 if not earlier. I'll pass up judging the rest of the film as everyone else has, but you've got to wonder about the validity of anyone's attention who apparently didn't pay any attention to the freakin' movie.
If you're in Australia you're probably seeing 'The Contaminated Man' appear on video store shelves right about now. Even though it has Peter Weller and William Hurt in it, you can tell from even the title itself that this is going to be an average film at best. And having watched it, I can say that this is an okay film, the snow-covered scenery being reminiscent of Screamers (Peter Weller's last film of note), but with the story being coherent and making sense unlike Screamers. If I was Roger Ebert I'd have to give this a thumbs down but it's worth watching if you've got a couple of hours to kill or if you've seen all of this month's new releases.