Tedfoldol
everything you have heard about this movie is true.
Allison Davies
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Chantel Contreras
It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.
paulclaassen
All all-star cast ensure a convincing delivery of this medical disaster film. The suspense is gradually and effectively set-up as we learn more about the virus and its effects. For a short while, the film takes a comical dip somewhere around the middle of the film, but then builds again for an exciting climax. (The failed marriage saved by a disaster cliche is unfortunately present, as well.)
adonis98-743-186503
Extreme measures are necessary to contain an epidemic of a deadly airborne virus. But how extreme, exactly? Outbreak is one of those underrated 90's films that people have totally forgotten and it's unfortunately true because this movie is pretty damn awesome. Every scene where the main characters go into a room and try to help a infected person or get infected themselves is full of great suspense and each actors sold it perfectly. Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey and Cuba Gooding Jr. are all really great in this film and for once again Donald Sutherland completely sells it as the "villain" i mean the man is a genius he is so great that he actually makes you hate him to death. The score of the film is also pretty good and sells on both the tension and suspense of the film. The direction of Wolfgang Petersen is really good and with some pretty good shots overall. The characters are likable and interesting enough and the film every time that hits on action is pretty damn good. Overall Outbreak (1995) gets a total of 5/5 stars!!
Leofwine_draca
A medical thriller dealing with the all-too-real threat of unstoppable plague, this film has a good premise but only average execution. For me, the best parts of the film were where we see how the virus spreads among the unsuspecting - a scratch, a sneeze, or a cough. In the film's most celebrated sequence, a carrier coughs into a packed cinema, and we watch the particles zoom through the air before being inhaled by somebody who should have kept their mouth shut. This method of "quiet death" is extremely frightening and believable, and makes you feel like locking your doors and staying inside for the rest of your life.Elsewhere, it's business as usual, with a miscast Dustin Hoffman running around ignoring his superiors and doing his darnedest to try and save lives. The reliable Morgan Freeman appears as Hoffman's long-suffering superior, while Donald Sutherland makes the best of his villainously evil role. In fact, he's so good at it that I'm surprised he hasn't been cast more frequently as the bad guy - but then again his over the top performance in VIRUS may be the reason why. Rene Russo is around to provide a love interest and a woman in peril, and as always I can't stand her performance. A pre-fame Kevin Spacey is good in the small role of a virologist who has a nasty accident in the lab.The problem with this film is it's length: at two hours plus, it really drags at some points during the middle of the film. Some of the boring sentimentalising between Hoffman and Russo could easily have been chopped without harming the flow of the film. Thankfully, things regain interest with the action-filled finale, with Hoffman and Cuba Gooding, Jr. getting into a helicopter fight with the evil Sutherland and trying to deliver the vaccine before the town gets nuked. You can guess the ending (this is a Hollywood film, you see) but it's still pretty exciting. Horror fans should come along for the ride to witness a different kind of horror, and there are plenty of diseased bodies laying around to make you feel ill. This is a good example of a thriller with a different premise, only spoiled by the excessive length. A good Saturday night slice of entertainment.
Wuchak
THE PLOT: After a deadly incurable African virus is brought to a Northern California coastal town via a monkey, the military moves in to quarantine the village. While Dustin Hoffman seeks to find an antidote, the two generals in charge of the quarantine (Morgan Freeman & Donald Sutherland) strangely decide to annihilate the town. Can Hoffman find a cure in time? And, even if he does, can he stop the firebombing? I remember when Wolfgang Petersen's "Outbreak" came out in 1995; the idea just never interested me. Big mistake, because this is an outstanding picture. Although viruses are so small they're invisible, they have the potential to be the biggest monsters of all. Certain deadly viruses, if let loose, can easily wipe out an entire town in a mere couple days. This is the scenario in "Outbreak." It could happen and is therefore realistic, which naturally makes the story more horrifying than most horror flicks or monster movies.But "Outbreak" is more than just a scary what-if story, the second half involves a military cover-up and is edge-of-your-seat suspenseful, all the way to the final minutes. It's like an avalanche that slowly builds momentum.Cuba Gooding Jr. is also on hand in a significant role as Hoffman's partner in the race-against-time. And, for those who care, there's a romantic subplot about Hoffman and his ex-wife Rene Russo. Will they get back together? The locations are magnificent, filmed in the coastal towns Eureka, Arcata and Ferndale, California, all in the extreme Northern part of the state, just South of the Redwoods and West of Bigfoot territory (i.e. Willow Creek). The African sequences were filmed in Hawaii.BOTTOM LINE: This is top-of-the-line cinema -- equal parts scary, dramatic and suspenseful.GRADE: A-
