VIRTUOSITY (1995):

VIRTUOSITY (1995):

“When a virtual reality simulation created using the personalities of multiple serial killers manages to escape into the real world, an ex-cop is tasked with stopping its reign of terror.”

Virtuosity is free on YouTube for now, so I figured, what the heck? Might as well watch it. I'd like to mention a few things for wider cultural context first. I think in scifi (ostensibly what this blog is about, along with cultural issues.) you have more leeway with what can look dated, because it's more about imagination. That said, it's a very good cyberpunk crime thriller.

Denzel Washington plays Parker Barnes, the only cop who's gotten close to taking down Sid 6.7, an amalgam program of the worst killers, meant to train cops. One day, Sid tells his programmer that he wants out. The programmer tricks another researcher into constructing him an android body, and bringing the villain to life.

Now, Parker chases him through pretty much a landscape of 90s media culture. A techno club (where Sid takes hostages.), a store, a UFC ring, and a TV station. During the chase and shootout, we learn that one of Sid's personalities is the terrorist Michael Grimes, who killed his wife and daughter. Using this, Barnes tracks him down to the TV station.

Sid constructs a “Death TV” game show and takes hostages. Barnes realizes since Sid is a VR training program, he only enjoys playing the game with his favorite opponent. So, he accepts his showdown challenge. Meanwhile, a programmer's daughter is being held hostage with a bomb, just like when his wife and daughter were killed.

After Sid and Barnes fight, the policeman takes out Sid's program, and makes him believe he actually won, sticking him back inside VR. He diffuses the bomb. Cops run over Sid's program with a car. One thing I will say is, I like how the programs look. They're like little orbs. Both Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington add an air of drama to the action.

That is to say, I enjoyed the performances by both Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Denzel is usually always a good action hero. Russell Crowe is intense and wacky in this early role. Lastly, I think its amazing what they could do with 90s CGI; essentially screensaver graphics. It's cool to imagine a world where VR and digital technology could immediately become physical.

I'd recommend the movie because it explores cool scifi ideas, stars two talented actors, and is free on YouTube. I can see influences of William Gibson and the Neuromancer trilogy in the writing. (I don't think Idoru was written yet, but it dealt heavily with VR. Seriously, check out those books.) In the end, I think it was an awesome crime movie from a time when we didn't yet know what the Internet would become. Check it out.

Elysium (2013)

Elysium (2013)

Max: “I need to get to Elysium.”

After taking a lethal dose of radiation while at his job, Matt Damon (Max) is given five days to live. Earth has turned into ruins, and the rich live above them in space in a place called Elysium. Of course, the robots don’t care about the humans on Earth. They only care about the humans on Elysium. So, after Max is harassed by robots the entire beginning of the movie, and then haphazardly given anti-radiation pills and five days to live, he realizes he needs to get to Elysium.

  But, the people on Elysium are all rich and healthy. They don’t want to welcome the power and the sick. Visually, Elysium is white and pristine, while Earth is like a grimy desert. Earlier in the movie, we see the rich people have no problem shooting down the poor, and I mean with missiles and an assassin named Kruger. So, to get around this Max visits his buddy Spider who outfits him with a cyborg exosuit that contains all of Elysium’s data.

      Astute William Gibson readers will notice this is the exact plot of the 1981 short story Johnny Mnemonic, only the affluent Megacorporations are in space, and the assassins aren’t with the Yakuza. A good amount of the film is in Spanish, whereas “Johnny Mnemonic” favored Japanese as the local language. Those similarities aside, Max tells his romantic partner he’s going to Elysium, and she wants her daughter to come with him, because she has leukemia, and they can cure disease on Elysium.

     One of the things Max’s cyborg body has the power to do is shut down Elysium. After a raid on Kruger’s men, Max’s buddies are wounded and looking for a way to get to Elysium, now that they have leverage. Frey’s (The romantic interest) daughter tells him a cute story about a monkey standing on a hippo’s back to get all the fruits it wants. From there, he gets the idea to threaten suicide if not taken on a ship. Again, that’s straight from Gibson…but, as Gibson is the father of cyberpunk, where there’s no middle class, it’s hard to escape his influence when making a cyberpunk movie.
 
I don’t know, I probably spoiled enough already, but then the movie becomes sort of predictable. There’s a big fight with Kruger on Elysium, and then he reboots Elysium to allow Earth citizens. One of the things I liked about it was that it shows the differences in class very well visually. Some Earth stuff is high-tech, but it doesn’t exist to serve them. Also, the people on Elysium abuse the language of disease to characterize Earth’s population. John Carlyle, the evil Secretary’s associate quips: “You think I like breathing this air?”

Everything on Earth is considered a burden, in true cyberpunk fashion. The only piece of technology that really serves the low class (as in Johnny Mnemonic!) is the protagonist’s cybernetic access to data the high class needs, and it’s part of his body. This theme always appeals to me as a disability theorist. How technology gives us strength! And along with the data, Max’s exosuit also grants him increased strength, because essentially he’s covered in a robotic chassis.

While such robotic technology appeals to me, I can’t help but think it might be used to “cure” the disability experience, which is my choice to live. Certainly, medical themes are prominent throughout Elysium. But, those are in life-threatening cases. The point is that just because someone has a disease, doesn’t mean they are a disease, and Elysium drives that home well!
   
In conclusion, it has some cyberpunk tropes that I’ve seen before…down to the computer expert named Spider who outfit’s the hero. But, it’s been a while since I’ve seen an honest-to-goodness cyberpunk action movie! So, I loved it! It’s got great action, with assassins and cyborg battles dominating most the movie. I just wish they didn’t draw so heavily from Johnny Mnemonic. (And no, I don’t mean the 1996 movie adaptation…though maybe I’ll review that later.)

Fans of cyberpunk and sci-fi should be pleased. Max could’ve been Keanu Reeves! (That’s a Johnny Mnemonic joke!) Matt Damon seems to draw from his Bourne Identity experience, and delivers a strong, socially conscious action hero that works well in the cyberpunk genre, showing the benefit of technology mixed with humanity. As far as a rating, I’ll give this movie a solid B!