Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema.
This is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And today we are going to be covering the nineteen ninety five action sci fi thriller Virtuosity, a movie that you will probably remember even if you haven't seen it, because in nineteen ninety five you could not help but be exposed to the trailer where Russell Crowe struts through a future mall in a baggy purple suit and the tune is the Beege's Staying Alive. It was like one of the most iconic uses of a needle drop in a trailer from the nineties.
That's right, that's right. And this one, as we'll discuss, does have quite a needle drop score. It also has an original score as well, but a lot of needle drops in here. It really really sets the tone for the mid nineties looking to late nineties. Feet.
Yeah, so I want to briefly tell a story of the roundabout way we came to feature this movie today. So next week is going to be our two hundredth episode of Weird House Cinema. I think we still haven't picked the movie for next week, but that makes today the one hundred and ninety ninth episode. And Rob, when you and I were batting ideas around, you mentioned the possibility of doing a movie set in the year nineteen
ninety nine for the one ninety ninth episode. I think that was a stroke of genius, and folks, there are a lot of dope movies set in ninety nine, usually made in the eighties or nineties, imagining nineteen ninety nine as a terrible dystopian turning point. So I was looking at our options and for a while I thought that we were going to be talking about End of Days
starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. For those of you who mainly remember Arnold's roles as a terminator or an elite commando of some kind, this is a bit outside his normal range. It is a Y two k Anti Christ movie in which Arnold has to shoot the devil with a machine gun to prevent the titular end of Days.
Yeah, a movie in which Arnold plays sort of an everyman. Also, I guess, sort of a super cop. But yeah, it gets type. I don't want to see Arnold play in every man. I want to see Arnold play like a crom chosen champion that has been forged out of trauma and loss into a human weapon. That's what I want out of my Arnold roles.
Well, I think the even weirder thing is the context that it's like a religious supernatural thriller. It's like The Omen, but with Arnold in it.
Yeah.
I haven't seen End of Days in a long time. I barely remember it. But Rob, didn't you say there's something about the year nineteen ninety nine in it that plays into a prophecy? Yeah?
Yeah. The only things I remember are that, a, there's a really cool bat creature in it, but also very like brown and dark, very saturated looking, but still monster. And then there's this whole thing about how well six' sixty six really means nine ninety nine because in dreams numbers are inverted or upside down or. Something IT'S i remember it sounded pretty cool until you thought about it for like two.
Seconds so, Anyway end Of days that is deliciously weird as a. Pitch it does apparently have glorious delivery on the theme of nineteen ninety, Nine but UNFORTUNATELY i started watching that one MAN i was just not feeling it for this. Week the vibes were a little too serious and, grim a little too much kidnapping of babies and pouring rattlesnake blood on. Them it just kind of bummed me, Out SO i bailed On end Of. Days maybe we'll, COME i don't. Know maybe if you get past those early,
scenes it gets. Funnier BUT i wasn't feeling it this, week And i'm GLAD i ended up bailing because the next MOVIE i checked out was another one said in nineteen ninety, nine but in in a very different, direction and that is AS i. Said nineteen ninety Five's, virtuosity Starring Denzel washington as an ace cop with a with a tragic, backstory a redemption, arc and a rarely mentioned bionic arm h and also Starring Russell crowe as a synthetic computer game villain raised in a sort of digital
nursery with a great teacher to student. Ratio but all the teachers are serial.
Killers you, Know i'm just now realizing that this movie does have something in common With end Of. Days both of these films are about like a sort of everyman cop type figure going up against evil incarnate An end Of days it's evil incarnate because it Is Gabriel byrne as the devil who in one SCENE i believe peace
fire is peace straight. Fire and in this in this, movie we have pure evil in the sense that we have a SUPER ai trained on serial killers and mad men that will mild spoiler, here it's it's it's in the trailer will take physical form in the real world thanks to THREE d printing exactly.
Right and that actually brings us to one of the main THINGS i wanted to talk about at the top, here and that is that virtuosity is like a core example of a nineteen nineties subgenre THAT i love THAT i would here like to dub cyberslop movies from the nineties where somebody gets sucked into a computer where The internet tries to kill, you where a virtual reality game becomes. Sentient you, know he's, learning he's evolving at a geometric, rate and then at the end you've got a hack
into the main frame to kill the. Monster, now it might take more than one episode for us to like fully refine our definition of, cyberslop BUT i was just you, know WHEN i was working on the outline, HERE i was trying to think of a few things these movies seem to have in common that make them interesting to. Me one of the things they have in common is that they almost always have atrocious EARLY CGI cgi that
was not ready but here it is. Anyway and usually like at some, point either the villainous entity or the mcguffin of the movie will be represented as a, floating spinning, icosahedron and then when it's, destroyed it shatters into a bunch of. Triangles you know exactly What i'm talking.
About, yeah kind of a mind's eide death star sort of. Moment, Yeah and thinking about this made ME i went back AND i watched a few scenes from the Original tron BECAUSE i was. Curious it's, like did they have a moment like this where where the MAIN ai THE, mcp does it? Explode it doesn't, explode but so maybe there's another film that really got there first with the exploding digital.
HEAD i think for, Me tron is not. Cyberslop it sort of pre dates, it and the cyber slab genre is derived from movies Like tron and also kind of Degrades tron's level of, imagination if that makes. Sense.
Yeah, Yeah speaking of, THOUGH i was glancing at those scenes From, tron AND i was really taking back at how colorful and vivid everything. Is and this is probably BECAUSE i haven't Watched tron since it was like ON tv on an old school television back in the. Day BUT i was, Like, wow maybe we really need to come back and Watch.
Tron, Oh i'd definitely be down for doing. IT i watched that one a lot WHEN i was a. Kid, okay another thing about cyberslap, MOVIES i feel like they tend to stylize, technology like the technology of the, setting in amusing and sometimes even sort of thought provoking. Ways so if this makes, sense it is not just that the characters within the cyberslop movie have a particular style and fashion, choices but it's like the technosphere itself has
chosen a, style a personal. Style so you get movies where tech is goth or movies where tech Is Miami. Vice you, know neon colors and the shoulder. Pads sometimes tech is, preppy and very often tech is pun. Punk.
Yeah, yeah because of course tech should be, punk because the whole genre has its roots in, cyberpunk, generally with very strong connections to the literary work Of William, Gibson but we could do a deeper dive easily that gets into, like you, know what are the earliest examples of sci fi plot lines in which someone is inside of a simulation or a virtual world and it goes back several.
Decades, yeah and a lot of these movies are essentially borrowing From William gibson type, writing but very much dumbing it. Down another thing THAT i think is interesting about these movies is not unique to. Them they share this with a lot of other nineties. Subgenres they feel very much
like they're from the end of. History and one reason for that is that every piece of actual specific culture that we get in these movies feels meaningless and, interchangeable like it could be swapped out with any other piece of culture from the same object. Class, so you, know it's just a world where it's like insert work of art, here insert political issue. Here the cultural objects do not seem to really mean anything in. Themselves they don't bring
their specific meanings and values from. Reality they're just examples of a type of. Thing it feels, like you, know they're selected from a drop down. MENU i really associate this kind of storytelling with movies from the nineties in, general but especially These cyberslot movies have.
THIS i wonder if there's a, case and to be, clear very broad, case And i'm sure there are plenty of counter examples, here BUT i wonder how much of this might have to do with having like a lot of up and coming filmmakers in the, nineties maybe more like tech first style first directors and you, know screenwriters as, well tackling these films informed by the models that they
grew up on from the. Eighties from this AND's especially that are taking a more like, direct thoughtful approach in some cases to actual social issues and political, issues and so there's sort of maybe in some cases at, least you, know echoing the, form but without really grasping the. Substance.
Yeah, YEAH i think that may be on to. Something i'll have to think some more about. That but then, also this very last POINT i want to make About cyberslop IS i think the most important, one and that is that these movies are at the same time both quaint and uncanny in the way they depict technologies like virtual, REALITY, ai The, internet and digital. Media and WHAT i mean by that, is on one, hand it's genuinely so cute that somebody in the year nineteen ninety three decided to
write a whole screenplay about like The. Internet you, know it's some kind Of internet, thriller and it obviously has such a vague understanding of what The internet is and how it. Works you'll have like characters navigating cyber space with a, joystick you, know that's how you get through The, Internet and so it's just. Adorable thinking about that kind of relationship to technology is like looking at a puppy falling.
Asleep on the other, hand stories like, this with their very, loose technically, inaccurate overly, concrete overly, personalized almost symbolic depictions of these, technologies can feel weirdly prescient on the metaphorical, level usually in their ability to imagine what it feels like to be acted upon by these technologies in their
maturity in the future we live in. Now, so for, example imagine a hypothetical cyberslop movie from nineteen ninety six where somebody hacks The internet so that The net becomes a self evolving malevolent entity that wants to destroy. You it's both like dumb in nineteen ninety, six and it takes a kind of technological ignorance to write, it but it also captures something very real about what it would come to feel like to be An internet user in twenty twenty.
Five. Yeah, Yeah, PLUS i guess we have to remind ourselves that a lot of these, films they are exploitive to a certain. Extent there's some sort of like t exploitation, film and you, know you're often ex you're exploiting a, fear and fears are not always completely formed and certainly not. Rational Like i'm thinking about smart killer smart house movies
from the. NINETIES i remember one in The Sci Fi channel where there was like a hand that went around on a little track on the ceiling in the house and like all, That like that's completely, Ridiculous but, LIKE i don't doubt for a second that it comes from a legitimate fear that arises based on just what people were, saying like the houses of the future are going to be, Like and that fear maybe is not completely, gone maybe it's, matured maybe it's changed form a, bit BUT i think
we still have that sort of fear and it still gets poked and kindled by various news stories about, oh your toaster is. Watching even, so.
Forth, yeah, exactly like that vision was overly simplified and overly, concrete but actually reality did catch up to the feeling of that plot in a. Way so perhaps we can explore more about this as we go, On BUT i
really think that irony is the case with. Virtuosity on one, Hand virtuosity is quite simple minded and literal in its engagement with the technology, themes but there are some things in it that feel unsettlingly resonant in twenty twenty, five especially in the context of a movie that is in most ways extremely nineteen ninety five's version of nineteen ninety.
Nine. Yeah, yeah we'll get into this a lot, more but CERTAINLY i think there are various world building details and choices And virtuosity that hit with a kind of almost idiocracy like, accuracy you, know like there's a certain amount of maybe in a loose black comedy to the, Choice,
yeah you're, like, oh that's a little. Close and then its main, focus of, course we have an out of CONTROL ai menace that gets itself THREE d printed so that it can go on a viral killing, spree and it really does sweep up various pressing anxieties about The internet artificial, intelligence and in a limited, way the future of THREE d printing of inorganic and organic.
Materials i'd agree with you that the themes hit harder on like THE ai and digital media front than on the robotics. Front but STILL i don't. Know maybe one day we'll catch up to the robotics.
Element, YEAH i MEAN I at different times when there have been accelerations in THREE d, printing there have been moments Where i'm, like, oh this is like The internet in all its, awfulness can now take physical. Form and maybe on some LEVEL i was Remembering virtuosity trailers And i'm, like this is Like. Virtuosity it's like you thought of it that The, internet and now it's on your. Desk and granted we've had a little more time to sort
of grow with that. ONE i feel, like though there are some still dangerous concerns out there in the THREE d printing, world but for the most, PART i feel like we've gotten a little more accustomed to what it can do for us. NOW i also find it interesting in these various films of this, subgenre ones that often include like a digital or virtual, character and they really
get to WHAT i will refer to as job. About, yes referencing Lawnmower man, here which has a very, close very close kinship with this, film in which you have a character or AN ai entity that becomes a kind
of god complex black hole of negative personal. Attributes AND i think this too nicely mirrors fears then as well as fears and sometimes realities now about the virtual realm of expression and consumption that we have in the digital realm that might allow too many barriers of behavior to erode in the shape of our virtual self than becomes something, grotesque, dangerous and maybe even.
Evil, yeah once, again right. On i'm not going to SAY i Think virtuosity did this on. PURPOSE i think it may be a kind of accidental stumbling into this. Theme but you're exactly, right it's there and it hits. Hard. Now, now another THING i want to mention at the. Top it is an interesting parallel With end Of days as the almost choice as the alternate reality of this. Week what's really exquisite about the pitch For end Of days
is the mismatch between the premise and the. Star, Right like Whatever Arnold schwarzenegger was made, for it was not to like march Through cathedrals by Candle light trying to Stop satan from fathering a child On. Earth that is a weird, fit and with today's movie there is something similar going, on a. VIRTUOSITY i looked it. Up it did have a mid sized. Budget it wasn't huge, budget but it wasn't small budget. Either it was you, know mid sized action sci fi kind of you, know in
the realm of what you'd. Expect, yeah, Yeah but it, is in both content and, execution a, bizarre trashy b. Movie and yet its two main stars are two of the, biggest most sought, after most RESPECTED a list, actors certainly in the two, thousands definitely in the case Of Denzel. Washington like the last three decades Of, hollywood it's almost like If Tom hanks was in Lawnmower. Man it's just, like,
oh such a strange thing to. Imagine like When Russell crowe did this, movie his big period was still ahead of. Him but When denzel did, this he already had MULTIPLE oscar, nominations he'd Won Best Supporting actor. Once so it's already deeply strange and amusing that you've got the top tier of Future hollywood in this dumb killer computer. Movie but what's even more odd is that neither of them are phoning it. In but both of THEM i think are
fantastic in this. Movie they're giving full, efforts really getting into the. Characters in, FACT i would SAY i have never seen A Russell crowe performance in which he seems to be expressing as much joy through acting as he does. Here this is The. Pinnacle like His oscar nominated roles are comparatively grim and. Subdued in this. Movie you get him is a disco, strutting synthetic serial killer and he comes.
Alive, yeah, YEAH i think you're. RIGHT i think we've really only seen him get back into broad performances like, this maybe in the likes of twenty twenty two's thor Leven, thunder in which he gets to Play zeus with a Ridiculous greek. Accent i'll come back to that one BECAUSE i ACTUALLY i actually like that performance quite a.
Bit, OH i haven't seen. That that makes me want to see, it, Though BUT.
I, agree, like, yeah both of these guys are arguably better than this, movie but both of them really. DELIVER i would, say In Denzel washington's, case he is almost too good for this. Movie in the sense that not that he's not great in, it but a role of the sort sometimes hits a little better if you have a less skilled actor or an actor that makes stranger, choices whereas Like, denzel like all his choices are, Solid
like he's just a complete pro. Here you need somebody maybe a little, sloppy a little, greener so that they can shine in a role like. This but that being, said he's still.
Terrific they're two very different kinds of performances that are beyond what is required by. Virtuosity denzel gives a much more human performance than you would expect his character to, have And Russell crowe gives a much more just like scenery ingesting huge improvisational energy kind of. Performance.
Yeah, YEAH i would say his performance is like a little Bit, joker a little Bit joe from Lawnmower, man and, also at least in the visual, sense a little bit Ninety's Peter. Gabriel, yeah there you.
Go H, okay are we ready for the elevator? Pitch? Yeah hit us sid six point seven is a computer. Program he is a sidistic virtual super criminal designed for A vr training environment that will be used to test the cops of the, future but the developers are still working the kinks, out and in the meantime they are
TESTING sid against players from the prison. Population the only one who has ever beaten him Is Parker, barnes a former police officer who is incarcerated after his vendetta killing of a terrorist who murdered his family and also killing several other people in the. Process but, when through a series of implausible, EVENTS sid six point seven gets brought into our world and turned into a kind of meat SPACE t one thousand and with blueberry, blood there's only one man who can stop.
Him, yep that's right. ON i would also present the idea of, oops we THREE d printed a mass. Murder, yeah that's also kind of. It this is the one thing we didn't want to, happen and here we. Are all, Right let's go ahead and listen to part of the teaser trailer because the main, trailer the one most people have heard it prominently features the beg staying, alive and we want to stay alive here on the. Show SO
i didn't want to feature that. SONG i love that, song but you, know this is what we're playing.
In this high tech crime prevention. Facility one man has been recruited to play a simulated game the objective to hunt down The Ultimate Virtual Reality KILLER sid six point.
Seven there's only one.
Problem the computer change the. Program now he's in the real. World he's.
Interactive he doesn't enjoyed a game unless he's playing against his favorite.
Opponent that's me.
From the director Of Lawnmower.
Matt he's recreating mass. Murders so what you're saying' sus a compika since six ten on improving the. ORIGINAL i Love Denzel. Washington just Because i'm carrying around the joy of killing your family inside me doesn't mean you can't be.
Friends virtuosity game.
Over speaking Of Beg Staying, ALIVE i bet The virtuosity trailer is HOW i first learned about that. Song, HUH i, MAY i may not have ever heard it before.
THAT i, mean somebody needs to be strutting when that song is, Played and if that song is, playing you will soon find yourself. Strutting that's just how it.
Works, oh this may be too embarrassing to say out, loud BUT i bet as a, kid WHEN i Saw Russell crowe walking in the blue in the purple Suit beg's are, PLAYING i probably like strutted around my house AFTER i saw that no.
Joke all, right you might be, wondering, well, HEY i want to See virtuosity as well before listening to the rest of the, episode OR i want to watch it later and so. Forth, Well virtuosity was a major, release so you can find it pretty much wherever you choose
to get your. Movies for physical, media, however there's no beating the recently Released Vinegar Syndrome ultra, release which gives us the film newly scanned and restored in FOUR k from its thirty five millimeter original camera, negative along with tons of extras like new extras interviews with the director and other. Folks, it's without a, doubt the finest physical release this film has ever.
GOTTEN i can't Believe Vinegar syndrome release Of virtuosity is as close as we're ever going to get to A criterion collection disc of Lawnmower.
Man, Yeah Vinegar syndrome does, great great, work and this is certainly the case. HERE i rented this From Video drome here In, atlanta and, yeah it looks. GREAT i, mean the digital effects are only going to look so, polished as we'll. Discuss but then, again that only really potentially hurts the film during the NON vr, segments as we'll, discuss AND i will say that the goofy android makeup and other practical effects look really.
Great oh, YEAH i mean you wouldn't want THE cgi to look too. GOOD i mean that's part of the.
Charm, yeah especially in those the simulation. Sequences.
Yeah, well SO i streamed, it but you, KNOW i got a feeling this might not be the last TIME i Watch, virtuosity SO i might have to snag this.
Disc all, right let's talk about the people who made this, film starting at the top With Brett leonard born nineteen fifty, Nine american director of films and music, videos best known for his pivotal work in nineteen nineties virtual reality inspired, media as he directed Both Today film and nineteen ninety
Two's the Lawnmower. Man, that of, course is The bonker's virtual reality, film born out of an original script inspired by the work Of Jaron lanier and the production company's desire to keep Adapting Stephen king stories they own the rights, to basically by slapping the title Lawnmower man onto a pre existing.
Script this has nothing to do with The king story is this one of the ones he sued.
Over, yes it's my understanding that he successfully got his name taken off of this, one because, yeah has the original stories about like a crazy satanic lawnmower man who eats grass or something to that, effect worships the God, PAN i. Believe, Yeah, yeah there's Some pan worship in. There nothing to do with virtual reality. Now Brett leonard's first directorial credit was nineteen eighty Nine's The Dead. Pit this is a supernatural horror film with like the features The.
Undead i've never seen, it BUT i am super familiar with ITS vhs box art because and you probably are as well if you were of a certain, age because this was A vhs rental store box that had light up eyes powered by a little battery pack. Inside it might have made sound. TOO i don't remember if it made, sound but they definitely light. Up and this, one i'm to, understand is very much a collector's item AMONG vhs.
Enthusiasts rob this we may have even mentioned this idea on the show, before BUT i have thought that at some point we should do a series of weird house cinema episodes just focusing on films that had gimmick, packaging stuff that had light up components or anything on the box that's different than normal to get people to pick it up and, say what's.
This, YEAH vhs shell shaped like a, coffin something like. That i'm definitely here for.
It.
Okay so Lawnmower man was his follow up To Dead. Pit and the thing, is we can all laugh about what did and didn't work about Lawnmower, man but it made a lot of, money especially given its small. Budget it connected with A vr curious, audience and along with this film paved the way for pretty much EVERY vr film to follow up to and Including The.
Matrix that's, right, folks without Lawnmower, man No matrix probably.
Probably there was An Indie wire headline from earlier this, year an article By jim Hemp hill that covers the vinegar syndrome re release of the, picture and its title Is virtuosity walked so The matrix could. Run so this seems to be the opinion of various, folks and it's discussed a bit in some of the extras on The virtuosity DISC i buy. It So leonard did not come back for the Lawnmower man, sequel which is also pretty,
bonkers But hollywood did say, yes more of this. Please so nineteen ninety five saw the release of the psychic serial killer Film, hideaway based on The Dean koontz novel and Starring Jeff. Goldbloom and Then. Virtuosity, so like we said,
Earlier Virtuosity Paramount pictures, production bigger. Budget it ultimately did not have quite the cultural or commercial impact that everyone was banking, on but it received a fair amount of reevaluation in recent, years especially with That Vinegar Syndrome Blu ray. Release as we'll discuss the, film sci fi commentary hits home in various ways given where we are now, politically,
socially and above all. Technologically and, YEAH i think a strong case could be made that this helped pave the road for things like The, matrix and then once The matrix, explodes like how many folks are running around with machine, guns sunglasses and some sort of like black latex garb shooting in slow motion and going in and out of.
Cyberspace though it's funny because the black latex look you only see from secondary characters in this. FILM i can't emphasize enough the weird fashion sensibility Of Russell crowe in this, movie he wears like brightly colored big, suits like, loose, baggy double breasted suits of either the green, Set latin or purple.
Variety, yes, well he likes. Attention he wants an attention grabbing. Outfit in the, extras particularly interview With, leonard he points out That russell crow is essentially an influencer like he. Is he's going after that influencer. Space he wants eyes on what he is, doing like that is his prime, Drive like not merely to do awful, things but to be seen doing awful things and to get those hits and get those subscribers.
Up oh my, God i've got too many deep thoughts comments about this later on in the. Outline but, yes, yes, yes that's what's going on here before that thing even, existed all.
Right so virtuosity hits post. Virtuosity leonard directed AN imax, film T Rex back to The. CRETACEOUS i might have seen this one at this. Point there have been so MANY imax and THREE d dinosaur, films especially as a, parent That i've seen THAT i don't know where one ends and the other one. BEGINS i always enjoy. Them this one is apparently actually a huge hit for An imax.
Film at the, time WHEN i as a, TEENAGER i worked selling tickets to tourist, attractions and one of the PLACES i worked was An imax. THEATER i don't recall if they ever had this, one BUT i remember a general awareness of. It all, right.
There's a chance it. Happened. Now later, On leonard. Directed he directed a pair of two thousand and five films that seemed very. Skippable one Is Man. Thing this was an Early marvel entertainment film that missed the mark for various. Reasons i've read, that like it was one of those cases where the production was just too far away And marvel wasn't able to like really have their hands in
it as much as they. Wanted and then he also did a movie Called, feed which seems like one of the many bad taste horror films to spring up in the wake of ninety five to. Seven it also looks very. Skippable then he directed two thousand and Sevens highlander The. Source this was the final trickle of cinematic juice thus far squeezed from the husk of The highlander.
FRANCHISE i assume No Christoph limbert.
No he's in.
It oh he.
Is, yeah this. Kid this is the period of films where they had combined the movies and THE tv show and like they were literally just throwing everything in and just squeezing as much as they could out of. It and maybe they'll relaunch it here in the next year or two and we'll have so much more juice to. Squeeze but this was like the last. Trickle but, hey somebody had to direct these. Movies might as well have
Been Leonard. Okay, Now more, recently he directed the twenty twenty one Drama, triumph and seems to be returning to his roots with an upcoming project Called Dark, star not not related To John Carpenter's Dark, star in which quote a trio Of Astral warriors battle And ai. Threat it's in pre production as of this, recording So i'm. Interested it would be interesting to see what the director Of lon More man In virtuosity would have for us in
like twenty twenty five or twenty twenty. SIX i am mighty.
Curious. Yeah.
Now his music video filmography Includes Peter Gabriel's Kissed That frog from ninety. Three this was off of a terrific album THAT i totally wore out in the. Nineties the video is notable for its use OF cgi and A cgi. Frog it was actually the first ALL cgi music. Video apparently the cgi frog has really really red. Lips it's
like lipstick. Lips this was obviously a pioneering music, video which is to say it doesn't look that great by today's, standard not like a lot of Other Peter gabriel videos Like, sledgehammer you, know which has all this great stop motion and you, know totally stands the test of.
Time, no But Peter gabriel has a presence on the soundtrack of this movie as. Well Guess I'm Your Party, Man.
That's, right a track co written By Tory. Amos. Wow, Yeah SO i look forward to talking about the music as we proceed.
Here, Okay, okay don't want to get ahead of, you.
But to finish With, leonard it is notable that he's not just a nineteen nineties popularizer OF, vr sci fi and. Tear he also co founded two different companies involved in the use OF vr is the term he prefers as virtual experiences for therapeutic. Purposes so There's Virtual, Psychedelics. Inc And UBIQUITY.
Vx, okay no offense To Brett leonard at all about, this but it is kind of an odd choice to like the stories you have created and sent into the world ABOUT, vr all about murder and about LIKE VR vr, psychos you, know taking control and unleashing havoc on the, world but then also like literally being involved and actually USING vr for allegedly good. Purposes And i'm not trying to impune what he's, doing.
No, no, NO i mean he based on the interview THAT i watched on that, disk he does seem to recognize the irony of, this and he's frames it is sort of Like i'm giving back having having first helped to create these visions of. Paranoia, yeah so fair, enough all. Right moving on to the. Screenplay it is By Eric, burnt screenwriter perhaps best known for his work on this, film but his first credit to his screenplay was nineteen twenty
Four surviving The, game directed By ERNEST. R. Dickerson we've talked about this before because we've talked About ERNEST Ar dickerson, Before but this is the most dangerous game but with Iced, tea hunted By, Rugger, Howard Gary, BUSEY F Murray, abraham And JOHN. C.
McGinley, yeah Was, dickerson the director of The tales from The crypt Movie Demon.
Knight he, Was, yes we talked about before on the. Show he also wrote the screenplay for two Thousand's Romeo Must die and has a story credit on two Thousands Highlander End.
Game all, Right highlander connections from different. Directions, yeah there was a lot of Work highlander. World you, know so you got paid where you could get. Paid, OKAY i think it's time to talk about our IMPLAUSIBLE a list actors.
Here, yes Playing Lieutenant Parker. Barnes you know his name Is parker because it's set a bazillion times in this.
Picture, Hey, corker this one's for.
You. Yeah this, is of Course Denzel washington born nineteen fifty. Four this is one of those moments where it's, LIKE i don't have to tell anyone out there Who Denzel washington, is BUT i will say it's just so easy to take a talent like him for, granted because for people around my, age it feels like he's always been. There you, know he's always been there at the top of his. Game he's always been. Established he's stuck near the top
of The hollywood. Pantheon for decades and just continues to bust out, powerful often award winning performances in, big big budget. Films all, told he's currently a nine Time Academy award nominee and two time. Winner at this point in his, career as we already pointed, out he'd been nominated three times and won. Once so you, know DARE i say he's coming into this one, hot having been nominated for nineteen eighty Eight's Cry, freedom in nineteen ninety Three's MALCOLM,
x and having won again for nineteen Nineties. Glory subsequent nominations would include two thousands Of The, hurricane twenty Thirteen's, flight twenty Seventeens, fences twenty Eighteen's Roman Jay Israel, esquire and twenty twenty Two's The tragedy Of. Macbeth to, date only other Oscar win Was Best actor for his excellent performance as the dirty Cop Alonzo harris in two thousand and One's Training. DAY i keep getting a wild hair to rewatch that, one because that's a film that when
it came OUT i was really captivated. By it was just like really, intense had some excellent twists and in just a phenomenal sense of danger as well, as of course at a terrific i'll, say villain, performance but it's a little more complicated than, that you, know it's almost like A shakespearean villain, performance which of course brings us
to The tragedy Of. Macbeth, that of course Is Joel cohen's adaptation of The scottish play that also co Stars francis, McDormand and it is also awesome and of course features an amazing supporting cast that features a Few Cohen brothers regulars as well As Brian. Thompson you might Remember Brian thompson from such films as the Second Moral kombat, movie in which you Played Shao, khan and loads of like ACTION b. Movies you, know he was often an action. Star but he shows up in THE a is one
of the murderers and is. Terrific, oh in The tragedy Of. Macbeth not In, Virtuosity, no not in. VIRTUALLY i would be ashamed.
IF i had missed him In Virtuosity.
Somewhere, Yeah Brian thompson was also one of the punks that gets beat up and or killed by the.
Terminator yeah that sounds. Right, Yeah, well AS i said, Earlier Denzel washington is so much better than this movie calls. For he's giving the more subdued and humanistic performance and Allowing Russell crowe the space to just be. Wacky but it's both funny and genuinely like a pleasure to see him in this. Role.
Yeah, leonard in the interview On The Blu ray commented That denzel was pretty much at the top of his game, here you, know requiring only mild suggestions here and, there and otherwise you just, like you just let him run with, it and he nails it right out of the, gate possessing what he described as an almost like superhuman ability to know exactly where his face is in a given shot and just maximize his, expression.
Which is interesting because that's a a very film specific. Talent AND i, Know i've read That Denzel washington very much thinks of himself as like a stage. Performer. FIRST i, mean, obviously you, know more people know him from his, movies but he you, know he's a very like stage and theater focused actor in a.
Way. Yeah, Yeah, yeah he's back on the stage currently as we're recording this as. Well but as far as sci fi movies, goes it. Goes it's actually. Interesting this is only one of three sci fi movies That denzel has ever appeared, IN i, believe alongside two thousand and six Is Deja vus and twenty Ten's The book Of. Eli and of course he's still going strong. Today just came off of a key role In Ridley Scott's gladiator, too which is fitting given who our next star.
Is that's all, Right rachel AND i were just talking about this that it's got two Different gladiator actors at the top, here and of, course, yeah of course that brings us To Russell crowe AS sid six point.
Seven that's. Right do you think it.
Would have been different actors in the role of PREVIOUS sid, releases like WAS sid three point Nine michael dudikof and then by the time he get to six point, seven That's Russell.
Crowe that that would be. Interesting that would if they do A VIRTUOSITY tv, series you, know they could do different, sids different. Actors it could be a sit of the weak. Situation So Russell crowe born nineteen sixty, Four New zealand
born actor Of welsh And malory. Ancestry as With, DENZEL i really don't need to tell you Who Russell crowe is very famous, actor but with a DECIDEDLY i would, say wilder reputation in a. Filmography to fit that, reputation crow starred started off in music and, theater Including i'm delighted to say Playing eddie in A New zealand production Of The Rocky Horror Picture.
Show oh that's surprising.
But also kind of. Perfect you, KNOW i think he was in he was like in a band at one, point very, early you, know before he really got into. Acting SO i can definitely See Russell crowe As. Eddie he has Meat, yeah, Yeah eddie was by Meat loaf in The Rocky Art Picture show for anyone who's trying to remember the. Casting, Now crowe broke Into australian cinema after.
THIS a couple of big hits here were ninety ninety One's proof and nineteen ninety Two's Romper stomper rather famous role in which he plays A melbourne, skinhead and these films helped to springboard him Into american pictures and that's really where virtuosity. Comes in the same, year he also appeared in The Sam raimi Western The quick and The.
Dead Never seen that one is that one that also Has Sharon. Stone, YEAH i believe she's the lead in.
It, yeah so. Yeah leonard also talked about about working With Russell crowe and Said Russell crowe is also a situation where you turn him loose and you just follow him and, maybe you, know give him a few few directions here and. There but he Described crowe as being kind of like a bundle of improvisational, energy and so a lot of his lines here that we, get some of the great, ones our improvisations that he brought to the, script that he brought to the.
SCENES i think you can detect that without even knowing. It it just comes through in the. Movie there's this might sound like a wild, comparison but there is almost A Jim carrey quality to him in.
This, yes, yes absolutely, yeah that kind of Like, Batman, Joker riddler kind of energy where it's just you, know laughing and. Goofy like our man here is doing backflips into THE ufc octagon and landing on his head seemingly on. PURPOSE i, mean he's completely. Unhinged. Yeah So Russell crowe followed all this with well received performances in such hits As La confidential in ninety, Seven The insider in ninety.
Nine he got An oscar nomination for that, one before his award winning star performance In Ridley Scott's gladiator in two thousand and. One he was nominated the following year FOR A Beautiful. Mind subsequent films of note include the likes of two thousand and, Threes Mastering, Commander The Far side of The world and One's American gangster With Denzel,
washington And Ridley Scott's Robin hood in twenty. Ten now around twenty, Ten i'd say to credits start getting a little, weirder and it feels like he gets he's getting to flex his muscles and supporting roles half the, time and even some villain work, again appearing in the likes of twenty Twelve's The man with The Iron, fists twenty Thirteen's man Of, steel twenty Fourteen's, noah twenty Seventeens The, mummy twenty twenty Two's love And, thunder which again this is
where he Plays zeus and he gets to just be over the top and, comedic but also has at least one key scene that he's just oozing with villainous. Energy so it's very fun to watch a lot of people did not Like love And Thunder all that. MUCH i didn't like it as much the first TIME i watched, it BUT i really came around to it the second. Time if nothing, else it's a wacky film with some incredibly talented actors in. It you could See Christian bale play a mad god killing, alien so you know it's
worth the. Ticket, Okay but then he's Lately crow has been playing a lot of. Exorcists twenty twenty three Is The Pope's exorcist and twenty twenty Four's The. Exorcist these are apparently not related to each. OTHER i haven't seen, them SO i can't fully. Comment BUT i don't know he's just saying yes to exorcist.
PICTURES i haven't Seen The Pope's. Exorcist in, FACT i don't know what it's about other than what one might surmise from the. Title but it like pops up on streaming, services and so in our house we keep making The Pope's exorcist.
Jokes is he an exorcist working for The pope or is he exercising the?
Pope many good? Questions is The pope possessed by a devil and he has to exercise, it or do people get possessed by the spirit of The pope and he has to go exercise The pope from?
PEOPLE i don't. Know we're going to have to await listeners to tell us how this all plays.
Out CAN i read a quote from The Janet Maslin New York times review Of virtuosity when it came? Out oh, yes please don't fully agree with Everything maslin says, here but just for how it was received at the, Time she, writes Mister washington is usually an actor audiences will follow into any, dimension but here his role is, limited too, often leaving him to play second fiddle to the film's
weirdly hypnotic special. Effects Mister, crowe as a psychotic yuppie type bearing a disconcerting resemblance to the Writer Brett Easton, ellis does a memorable job making himself frightening until the film becomes numbingly frantic in the manner of many video. Games while it excoriates the vicious sid as the techno spawn of monsters Like Adolf hitler And John Wayne, Gacy virtuosity also revels in his exploits with more enthusiasm than is really. Necessary you, Know i'm gonna agree with the
later part of. That one of the downsides of the film is like it's like mostly, silly but then sometimes the violent scenes just get a little too. Real it's, like oh, man that went harder than it needed. To but the other thing, IS i like the characterization Of Russell crowe here is as a psychotic yuppie type because that captures something about the role THAT i didn't quite put together WHEN i was just reacting to it. Myself but, yeah there is a kind of urbanity to, him do
you know WHAT i? Mean like he's kind of he's kind of suave and sophisticated at the same time that he is supposed to be an, uncontrollable, manic psycho, killer and that is clearly it's part of what the appeal of the character. Is but it also, FEELS i don't, know it's like a very unfocused. Characterization this character is just a lot of things thrown at the, wall you know WHAT i.
Mean, yeah but of course that also is exactly what he. Is, Like, yeah there's like a multiple personality situation going. On but, yeah then also as it's you, know it's brought to life on the, screen you can see so many different influences, there all, right getting into the rest of the, cast AND i should say the rest of the cast is very much the rest of the cast. Here, yeah you,
know they're all supporting what our two stars are. Doing but we Have Kelly lynch playing the Character Madison carter born nineteen fifty Nine american, actress best known for performances in nineteen eighty Nine's Drugstore, cowboy as well As roadhouse from the same. Year she's continued to work steadily in film AND, tv appearing in such series As THE L, Word Magic, City Mister, mercedes And.
Physical you know how whenever a copy gets thrown off the force is brought back for one last. Job he always has to get a new. Partner here's your new partner.
Exactly and so it is very much a supporting role in the most limited sense of the. Word like everything she's doing is here to support the characterization Of Denzel washington's character and have her kid.
Kidnapped we'll. Discuss she does get to shoot the human bad guy at the.
End that's. True that's. True. Oh in speaking of human bad, guy, yep it Is Lynden, meyer played By Steven. Spinella for nineteen fifty. Six this was only his third film. Appearance but, man this guy has tremendous weird energy because he's the creator OF sid six point. Seven but also it's clear that he's now completely enraptured by his creation and is worshiping his creation and wants to do anything he. Can he has a true love for this awful thing that he's.
Made he's. Continued spinell has continued to milk his weird energy and some other great weird productions over the. Years nineteen ninety Nine's. Ravenous another film THAT i think would be interesting to revisit in twenty twenty, five twenty Ten's, rubber and that's one that's been recommended to us. Before and then Also Steven Soderberg's The, nick WHICH i am struggling to remember who he. Played there were a lot of actors coming in and out of that shows what
two season. Run But i'm a big fan Of The. Nick all. Right we also Have William forsyth Playing William. Cochrane this is this character is the what he's the police, chief. Right he's, Like you're the best COP i ever worked, With you're the absolute. Best i'm the in as well as he's, Like i'm gonna get you out of prison and get you back on the, force that sort of.
Thing there's only one man who can stop this, thread and that's the protagonist of this.
Film that's. Right SO i don't know how we've avoided watching A William forth wife movie up until now because his tons of. Credits The american character actor who's made a career out of playing mostly heavies and, cops exactly like his role in this. Film but he also played the escape Convict evil in nineteen eighty Seven's Raising. Arizona you know is that great line he's, Like, hi you're, young and you got your. Health what you want with the.
Job he has the great scene where he holds up the general store to steal diapers AND i think he steals balloons and he says these blow up into funny shapes and the guy, says not unless round is. Funny.
Yeah so he's great in, that and that role like definitely stands apart from most of what he's known. For other films of note include he played the mutant Gangster Flat top in nineteen Nineties Dick tracy And Pops up in three different Rob zombie, projects his Two halloween, Movies The Devil's, rejects and also the episode OF Csi miami That Robs zombie.
Directed it's hard for me to recommend any of Those Rob zombie. Movies Devil's rejects is a little, rough BUT i Remember William forsyth being pretty great in.
It. Yeah, Yeah like he gets in there and he does his, thing very. Dependable, oh we have Another oscar winner. Here we Have Louise fletcher playing the Character Elizabeth. Dean SHE'S i guess what she's, like A ceo or something of the company.
That she's the police, commissioner a police.
Commissioner, okay, YEAH.
I feel Like Louise fletcher is a great, actress absolutely wasted. Here it's like the character has nothing to. Do she just stands around being the authority figure in several. Scenes.
Yep she lived nineteen thirty four through twenty twenty, two best known for a role in nineteen seventy Five's One Flew over The Cuckoo's, nest for which she won A Best Supporting Actress Academy. Award also known for nineteen eighty Seven's flowers in The attic and episodes of SUCH tv shows AS D space nine And. Shameless All, right we also Have William fitchner Playing wallace in this born nineteen fifty.
Six Another william character. Actor this one best known for playing kind of a mix authority figures and also slimy suit. Types his credits include nineteen ninety Eight's, armageddon two thousand and Four's, crash and twenty Fourteen's Teenage Mutant Ninja, turtles in which he plays a version of The.
Shredder that's weird. Casting, yeah once, again nothing Against William. Fitchner he's doing what he. Can BUT i don't even know why this character. Exists does this character have any distinct role to play in the. Story?
Yeah does this character do anything that could not have been combined into another? Character?
YEAH i don't think.
So oh, Man but we also have this, Character Clyde. Riley you mentioned that the developers of the, technology THE vr, technology were working out some of the. Kinks this guy was definitely working out some kinks with the. Technology played by the Excellent KEVIN. J O'Connor born nineteen sixty, three great creep character actor who of course plays a creep in this.
FILM i feel like he was on a role in the nineties of playing various kinds of, squirming pathetic.
Dweeves, yes frequently cast By Stephen sommers and such films as nineteen ninety eight S Deep, rising nineteen ninety Nine's The, mummy and then later on two thousand and Four's Van. Helsing but he's also worked steadily in a lot of high quality mainstream, productions like the likes Of Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be blood in two thousand and, Seven The master in twenty. Twelve you also might recognize him from another nineteen ninety five, Film Clive Barker's lord Of,
illusions in which he plays the Magician Philip. Swan what was his role In The. MUMMY i haven't Seen The mummy in so.
Long, oh He's benny in The. Mummy he's the. Guy so this Is The mummy With Brendan fraser And Rachel, weiss also the year nineteen ninety. Nine but his thing in the movie is that he like he's a. Coward he's, like while everybody else is being dashing and rushing into, danger he's always running away from danger and trying to save his. Skin so he is a comic relief coward. CHARACTER i remember, thinking AFTER i Watched The mummy one
time we were joking in my. HOUSE i thought a good photoshop job would be to do A People Magazine Sexiest Man alive cover from like nineteen ninety, nine two, thousand the millennial. Style but it's just O'Connor in character from The, mummy and it Says. BENNY i mean no offense To Kevin connor. Personally it's just like he plays these pathetic dweeb characters very, well and in The mummy his vices cowardice in virtuosity and, jeez it's Lust.
Yep, yeah we'll come back to, him all. Right we have this, Character John, donovan who's not in it for very, long played By Costas mandelar born nineteen. Six i'm only mentioning him because Apparently mandela would going to play a pivotal role in the Later saw. SEQUELS i had asked my Friend David streepy about this because he's he's really up on The saw, movies the soap, opera noess of,
them not so much the murder of. Them but he, says, quote the back half of the franchise can't happen without him so fair.
Enough he's a load bearing element.
Exactly, oh and then we Have Kaylee quoco playing the Character Karen, carter a little girl in this born nineteen eighty. Five this little girl would go on to Become penny On The Big Bang.
Theory i'm not A Big Bang theory, watcher SO i don't know the, character but when she shows up as the child in this, movie you just like instantly are, like oh, no the conversation with this child is going on too, long and that means definitely the child will be in peril in the third.
Act where you're gonna get into A Gene siskal situation with this.
Character Yeahs Russell crowe is going to kidnap her and tire to a bomb like we saw on The. Flat it's very. Predictable.
Yeah quoco has been in a bunch of interesting projects Post Big Bang, theory INCLUDING TVs The Flight, attendant WHICH i did. WATCH i thought she was very good in. That she also Voices Harley quinn on the Current Harley quinn animated.
Series oh, Cool.
Oh Tracy lords is. Back we talked about her In. Blade she's one of the Vampire hinchmen In. Blade here she Plays Media zone. Singer SO i think she's sort of playing herself. Here this is another film where we have some major nineties rave, energy AND i think that's like where she was at this point with Her, like you, Know reinvention is a musical, act and so she kind of plays herself here performing the Track Fallen, angel which is also on the. SOUNDTRACK i was.
Going to talk about this, later but you kind of can't have a really, complete Coherent cyberslot movie without a techno club. Scene you always have to have. One not all the movies have, one but when you don't have, one you feel it's. Apt it's like the movie is, impure it is.
Incomplete, Yeah like people Watch The matrix and they're, like where's the club? Scene and everyone was, like, well we got to do that in the sequel and they.
Did, no there is a club scene In The. Matrix, well it's only very. Brief it's at the beginning in the real, world when they're, like, okay they like some friends coming To Keanu reeves's apartment and they take him out to a club AND i think he Meets trinity. There it's only. Good it goes by in a few.
Seconds, okay it's been a while Since I'm i'm the cusp of rewatching the, matrix AND i mainly remember there's definitely like a real world rave scene in the, sequel or maybe the third. ONE i can't remember one of the two sequels where they're, like, hey it's the eve of The Big, battle let's have a, rager and they.
DO i still haven't seen the.
Sequels oh, WHAT i Guess i'm on the cusp of rewatching the sequels as, well So i'll report.
Back, okay all.
Right, finally the composer here Is Christopher young born nineteen fifty, eight and Essentially young built an electronic orchestral score here around the movie's needle drop score of mostly electronic dance music with some rock and even A Peter gabriel track thrown, in AND i would SAY i Think young does a
pretty seamless job. Here the soundtrack features music by the likes Of Live, Black, Grape Juno, Reactor Tricky, William, Orbit London, Beat lords Of, Acid Tracy, Lords Debbie, Harry The, beg's and again That Party man track From Peter gabriel co written By Tory.
Amos The Party man track is surprisingly emotionally gripping like you, know, oh you really feel the strain in his. Voice it's a weird thing to hear right after you just saw them like DESTROY sid six point seven's personality module by having it run over by a track after you, know they had to like shoot a computer. Programmer Guess i'm your party.
Man, YEAH i. Believe it's a track that The gabriel And company did for this, production was later collected on an album that collected different songs that he did for different film, productions.
And has the same title as a song from The Prince batman. Soundtrack, yes it seems to refer To Jack Nicholson's, joker but it's not the same SONG i. Checked all, right let's dive into the plot of. Virtuosity so the opening titles are made of pixels that slither in and
out of. Form the opening, track by the, way Is it's A Big day in The north by The english Band Black, grape which is a powerfully nostalgic sound ROB i don't know if you felt the same WAY i, did but hearing, this it's like a Nineties English you might call this jazz pop or maybe pop, funk that sort of. Sound it's got something in, it like electronic. SAXOPHONE i mainly encountered this type of music through movie, soundtracks SO i associate it with seeing movies in the
theaters in the. Nineties, yep, Absolutely, sorry we just had an extended a side Off mike where we're talking about what genre of music this, is and we did not come to a. Conclusion so maybe we'll revisit that in the, future maybe for listener. Mail but, Anyway, so what's actually happening in the opening Scene when the credits are, Done we pop up in a, sleek futuristic train station full of polished steel and sterile white, lighting and it's filled
with people dressed almost. Identically everybody. Is it's like men in gray suits with black ties carrying. Briefcases they're walking around synchronized in, pairs and the only people who don't match are two men in blue full body leather police uniforms wearing wearing black, caps, boots and. Gloves so we watched these two policemen step cautiously off of an elevated train onto the. Platform they're looking, around and one of the men Is Denzel. Washington this is our, Hero Parker. Barnes,
now while both men look. Vigilant we quickly realize That barnes is the more assured of the. Two he's being cautious and, observant and the other guy seems a little more. Afraid and the other guy, goes, MAN i can't get over how different we, look And barnes, says maybe it's the. Uniforms SO i think this opening is supposed to be a bit of a fake, out like you're supposed to wonder what they're talking about, here why everything looks a little. Odd but, THIS i think really does not work because
it's obvious they're in a virtual reality. World you can guess this if you've seen the. Trailer and it's even more obvious because you keep seeing people like glitching and turning into pixels and. Stuff, yeah so they did not have me going here. Anyway they start running around looking for, somebody and eventually they end up in this business district plaza where there is a, green floating cgi head made out of polygons giving a news report about a bunch
of gruesome. Crimes i'm pretty sure it's Actually Russ crows doing doing the voice of this, thing but in a kind of tight Newscaster cadence and he, says the three adjectives which best describe this killer are, sidistic, intelligent and. Dangerous what does that spell spell?
SID i thought we were going to say, stink, stank, stunk but that that would have been great.
Too this is six point. Seven So denzel eventually traces their quarry to A japanese. Restaurant he knows to look there because he looks over the restaurant entrance on the building and sees a an emoticon smiley face like the colon parentheses smiley face over the. Entrance it's a, joke And sid six point seven likes. Jokes and when we first Find, sid he is repeatedly eating a piece of sushi that regenerates every time he picks it up off
the plate and eats. It SO i think it suggests, that you, know here in this, world no matter how how much he, eats he never gets. Full it's like he's unsatisfied with the tangible pleasures of the fake.
WORLD i like. THIS i also like how the NPCs are like glitching as they eat their. Sushi they're just kind of like sushi floating into their. Mouth so this is definitely the section of the section of the picture one of the sections of the picture in the digital world where the roughness of the digital effects is one of the charms and absolutely. Works doesn't feel dated at all because, like this is exactly the look they were going.
For, Yeah and so this of course turns into a big gunfight. Scene both the cops AND sid just start blasting everywhere with machine, guns and the NPCs eating in the restaurant mostly appear to not notice this and they
just keep sitting at their. Tables so in this, world by nineteen ninety, nine virtual reality has nearly one hundred percent immersion and totally realistic graphical, fidelity BUT npc behavior has like not quite reached the level of the Mid Grand theft auto, games where people at least like scream and run away when something.
Explodes but you, know this is how the Mid Grand theft auto games. Felt when the Mid Grand theft atto games felt out like they felt like this level of, immersion LIKE i actually live In miami in the nineteen it's, like you, know, yeah.
Yeah so, anyway this fight goes, On sid and the cops keep shooting at each. Other at one point it is revealed That Russell crowe has like caught and electrocuted the other. COP i think you see him on ice and like a sushi. Tray and at one point they borrow a page From, speed And barnes gets the upper hand by shooting a digital. Hostage he will later. Explain they later are, Like, barnes why did you shoot the? Hostage that doesn't make any, Sense but then he has
a clever. Answer he's, like the hostage wasn't. Real didn't think of, That.
Sid, Yeah because what we're going to learn shortly is this is a training simulation for police. Officers BUT i really have to, add like clearly for cinematic police, officer there's nothing in this training that indicates any kind of like actual police, training any. Procedure, yeah it's just like what if you had a Big hollywood action scene with a super criminal.
Exactly. Yeah so at the end of This sid gets the upper hand in the fight and he starts choking Out barnes Until barnes like glitches, out which looks super, funny and then he sort of fades out of existence like he's being sucked out of THE vr, world and we're treated to a shot of A cgi bullet wound On sid's. Body rapidly healing with classic electrical zap z app. Fully but then our human characters come out of THE.
Vr so we zoom out into a room in the real world in meat, space where we See sid standing there in his green suit on a GIANT tv, Screen so like in the virtual reality, studio there's a huge, screen it's like fifteen feet, tall where we see what's happening in the virtual, world and we immediately hear the sounds of like men groaning in, agony and we see them writhing in THEIR vr, seats and an automated voice
is saying warning subjects exceeding the maximum dose of neural. Information, now maybe we should briefly hear comment on what it looks like when you see the people in the physical space in THE vr. RIGS i thought this was also quite funny because they're like jiggling around and miming the motions they do in the virtual. World like there's a part later where we See denzel running in the rig ye and he's like pumping his arms and legs but not going, anywhere and it's hilarious.
That, yeah it really looks hilarious later when they're running yes, here you, know they're just squirming in. Pain so, yeah but, yeah it looks a bit goofy later.
On, yeah so they're strapped into these dangling like combine dentist chairs WEARING vr. Advisors they're not going. Anywhere and then also you see a little computer read out that shows a THREE d representation of the player's heads and there are like these red and yellow explosions inside the. Skulls, fortunately it Seems denzel gets out just in. Time he's like, rattled but he's. Okay but the other, guy, oh the
other guys having violent. Seizures he gets pulled off onto a hospital gurney and you see them like doing a defibrillator on, him and you learn he.
Dies, yeah they try really hard for darn near ten seconds to save, him but in la up roll him, out he's done.
For also in the, scene we meet basically all of the film's major. CHARACTERS i don't think there's anybody major we have to meet. Later we already talked about them. Earlier all of the various, functionaries commissioners and company. Guys i'm not gonna dwell on, them but they're all standing around. Watching you can kind of group them as like who's good and who's bad based on their. Reaction you've got the good guys like the police chief And Kelly lynch's,
character Doctor Madison. Carter they're concerned about the test. Subjects they're, like, oh get those men out of. There he's going into. Shock and then we've got the kind of middle to bad, guys like the indifferent. Characters That's William fitchner And Louise.
Fletcher they're just kind of standing there watching. Coldly and at some, Point dean, said there's like some very klutzy exposition dialogue Where Louise fletcher's character says virtual reality was supposed to be a safe place to train my law enforcement, officers and one of The williams is, like that's why we were using convicts to ferret out any glitches in the.
System and they have this exchange as they're driving away in a golf cart by the, way and then finally we meet this the obvious bad, Guy Darryl lindenmeyer that again is played By Steven, spinella who looks confusingly similar To William, fitchener like they look alike and dress the.
Same it's almost like they accidentally cast both actors as the same, character and they're, like, well, crap we've got to pick one and just make a role for the other.
Guy yeah, yeah yeah. Yeah William fitchener also could have played this other. Guy yeah. Yeah but he's like the creator of THE vr system and they're sort of grilling him about the fail. Safes he seems squirrely and. Untrustworthy but we get some backstory in the scene as. Well The chief Tells Parker, barnes you, know he acknowledges that they're old, friends and he, says it was good to see you in uniform, again even if it was only virtual. Reality,
Meanwhile barnes is he's got. Insights he's LIKE sid six point. Seven he's. Cheating AND i know he's cheating BECAUSE i hacked the main frame before we went, in and he's not allowed to use electricity as a, weapon but he did, anyway and he goes and he like tries to show the, chief But, lindenmeyer whose first name Is darryl by the, Way Darryl, Lindenmeyer he's, like, no get away from, there and so obviously that's setting up a.
CONFLICT i want to mention that at this point in the real, World Denzel washington's, Character Parker, barnes has great. Hair he has like really, cool like futuristic feeling. Hair he's not going to get to keep his hair for the rest of the, picture AND i was a little disappointed by.
That, yeah they give him a haircut before they send him out on a mission.
Later why is his hair super cool and cultivated in? Prison but then once he's, free it's. CUT i don't, KNOW i don't, KNOW i don't.
Know but, Anyway, okay so they send him back to. Prison there's one brief thing here where they, show, oh he's got a metallic. Limb he like goes through a scanner and it's, like remember, that. Folks it doesn't look it just looks like a normal arm from the, outside but they show you'll scan as he's going through and it's apparently a metal. Arm When barnes is sent back to, prison he randomly has to fight a Neo. NAZI i did not understand why this occurred WHEN i first watched.
It it was almost like suggesting this fight was arranged by the powers that, be like they were trying to silence him about THE vr program or. Something BUT i don't think there's any follow through to confirm, That SO i don't know why this.
Happened it's also very, stylistic so you could almost think we're back, simulation just because it does not look like you're it's a future, PRISON i, guess. Yeah and you don't see any of the inmates. Directly they're all behind like some sort of a like a some sort of a glass or a, screen so you just see their.
Silhouettes, yes, Yes So denzel goes into this big. Hall there's nobody else in. It all these silhouettes of prisoners lined up like an audience mocking and jeering at. Him
you only see them behind these silk. Screens and then from the opposite end of the, hall this gross guy with a white power tattoo and an improvised stabbing weapon comes, out and then they, fight and Then barnes defeats him with superior training and, tactics as well as at least one brutal uppercut to the, groin and then a bunch of guards rush in and beat Up, Barns AND i don't understand why this.
Happened, yeah it's so stylistic THAT i was expecting him to beat The nazi to death with an Apple, macintosh but it is HOW i went. Down.
Okay then we go on to another scene with our bad. Guys this is the let me tell you a secret, scene which is pretty pretty. Solid so Remember Daryl lindenmeyer the computer Company. Creep he's in THE vr space and he walks up to THE sid screen where the screen is on And sid is in there playing a piano in a green satin suit in a beyond The MIND'S I done sea, landscape And darryl tells, him you know, What, Sorry, Sid i'm gonna have to deactivate. You he, SAYS i
know it was you who increased the neural sensitivity. Calibrations you murdered that. Prisoner and Then sid, SAYS i can't change WHAT i, Am. Darryl i'm a fifty terabyte self evolving neural network double backflip off the high. Platform i'm not a swan. Dive AND i have to tell you killing for. Real it was a real. RUSH i always love. These see a lot Of cyberslot movies have a monologue like, this LIKE i am a masterpiece of. Evil. Evil i'm pretty Sure job and Lawnmower man has a speech a
lot like. This this one is relatively. Short, also when he lands after doing his, backflips he explodes into a bunch of, bats and you know, what beyond the, MINDS i had a bat. SWARM i think that must have been part of a STANDARD cg package in the, nineties Because sid is not really associated with. Bats it's not, like you, know what else does he have to do with? Bats it seems out of. Nowhere but, anyway after he, says you, KNOW i love killing for, real it was really.
Good Lynden meyer, goes oh My, god and then the monologue. Continues it's quite. Good sid, says What god would that? Be the one who created you or the one who created. Me you, see in your, world The lord giveth and The lord taketh, Away but in my, world the one who gave me life doesn't have any. Balls you are frightfully inadequate for a, Deity darryl AND i will not be shut. Down, okay so that's, corny but for what it is that slaps.
Yeah, Yeah AND i should add this whole sequence is just very well. Shot it's the great integration between the live action performance and the use of the, screens which Was i'm to understand all the screens in the film were in. Camera i'm assuming at least some of it was not live to. Screen leonard points out that a lot of skill went into making sure all these screens were set upright and you could be seen on camera in the optimal. Way.
Yeah i'm impressedly achieved. That but, anyway so in the, Scene darryl, says you, Know, sid you cannot exist without the approval of the. Authorities you are software and you need hardware to run. On So sid comes up with a. Plan what is that? Plan he, says sacrifice your. Queen, ooh cryptic, meaning and then the camera kind of creeps. IN i like, this there's this slow creep in and he, says let me tell you a.
Secret. Yeah. Yeah the scene lands in an excellent place. Here at that being, Said i'm not exactly sure where the secret. WAS i, MEAN i don't need to, know because the scene still connected on an emotional level and certainly established our villain and some semblance of his plot with his creator turned. Worshiper BUT i have some guesses what the secret might, be but it's not really.
Clear maybe we can come back to, that all, Right so we also get the scene Where barnes meets with Doctor Madison Carter Kelly. Lynch she comes. In they have an interview in the. Prison she introduces. Herself she's a criminal psychologist And William forsyth asked her to do a profile On barnes that may be useful in reducing his. Sentence so they. Talk she asks him about the. Fight he says he was defending. Himself she asks him about whether he was attracted to violence as a. Child he's, like,
yeah three, Stooges Wiley coyote was. Great nice. Answer and as they keep, talking it starts to seem like what she's really interested in Is Russell. CROWE i, mean what's everybody interested? IN i think she wants to write a book on the criminal genius Of sid six point. Seven so she starts kind of Quizzing denzel about his virtual. Me he's, like how did you know he'd be in The japanese? Restaurant And barnes explains what an emoticon.
Is.
Yeah we also here get the first hints Of barnes's tragic, backstory which gets revealed in a trickle throughout the. MOVIE i Think i'm gonna cut to the chase and just summarize the whole thing, here so we don't trickle it. In so the deal Is barnes was some kind of elite detective on the case of a man Named Matthew, grimes which they Call they say he was a quote political, terrorist AND i like how they specify a political terrorist to make it clear he's not like a culinary. Terrorist
but if he's a political, terrorist what were his? Politics that is not really. Clear at one point we see him speaking to the media about the haves and have, nots but mostly THAT i don't. Know that's back to the THING i said at the beginning about like cultural objects just feeling like they're meaningless in, Themselves like he could have inserted any kind of of political rhetoric there and it would be the same.
Thing, yeah this this particular detail of his, backstory like the basic shape of. It, okay some some sort of a killer took out his. Family, yeah you, know obviously that's a necessary part of what they're building. Here but all the details about this guy, JUST i don't, know they're not very. Convincing, like, yeah like we could have we should have known less about, it because what we do learn is not convincing or certainly doesn't have as much of an emotional.
Impact it has a real anti verisimilitude about his political. Terroristiness it suggests more that he just like simply loved crime and. Murder, yeah and so, anyway but they tell the story of how this guy Kidnapped barnes's wife and. Child he put them in a booby trapped room so that When barnes came to rescue, them it would trigger a, bomb and the bomb killed his. Family and it's also
the Reason barnes now has the bionic. Arm. Uh and So carter is like asking him questions about like his backstory in the, scene and we we get to learn that we see that he is a, haunted broken.
Man all.
Right, now from here we move on to The sheila. Scene so we're back in THE cid, warehouse you, know where THE vr world is projected on the big. Screen and currently the person in here is a geeky roboticist Named. Clyde Here's KEVIN. J, O'Connor and he's playing would you call this sexy? Chess, Yes like like they're playing a chess, game moving around these GIANT cgi pieces on a. Board
but he's playing against this blonde seductress character Named. Sheila three point two and she's like stretching out on the chase long in her silk. Pajamas so while like the big chess pieces zoom around and she's, Like, Oh, clyde you, KNOW i really would like you to come visit me in THE vr. World there are so many games we could. Play And clyde is basically drooling at the. Screen, meanwhile the creepy computer Guy daryl comes up behind him and he's,
like you, Know, clyde she's very interactive. Here they sort of imply that THE vr chairs that are being used in the police training simulator earlier that day have some kind of sexual. Interface we never see specifics on what these peripherals would look. Like i'm really curious how this was going to be used for training. Purposes and by the, way once, again no offense To kevin j, O'Connor BUT i feel like they really go out of their way
to make him, gross like come off as. Gross he's filmed slightly from below while he's leering at the, screen so we're like looking a bit up his nose and seeing his wet front. Teeth they're like wet with spit and shining in the light and he's just gazing like he's in a trance at the. Screen and Then clyde is, like, oh, Yeah, DARRYL i need to use your, gear But darryl tells, him, no, no,
No i've got a better. Idea you are a nano, roboticist AND i know that you have created the technology to THREE d print a nanotech android out of blue. Goop why don't you use your Blue goop machine to Make sheila three point two THE vr model into a full THREE d robot in the real, World and THEN i guess y'all can get. MARRIED i don't.
Know so this is so. Ridiculous, obviously it's like you're storing the technology to print bodies for digital beings right next to the place where you store your digital mass murderer. Beings, Yes but then also it's like he's putting, This darrel's putting this together For. Clyde Like clyde was, like you, KNOW i could bend out a woman for all of my creepy. Lusts i'd never thought about that. Before this is my life's, work BUT i never put this.
Together you're exactly, RIGHT i mean once like and also this character is depicted as he has no attributes other than dozen nanotechnology robots and experiences. Lust, yeah so you might think those would connect his, mind because that is all his mind is as a. Character but, yeah, Anyway clyde agrees and then walks off looking a kind of grimly determined in a very funny. Way and So daryl hangs back to Grab sheila's quote module from the computer.
Bank this is an important mcguffin in the. Movie EVERY vr character has a little like plastic polyhedron that's got their brain inside. It but uh, Oh darryl pulls a switcheroo and instead of Taking sheila's, module he TAKES sid six point, seven.
And then he just Kicked sheila underneath the you, know some, furniture which, YEAH i thought was very disappointing because first of, ALL i kind of Wanted sheila to have a chance to be born to the real. World, yeah but also, imagine like the The cringey comedy that could have resulted if we have like a stinger at the end where police are going into train and they're going up Against sheila instead of a super.
Criminal, oh that would be funny. TOO i thought maybe you were gonna, say like what If sheila was, created but instead of just becoming a sex, robot she's the one who has to hunt Down sid six point. Seven, yeah, yeah all. Right, anyway we move on to the nano robotics.
Lab clyde shows off a robot, snake which you think is a real snake at, first like he shoves it in Linden meyer's, face but then he cuts it in half with some shears and reveals it is made of blue Goop and, then critically for the, plot we learn that if you cut part of it, off since it's made out of, silicon it can regenerate itself by absorbing
glass it finds in the. Environment so the snake like rebuilds its severed tail by reaching out these blue tendrils that suck up glass from a. Beaker and, honestly this premise sets up several of the best moments in the movie Where sid will get injured and then later he'll start like sucking glass out of windows while he's got like the goop arm and the window and he's making this rage, face or at one point he's literally like eating fistfuls of glass in the middle of a car.
Chase in the, Scene clyde also explains. Quote if you separate the character module from the polymer, matrix you get nano.
Death.
Yeah so, anyway they start growing the robot inside of a, pod which is a good set.
Piece oh, YES i love all this stuff because then practical. Effects it's this blue like it it's, inorganic but it has this kind of organic nature to. It it's like this like weird blue alien egg that this being is growing. Inside and then when it finally opens and there's like blue. Goo of, course what rises up initially is just this
kind of like neutral blue. Humanoid, oh has kind of like a, OH i don't, know almost like a crash test dummy kind of vibe to, it like it's not completely finished, yet to the point that our creep researcher here is like, like, oh it's. You i'm ready to. Party but then it finishes its. Form it like everything smooths out digitally and it becomes Not sheila But sid six point seven naked terminator style.
Who immediately Kills clyde like it like chokes.
Him.
Yeah the, pod by the, way it looks like a cross between a venus fly trap and a pool. Float and, yeah the being is the freakiest looking thing in the movie is when sid comes out not fully. Finished, yeah but.
That's why if you look through the credits for this, film you'll see somebody like credit with like creature effects because it is essentially like it's somewhere blurring the line between creature and.
Technology, yeah and by the, way and the Scene Russell crowe is really stretching his ham, legs just goofing it up, stupendously you. Know clyde says he's Like, sheila but it's Obviously Russell, crowe and he Instead russell crow says, No I'm oedipus and then chokes. Him and then meanwhile the Daar old character is watching seemingly in horror and then runs away and. Hides but why is he? Horrified didn't he do this on?
Purpose, yeah this is exactly what you wanted to. Do what did you think was gonna happen?
Here so we get to see Naked Russell crowe having fun feeling gravity for the first. Time he like kind of shifts, Around he's, like ooh. Gravity he also picks up a random knife and starts doing naked tai chi with a knife in his. Hand then he recreationally cuts off his own finger and then licks the blue goop and, says, huh that was a good. Year like it's like it's a. Wine that's the, joke but you know, what It's Russell crowe kind of sells. It even the bad jokes sort of.
Land. Yeah.
Oh and then also in the scene we get a LINE i think it was obviously meant for the. Trailer it's sort of AN i got to get me one of those moments Where sid looks directly into the camera and, SAYS i Think i'm gonna like it, here.
And he does like it. Here that's that's pretty much what happens for the next like forty minutes or.
So SO i have a question about the. Plot maybe you knew something about this Rob is there? Something it felt like something was missing in the subplot of the. Villains here they would explain why the computer company guy Wanted sid six point seven unleashed into the. World there are some scenes that kind of imply a, conspiracy like motivated by. Business there are OTHER i, mean but only very.
Vaguely there are other scenes that to me implied the computer guy is like a psychotic acolyte of the religion Of sid six point, Seven like AM i remembering right that one time later he's shown in a motel room decorated like A Charles manson murder. Scene yeah, Yeah and it's not like a crime, scene it's like his own motel. Room and it implied just he just decorated it that
way because he likes. It like just major confusion on what is the motivation of the non virtual meat human, villain what was their, goal and who's in on.
IT i, mean it seems like his direct creator here just comes to worship his, creation but we don't really get enough details on how this comes to, pass you, know we're just sort of left to assume that's the. Case this is an example WHERE i probably need WELL i don't need. TO i would probably get some answers IF i read the novelization for the, movie which was By Terry, bisson who has come up on the show before because we've had a couple of people right in
about his. Work he won A Hugo award and A Nebula award for the short Story They're made out Of. Meat i'm, assuming as is typical with, novelizations he probably had to fill in the gaps here and create some connective tissue for these. Characters but, yeah back to your, point why is any of this? Happening, yeah, like why
really did you orchestrate the escape of this? Being why did you help it print itself in in physical form so it can run on Rampage like you, clean you seem to like him and you're into what he's doing but also scared by, him but also scared by. Him, yeah it's like it seems like we needed him to be killed by the creator here as, well if he because it's not like he's he's sort Of frankenstein's here where he's, like, Ah i've gone too far and runs,
away but then he continues to worship his. Creation so either.
Yeah, Anyway so at this point in the, movie the premise has been. Delivered you, KNOW sid six point seven is unleashed in physical form upon our, world the world of nineteen ninety. Nine in the words Of William forsyth, quote SOMEHOW sid six point seven got himself out of the computer and at this point only one man can stop, him because Again barnes is the only prisoner who ever BEATS sid in THE vr. Training So barnes has granted conditional early release from prison so he can find and STOP.
Sid now at this, point what is a renegade cop who gets results always need a new, Partner so he's getting paired up With Madison, carter the criminal. Psychologist so a few scenes to talk about from the middle portion of the, movie a lot of chasing around an investigation in that there's sort of a detective portion Where barnes And carter investigates some crime scenes where LIKE sid has done random murders and one of them is staged as
a copycat of The Tate lobbianca. Murders but they end up At Darryl lindenmeyer's, house the guy who PROGRAMMED, sid in a scene THAT i found extremely funny because so they learn HOW sid six point seven was. Created they go Into lindenmeyer's computer and they're like looking at the PREVIOUS sid, models and these heads just start popping up on the computer. Screen and the first one we see is A hitler head that's like a THREE d sort of polygon model of, it so it's got like a
little like, mustache but it's a little. Polygon and then they're showing serial killers and, stuff And carter, says, quote this is using some kind of genetic Algorithms sid's too complex to. Design lindenmeyer had to grow him up psychologically like a real person with multiple personality. Disorder the program learns like a, child but much. Faster it's like he put all these killers In sid's nursery and let him watch them cannibalize each. Other and Then barnes, says and
only the strong ones. Survive but what does that mean in this context the strongest serial killers or?
Hitlers so on one, level absolutely this is technobabble that doesn't literally stand up to close, scrutiny but it also does kind of neatly forecast of some of the topics we've been discussing in the past several years ABOUT ai and about about training on content and how sometimes the content that these models train on are not the best models of human behavior or human. Expression and so, it's you, know it's, silly but it also rings a little bit true in some.
Ways, yeah but this is more, like what if you limited the reinforcement training, exclusively the training data is only a pyramid of two HUNDRED cgi serial killer heads and With hitler in there.
Too, Yeah, WELL i, mean in, retrospect why would we do? This but now we're kind of, like well that GU i guess that could, happen you.
Know.
Yeah so also in the, Scene barnes figures out that one of the heads in there Inside sid belonged to the guy who murdered his. Family there was a lot made of, this, like, oh that would be extra, bad you, know much scarier Than Ted bundy And. Hitler but much is also discussed, about like whether this personality is dominant Within sid or. NOT i found that a not very fruitful. Subplot.
Yeah.
Same the decor of Lynden meyer's APARTMENT i thought was really. Funny it's like a cross Between Patrick bateman's apartment and the house In The. Hunger so there's a lot of Soulless Wall street furniture and computers and, stuff but also a single purple rose in a glass bell. Jar now after, you let's talk about the club, scene, because as we, said every one of these movies has to have a techno dance club. Scene what would you, so, Like sid six point seven goes to a, club he fights his way.
In how would you describe this this club?
Rob? Oh, WELL i mean it's just absolute cinematic portrayal of the nineties rave, situation you, know the, lights the, outfits the presence Of Tracy. Lord everything is in place here and we get that great scene where he's like strong arming his way to the front of the line to get. In it's it's very like futuristic and. Hip BUT i do generally like the music. Here good.
Track there's live music and they've got like a Star TREK dj station with these milky white orbs instead of, turntables so you can see them like doing record scratches with the.
Orbs, yeah infrared footage of everything's gone to so many, screens.
Yes screens. Everywhere there are people walking around with video cameras that are projecting a live feed with crazy color effects onto the huge screens on the. Walls just cables dangling everywhere and like running to the helmets that are being warned by the. DJs, also you access this club through a freight, elevator so it's like a basement club
you have to go down to through the. Elevator one THING i thought is, that, oh you, KNOW i went to a concert earlier this, week and it's like this is kind of like going to a concert today because you see people holding up their devices recording the performers standing right in front of.
Them, yeah that's a good. Point that's a good. Point but yeaople do. THAT i mean it only the world only makes sense if you're viewing, it experiencing it through the digital through the, technology you. Know but in this, case, yeah the performer Is Tracy lord's up there with what one or two DJs on. Hand she's kind of, singing kind of dancing around wearing this kind of like matrixy latex, attire and then Income sid and we get this one
moment cinematography at its. FINEST i guess they're, like what if we Shot sid Through Tracy lord's legs from, behind like through her thighs from, behind and that's the. Shot, Yeah SO i giggled at. THAT i was, like, okay, yeah a little over the. Top.
Yeah, also the fashion in the scene is, chaotic we, get but we do get an early glimpse of a guy in a purple double breasted suit That sid is going to steal and wear for much of the. Film but, again coming back to the kind of themes we talked about, earlier there's something kind of interesting here where in this scene it becomes apparent That sid loves that people are aiming cameras at him in the club and projecting him onto the big, screen and he. Smiles he's like overwhelmed with.
JOY i think sincere, Joy like he's not making a, joke and he, SAYS i am. Beautiful and this is one of the themes of the movie THAT i thought was actually kind of accidentally. Interesting there's something about the information environ in the setting that says there's a. Desire there's like a link between the desire to be famous
and the center of everybody's attention and sadism or. Psychopathy LIKE i haven't fully fleshed out exactly what this, means but it's like a latent assumption of the film that is not just the common assumption that there's something kind of tacky or shallow or misguided about wanting to be the center of everybody's, attention or especially wanting to be the center of everybody's attention as mediated through technology like video and The, internet but actually goes a step farther
and suggests the desire for attention like this is related to a kind of, dominance, strive a desire to have power over others and even inflict pain on. Them and that hit home for.
Me.
Somehow, AGAIN i don't want to SUGGEST i think this was explicitly thought out in the, script but it feels like a potent theme the movie stumbles into. Here there's something about this obsession with like being on camera and having people far away all watching you at the same time that is like a kind of power and domination and.
Sadism yeah, Yeah and they do come back to it later on as, well.
Anyway and the Scene sid gets a drink made for him by A Johnny cab And sid is like to, think you constitute one of my. Ancestors and then of course that's.
A lot of a couple of moments in here though with The, androids WHERE i was, like they're kind of getting into some of the territory That Ridley scott would later get into With david and the The alien, prequels but with less nuance and and more just outright. Meanness that's.
Funny. Yeah. Uh he starts rampaging in the, club of, course and then this will be a type of scene that. Recurs he takes everybody, hostage forces the camera to like film. Him. Uh and then in one.
Funny, Bit Crazy lords gets, away though she does run. Away the guy behind her gets, shot but she makes it.
And then he. Starts he starts making everybody record screams that he can play back and remix at THE dj. Station this scene is really, something And Russell crowe is just like roaring with improvisational. Energy.
YEAH i mean it's a weird mix, though because on one, hand like a scene where someone terrorizes a bunch of people with a, gun, yes it's LIKE i don't like. It but on the other, hand so many other aspects of this sequence are so over the top that and the performance at the center of it is is so over the top you kind of like it as.
WELL i mentioned this earlier that one of the WAYS i think this movie kind of really sits weird is a tonal. MISMATCH i think this is actually true With barnes's backstory as. Well the thing about like his family being.
Murdered it's a Weird it's weird because The barnes backstory is on one, hand like, hackneyed, obvious overly familiar for this type of, character you, know the, Copy he's taken it too, personal and at the same time it is excessively cruel and horrible for the context of this goofy, movie AND i felt a similar way about a lot of these. Scenes like the club scene is at once like goofy but also just a little too. Nasty it's like, both it's going off in both.
Directions, yeah, yeah SO i THINK i think you're right there that the tone is off.
Here of, course this all gets interrupted When barnes shows, up and this leads to a shootout and a car. Chase i'm not going to narrate all the action, scenes but a lot of the rest of the movie follows this. Format sid goes, somewhere he starts. Rampaging he wants to be on. Camera he's killing, people taking. Hostages barnes, arrives there is a fight and a, chase and Then sid gets.
Away, yeah and then they need to go find, him and they realize that he is going to go where the attention. Is he's going to go where the media. Is, yeah and that's how we end up following, him for, instance to the to the.
Octagon oh, Boy, okay so, YEAH i think we're near the end of our plot recap, here but we do have to talk about THE ufc.
Scene, Yeah SO i was EXPECTED i Had, AGAIN i hadn't seen virtuosity in its, ENTIRETY i. Think BUT i was looking over the cast AND i, noticed, oh, Well ken shamrocks in, this it looks like there's going to be SOME ufc. Action SO i was prepared for some potentially HAMMY ufc product. Integration AND i would have to SAY i was a bit shocked by how negatively the film PORTRAYS mma AND mma, fandom yes.
Virtuosity it depicts THE ufc as like a blood cult in which the the the audience are fanatical acolytes that chant in unison for death even as people are like murdered in the audience around.
Them, yeah it's like they're a bunch of, bloodthirsty half naked savages who only pause in their chanting to violently attack or grope each other like. That how that's how the movie is PRESENTING. Ufc and even action in the octagon doesn't even resemble an ACTUAL mma. Match it's like two different fights are going. ON i think there's a ref in, there but it's just pure.
Chaos it was only their ambitious image of what the future could.
Hold, yeah and So sid shows up notices that like a pretty lady is on like the what The Titan tron or whatever the heck the big screen is. There he goes up and is creepy towards her and then like pulls out a, gun does a backflip into the, octagon intentionally landing like on his head and, back and then gets up and starts intimidating all the dudes in the, octagon Including Ken. SHAMROCK i was a little disappointed that The World's Most Dangerous man didn't make a move On, sid but fair.
ENOUGH i don't know about Most Dangerous man's. STATUS i only Remember Ken. Shameron wasn't he in THE wwf in the?
Nineties he, Was, yeah, okay that's ALL i. Remember he had some matches With. Vader so it's, like if he's going to stand up To, vader you'd think he'd stand up To. Sid but you, know he's, like it's, LIKE i see you got blue blood coming out of. You fair, Enough i'm standing.
Back that's smart, Move. Ken don't be a.
Hero so basically the same thing is going to happen, here, Right, Yeah parker shows, up runs shoots at, him more blue, blood more, violence and then he gets. Away.
Yeah and, now AS i, mentioned or MAYBE i didn't mention this, earlier there's a whole. Thing i'm not gonna bother. Explaining in the middle of the, Movie barnes gets framed for a, murder so he gets re arrested and all this stuff. Happens sid actually sets him free because he wants to. Play it's like The joker In. Batman it's, LIKE i need, you you complete. Me the climax of the film takes place in a skyscraper that is the home of A tv station where there is a televised debate.
Happening that's what Draws sid there because he's, like he wants attention about a current political controversy over. Immigration this part kind of came out of nowhere and hit uncomfortably. Hard but so there's like one guy ON tv saying like immigration breathes life into the, culture and another guy demagoguing against immigrants and saying we got to close the, border and Then sid shows up and does the same. Thing he shoots, people takes hostages and takes over the live.
Broadcast he takes over, it redubs it what MURDER, Tv MURDER tv or DEATH TV. Tv, yeah and also has his own like.
Logo yeah he brought a graphics. Package yeah he really.
DID i MEAN i guess he's a virtual reality, thing so he can do that sort of sort of.
Thing so as he torments and terrorizes the hostages on, air he's he's still he's like obsessed with checking out his. Ratings he's, like, look what what Ratings i'm? Getting? Oh, Yeah the viewers love. This they love the way you're screaming more tuning in every, minute and once again this surprisingly interesting theme Linking sid's sadism and cruelty fundamentally with his desire for attention mediated by, technology and in, fact the good guys sort of defeat him, here at least in,
part distract him by cutting the. Feed they, like turn off the broadcast and limit his access to his, audience And zid hates, this and this leads to a final chain and fight in the network building Between barnes And. Sid of, course as one could have guessed from developments, Earlier sid has Taken carter's daughter, hostage and they while they're chasing, around they're, like where's the Girl and there's a there's a booby trap bomb and all that kind of.
Stuff BUT i don't, Know, rob are there any elements of the climax you want to?
Hit? YEAH i mean they get. It, Basically parker And sid get a, big die hard sque battle on top of the, skyscraper And sid plummets through a whole bunch of glass panels and is impaled on like a million pieces of. Glass and Then parker goes down to, like you, know check, out see if he's. Dead he's not dead. Yet we get a nice tight scene where he's trying to Pull parker into the the sharp shards of. Glass he's regenerating off of the, glass because, remember eating glass
and touching wounds to glass is how he. Heals but there's a lot of repair work that needs to happen, here and before he can do, It parker reaches in through the back of his skull and rips out his little module and seemingly defeats the. Villain but then they're, like but we don't know where the girl is, hidden and then we get. IT i thought this was a nice.
Twist they like load him back up in the virtual they replay what just, happened but but they let him get the upper hands so that he'll spill where the girl is. Hiding.
RIGHT i thought this was actually a pretty clever twist where s, yeah that's. Right so they what they need is information From, sid so they killed. Him they defeated him too, early so they have to go back into the virtual world trick him into thinking he's still in the real world so that he will spill the, beans you, know really give his villain monologue where he reveals the, information Which parker AND u and doctor And madison both that they work together to figure that.
Out, yeah so that was, solid and of course we. Do we also get a scene Where sid realizes he's been caught and he jokes out real, hard and we get this scene with like multiple sid, faces digital sid faces making angry expressions extreme. Jobing, yes, yeah but then the plot requires us to also just arm of bomby that The Little girl's place of concealment is booby trapped With and this scene just feels very anticlimactic to. Me it's,
like we just had like a really awesome final. Fight we had this nice little twist on top of that final, fight but now we're just doing like a standard you, know LIKE tv show bomb.
Disartment, yeah which wire is? It and the final solution to the bomb deactivation Involves barnes using components from his bionic. Arm did you remember that he had a bionic arm at this.
POINT i only thought of it when he ripped the module out of the. HEAD i was, LIKE i guess because it CLEARLY i felt like we'd sprinkled this detail enough to where it would have to come back and have, meaning AND i, thought, WELL i guess that was. It it was because he used the prosthetic arm to rip out the, Module so it kind of surprised. Me, Again it's, like, Oh, okay this is how we're actually going to make use of this.
Detail he like pulls fiber optics out of his forearm and then like inserts them into the bomb to defuse. It that's pretty. Good. Yeah also in the, end when they Defeat barnes DESTROYS sid six point seven's character module, bite throwing it off the top of the. Skyscraper, MAN i feel LIKE i would have done something a little more. Certain, yeah we do like follow up and we see it run over by a, truck so it's all. Good sid's. Gone but wouldn't you would you want to make sure
it was. Destroyed you don't even know where it.
Lands, yeah what it landed in the back of like a shipment of? Pillows or something OR i don't. KNOW i don't. Know there are so many ways that could have been. Saved or maybe it hits somebody in the head and gets embedded in their. Brain what happens, THEN i don't.
Know Guess i'm your party.
Man so that is virtuosity in all its.
GLORY i feel like we still actually didn't hit everything that's potentially interesting about. It but, YES i will vouch for. It the viewing. Experience despite some tonal, mismatch some things that are just just go a little bit harder than they need to or a little bit nastier than they need to, be it is still a, pretty uh in, fact quite, funny nostalgic and enjoyable.
Experience, yeah it is A it's a movie that will make you laugh and it will make you think there's. There there are various parts of this film that the do connect in interesting ways with with where we are, now, technologically, socially, politically and.
MORE i just want to, say one last, time hats off To russell And. DENZEL i MEAN i advocate. THIS i, think like a list actors should take the time to do, weird trashy little b movies and just and just go all the, way don't hold, back do give it your.
Best absolutely all, Right we're gonna go and close out this episode Of Weird House, cinema but we would love to hear from everyone out. There what do You what do you think Of? Virtuosity did you see it back in the nineties when it came out or do you at least remember the? Trailers have you rediscovered it or watched it for the first time in recent, Years we
would love to hear your. Thoughts as a, reminder Stuffed Able Your mind is primarily a science and culture podc asked with core episodes On tuesdays And, thursdays but On fridays we set aside most serious concerns to just talk about a weird film On Weird House. Cinema we've been doing this for one hundred and ninety nine, films and the next episode we do will be the two Hundredth Weird House cinema, Selection so check back in and see
what we finally decide on for. That and if you want to stay abreast of all the movies we've covered thus, far a great way to do it is to head on over to letterbox dot com our profile there Is weird house and you can find a nice list of.
Everything do you know what two hundred is when it's upside down in? Dreams?
Oh what is? It it's double as? Seven is?
IT i don't? Know it's gonna say almost maybe it's ooh, okay, anyway huge thanks as always to our excellent audio Producer. Jjposway if you would like to get in touch with us with feedback on this episode or any, other to suggest a topic for the, future or just to say, hello you can email us at contact at stuff To blow Your mind dot.
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