Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
I know that in my last review, back in February, I said I would do Bio-Dome next. Guess I'm a liar, because that's coming soon, but not right now, I’m going to put it on hold for a minute. I have a couple of others I want to share with you, first. Since my last post and today, May 1st, 2020, COVID-19 (aka Coronavirus) has spread throughout most of the world. Over 65K Americans have died from this disease. So I thought, what perfect way to introduce the blog than with Wolfgang Peterson’s 1995 thriller, Outbreak! It doesn’t get more timely than this.
Actual photo of Los Angeles, California, March 10, 2020.
Image by Wikipedia
Outbreak stars Dustin Hoffman as a biological disease researcher for the US military. His team consists of Kevin Spacey and Cuba Gooding, Jr. Morgan Freeman plays their supervisor. Rene Russo is an ex-team member as well as Hoffman’s ex-wife. Donald Sutherland plays a different General in the army. An all-star cast, to be sure.
The movie starts in 1967, while the Kisangani Mutinies are going on in Africa. The US Military is sent in to investigate a viral outbreak in a base in the middle of a hot zone. The military takes some blood samples and then destroys the camp. Fast forward to 1995. The Army is once again sent to Africa, this time Ziare, to investigate a viral outbreak. It seems controlled, but hark! Some monkies escape into the jungle! They end up caught and brought to America, on a cargo ship and then stolen by Patrick Dempsey to sell to an exotic pet dealer. He only buys one of the monkeys, after getting bitten by one. Dempsey takes the unsold monkey and lets it go in the woods. The monkey spits on him, though. The store owner and Dempsey are now both infected. McDreamy then flies home to Boston, sick, and starts a mini outbreak.
McDreamy? More like... McSicky!
Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
Meanwhile, Hoffman is dealing with the emotional distress of his divorce and his ex-wife leaving his military team of researchers to go work for the Center for Disease Control (CDC). There are some scenes of them talking and dealing with that. And some scenes showing how Gooding is pretty green to fieldwork. And they’re okay. Spacey is snarky and sarcastic, surprise surprise. There is arguing back-and-forth between Hoffman and Freeman about this virus, called Motaba, and how it’s going to kill everyone. Freeman has no reason to think this disease will ever get to the US. Hoffman tries to tell Russo about it, to get her to have the CDC warn everyone, but she also accuses him of being paranoid. He has a history of freaking out about every disease coming to the USA and killing everyone. Kind of like the news media. Anyway, because of the information Hoffman gives Russo, she can respond when the outbreak begins in Boston. Success! She contains the disease. Movie over, roll credits!
Sutterland's easiest paycheck of all time!
Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
Wait, nevermind, the movie continues. One of the big plot points in this film is that they make it clear in Zaire that the disease is not airborne contagious. To the extent of foolishness. See, Hoffman and his team wear full-body hazmat suits for most of the film. And they are fully suited up in Zaire, until some random villager shows up and tells them it isn’t airborne. “Well, guess that means we can take the masks off now” is what they think and do. Sounds legit for a military science team.
Africa is full of "Hazmat Suit Optional" beaches
Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
But now, the disease has mutated, and it now spreads through the air! They show a pretty cool scene where they have someone sneeze in a crowded movie theater. They show the particles fly through the air and into other people’s noses and mouths. A good reminder of how we need a hotline we can call, so if we see someone sneezing in public, we can call it and have them taken away. The sneezer goes to the lobby to get a drink and starts putting his hands all over everyone to get them out of the way, so he can get some water.
This is in Cedar Creek, California, where McDreamy sold the infected monkey. The owner of the pet shop is sick also! He collapses and breaks furniture. The military moves in and closes off the town from the outside world, declaring Marshall Law and #socialdistancing. Hoffman wants to go there initially but is instead ordered to go to New Mexico. Why? Could this possibly be a Government Conspiracy?
Hoffman disobeys and goes to Ceder Creek to team up with his team and Russo, who is also there. They finally begin to raise the stakes, halfway through the movie, by infecting Spacey with the virus. Good. If they’re going to kill off one of the main characters, it should be Kevin Spacey.
Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States!
Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
The good guys then race to find a cure, they find out about the monkies and track down the one that Dempsey let escape. They hope they can develop a cure based on their bloodwork. They also find out that the military discovered this virus… in 1967! And they have a cure for it! But it doesn’t work, since this a different, mutated strain.
Sutherland starts showing up about halfway through the movie. He’s an army general who wants to cover up this whole thing because otherwise, it could get out that the government has weaponized this virus. As Hoffman gets closer to the truth and a cure, he tries to have him arrested or killed. The usual Evil General kind of stuff. Near the climax of the movie, Russo also gets infected, prompting Hoffman to work extra hard to find a cure. Sutherland wants to bomb Cider Creek, like the Umbrella Corporation, and put a whole stop to the disease, but Hoffman saves the day by delivering a "Huhraw! Go America!" Speech to the pilots of the plane with the bomb. Meanwhile, Gooding, by himself, has an antidote within a couple of hours, using the cure for the old strain and the monkey blood. Hurray! The day is saved! Diseases are cured by the power of the United States of America! Democracy!
America wins again!
Image by Public Domain Pictures
Outside of that, honestly, the movie was pretty average. I wouldn’t say anything in it was bad, per se, but it was just kinda… blah. Hoffman isn’t bad, Russo isn’t bad, Freeman isn’t bad, Gooding isn’t bad, but none of them light the screen on fire. The script isn’t great. The biggest thing, to me, is how little stakes there are. Twice in the movie, they tease a kid getting infected, only to pull back and not do it. No main characters get infected until halfway through the movie. When Russo’s character gets sick, Hoffman is already well on his way to a cure, so you know she’ll be alright. It’s things like that, ya know… why should I care that McDreamy got sick? Or these random old people in Cedar Creek? Also, some of the almost cartoon-like unrealism with the military is distracting. They have a helicopter chase scene/duel while trying to rush the infected monkey back to Cedar Creek. And Hoffman’s “This is what it means to be an American” speech at the end if hokey and cringy. Everything else was very average. Very typical of the disaster/thriller subgenera that were all the rage around in the mid-90s. “Oh no! This random disease is gonna KiLL Us aLL!”
Don't worry, little girl. Only adults are susceptible to this virus.
Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
Outbreak was released on March 10, 1995. It had a budget of $50 and made almost $200 in the box office, making it a financial hit. There’s a neat video from ScreenRant about the movie. It’’s pretty recent, meaning they took my idea to talk about Outbreak during this global pandemic crisis. How dare they take my idea before I have it! A small interesting tidbit, much of Outbreak takes place in Ceder Creek, California. There is no town called that in California. But there is a river (technically tributary) in Mendocino County called Cedar Creek. Also, at the time of the movie’s release, there was an outbreak of Ebola in Zaire, making this a very topical film in 1995. Here’s a video from the Canadian Broadcasting Company talking about the situation. I honestly couldn’t find many vintage clips about it.
The movie is based on a 1994 book called The Hot Zone, written by Richard Preston. The Hot Zone is a nonfiction account of Biosafety Level 4 agents, like Ebola and Marburg. Very infectious viruses that have a high mortality rate and that there is no cure for. Part of the book describes the Reston Virus, which is related to Ebola. Named after Reston, Virginia, wherein 1989, imported monkeys were dying and found to have this biological agent. The book was instrumental in helping the CDC, exposing the dangers of these diseases, and connecting the need for disease prevention to national security. It also helped the World Health Organization (WHO) take the Zaire Ebola crisis more seriously. So it did its job on that front. Though it does allegedly contain inaccurate scientific information. For example, supposedly, the book says that Ebola causes origins too dissolve. But they don’t do that. I mean, you’ll die… but at least your organs won’t be fluid.
Interestingly enough, this movie was produced by Warner Bros. But there was also an adaptation at the same time attempted by 20th Century Fox. Producer Lynda Obst tried to get it going with Robert Redford as the lead, but eventually, it fell to Warner, and Hoffman was cast. Obst would eventually take that script and produce a miniseries for National Geographic. The Hot Zone, as the miniseries was called, aired in May of 2019.
Keep in mind, in real life, Hoffman is like... 5' tall
Image by Warner Bros via IMDB
Final Verdict
When the movie was over, I was glad it was done. I was ready for it to be finished. Again, there is nothing much wrong with this movie, but not much incredible either. A great opening long shot, a terrific performance by Sutherland… and that’s really about it. I think I would have liked it more at the time if I had seen it in 1995, but today the movie is average, which is the nicest thing I can think to say about it. Which is fine. It’s fine. Watch it if you want a Killer Disease movie. Or just watch the news.
Here’s an interesting video from E! at the time about how Outbreak could happen in real life. And there’s a pretty interesting video by The Take, Outbreak Movies, Explained, on pandemic movies and their impact on society at large. They talk about Outbreak, as well as 1971’s The Andromeda Strain and 2011’s Contagion. They also talk about movies like 28 Days Later, 1973’s The Crazies, Bird Box, The Omega Man, 12 Monkeys, and 2008’s The Happening; disease movies that are more unrealistic and relay more on horror or a post-apocalyptic setting. The video is mostly about all the different types of “pandemic” movies. But also, it explores the idea of… do these kinds of movies make us more paranoid and fearful or are they cathartic and allow us to live through our emotions on the screen? The video doesn’t even begin to answer that question, but just raising it is an interesting point. But what is the answer? I dunno. I think that depends on the individual. But I think everyone should remember that movies, even ones that seem realistic like Outbreak, are just that. Movies. Coronavirus is a real disease. Motaba isn’t. Corona has a very low mortality rate when compared to this movie disease, less than 1% compared to 100%. Motaba is quick, with death occurring 48 hours after exposure. Corona is a lot longer. Motaba killed Kevin Spacy’s character. Tom Hanks beat Corona.
In 2050, when I begin my “Nate's Lit Fam 20s Blog,” I’ll probably talk more about the Coronavirus. But until then, I’m not going to make more than a passing reference to it on here, after today. Much like how I won’t get into the pros and cons of contemporary politics. This blog is an escape for me. A chance to think about my past and talk about movies and music and other things I love. That’s all this is. I something that I need to do in my life and it's something that, I hope, is entertaining and informative for you. If you want to know how bad the world is today, go to Facebook and read the stuff your friends and family post. If you want to talk about movies and video games from the 90s movies.
I'll see you again in 30 years, Coronavirus!
Image by LifeScience.com
And of course, like always, my opinion on this movie is my opinion, which is just my opinion. Go to JustWatch if you want to know where it is currently streaming. Let me know what you think! I’d love to hear if you liked or disliked this movie.
Next time, before we get to Bio-Dome, we will be looking at one of my favorite movies of all time. The 1995 Angelina Jolie thriller, Hackers! Does Hackers successfully break down the firewalls of your heart? Or is it just a hack job today? Find out next time!
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