9. Virtuosity (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBWwfiVL1kk Heres the pitch: Russell Crowe (Best Actor, Gladiator) is Sid 6.7, a Nanotech synthetic organism, which in layman terminology means hes a composite of Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Jack The Ripper, John Wayne Gacy and, for all we know, Dick Chaney and Donald Rumsfeld. You see, hes part of a training simulation for LAs finest, but unbeknownst to cop Denzel Washington (Best Actor, Training Day), one of Sids personalities is the psycho that butchered his family. So when Crowe escapes from virtual reality its one long cat-and-mouse game, but how do you tackle an opponent whos impervious to bullets, doesnt bleed and if tested could probably leap buildings in a single bound? Think Demolition Man with the ethnicity of the leads reversed, some VR tossed in plus Louise Fletcher (Best Actress, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) as an ineffectual official and youre almost there. Theres shades of The Hitcher and Die Hard as Denzel is set up for something he didnt do, gets fired fired upon by a police helicopter and takes a very John McClane-ish rooftop plunge, then as if to prove originality is not this films strongest suit, it ends with Washington racing to defuse a bomb.
Ian Watson
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
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