Sorry for the long delay folks been rather busy drawing a new comic issue and among other things; but anyway on to Virtuosity. We open at a subway station where we’re introduced to Parker Barnes (played by Denzel Washington) and Donovan (played by Costas Mandylor) in police uniforms. The two are heading out of the station, tracking down someone as they take notice of their surroundings. Such as how the walls of the subway station are warping and by-standers are walking through each other as if the place is glitchy. Even the sky and clouds are glitchy; Parker spots a :) emoticon outside of a Japanese restaurant and the two head inside. They search throughout the restaurant until coming across someone they’re looking; Sid 6.7 (played by Russell Crowe). They open fire on Sid but he fires but as he’s making his escape; Donovan follows Sid but gets taken out. Parker searches the restaurant as Sid appears from behind chef’s cooking area and open fire. Parker jumps for cover but gets shot in the arm in the process; Sid holds the chef like a human shield but Parker shots him down able to get Sid by the shoulder. Damn, am I watching Training Day by mistake? Parker finds Donovan dead by electrocution as Sid sneaks up behind him. Sid jams his thumb into Parker’s gunshot wound putting him in a lot of pain. Parker starts turning all digital or pixelated then he vanishes; same goes to Donovan. Apparently it turns out to be virtual reality as we cut to the real world with Parker and Donovan suffering a neural stimulation overload. Parker is released from the VR harness while Donovan goes into shock and dies. Long story short Parker use to be a LAPD officer; now serving jail time he has volunteer with the Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Center (LETAC) to test their VR. In order to be sure that it’s safe for cops as a training simulation. After Parker is sent back to his cell, we cut back to LETAC where a Dr. Darrel Lindenmeyer (played by Stephen Spinella) is speaking to Sid about the incident. He knows that it was Sid who increased the neural sensitivity on the inmates, killing Donovan. Lindenmeyer informs Sid that after the incident his higher ups want to shut down the VR project. However, Sid has other plans than being shut down. Back at the prison Parker is being interview by a Dr. Madison Carter (played by Kelly Lynch) a criminal psychologist working with LETAC. She’s willing to help Parker to have his prison sentence reduce if he cooperates. Madison asks him about a criminal name Matthew Grimes, apparently he was responsible for the death of Parker’s wife and daughter. Matthew Grimes was a political terrorist who kidnapped Parker’s wife and daughter because he was cutting Grimes off from potential targets. I’ll get to why Parker is in prison later.
Cut to a Clyde Reilly (played by Kevin J. O’Connor) having a “conversation” with a simulation name Shelia 3.2 (played by Heidi Schanz). He’s interrupted by Lindenmeyer who has taking an interest of Clyde’s nano-tech androids he’s been incubating. Lindenmeyer proposes to incubate Shelia into a nano-tech android, Clyde accepts. As Clyde leaves to prep for incubation, Lindenmeyer retrieves a casing containing the character module of Shelia 3.2. But only to replace it with the character module of Sid 6.7 to trick Clyde into incubating him instead. At Clyde’s lab he demonstrates to Lindenmeyer how these nano-tech androids work with a snake. Basically when these androids get injured nano-machines that are released from the open wound and absorbing any glass object. Then the glass particles are assimilated, regenerating the android. The nano-machines are silicone based therefore they require glass for the regeneration. However, upon separating the character module from the polymer neural net the nano-machines die out. Clyde places Sid’s character module into an apparatus fill with the nano-machines. Minutes later the incubation is complete and now we see Sid in the flesh….and naked. Damn check out that ass maybe he should stay naked, gets some tan on those cheeks. Clyde is confused of why he’s seeing a naked man instead of a naked woman but Sid fixes the problem by strangling him to death. Later Parker is brought in by his friend Billy Cochran (played by William Forsythe) who is the LAPD’s police chief. The LETAC commissioners object to this but Billy believes Parker is the only who can stop Sid. If Parker succeeds LETAC will give him a full pardon. Before Parker is sent out he’s been implanted with a micro-locator in case he tries to make a run for it. Madison wishes to go with him to better he chances to capture Sid; despite his objection Parker agrees. As Parker and Madison set out to find Sid, we cut to Lindenmeyer hiding out at motel watching the news about a murder at a residential home. He figures that it was Sid behind the murders. Parker and Madison arrived at Lindenmeyer’s home to learn more about Sid. Apparently Sid was “psychology grown” by Lindenmeyer using genetic algorithms of history’s most dangerous killers and psychopaths. Parker takes notice that Matthew Grimes is one of those genetic algorithms that’s a part of Sid. Cut to Sid entering a nightclub and is completely in awe of this place. Cut to Parker and Madison stopping by her place to freshen up; there we’re introduced to her daughter Karin Carter (played by the Pre-Charmed, Pre-Big Bang Theory Kaley Cuoco). While Karin goes off to talk to Parker, we cut back to the nightclub as Sid shoots down a robot bartender….not kidding and holds the people in the place hostage. Back at Madison’s place Parker hears over the police scanner about a shooting at the nightclub. Parker asks Karin to get her mother then the two head out. Sid starts lining the hostages up into different sections like a symphony orchestra recording their screams and cries. This John Williams symphony from hell continues until Parker arrives to the scene and shoots Sid. Not effected by the gunshots Sid makes a Spider-Man leap to the exit and escapes by stolen police car. Parker and Madison follow suit soon after; Sid is cornered by a wrecked tanker truck at a bridge. Parker and Madison catches up to Sid as he open fires on them. Parker grabs a shotgun and fires on him forces Sid to jump off the bridge and disappeared into the night.
The next day at LETAC, Parker believes that Matthew Grimes is a part Sid and is becoming the dominate personality. How Sid was taunting Parker, how he treats his victims just like Grimes whose specialty is bombing populated targets. Any place where there are a lot of people that can die and can be seen on the news media live. Madison believes that now Sid is in the real world he’s no longer bound by his programing in VR. Free from any behavior limits while in the real world. Cut to Sid walking in a mall with his new suit that he ripped off from one of the victims at the nightclub. To add we get the Bee Gees’ Stayin Alive playing in the background; which makes the Sid walking in the mall scene very awesome. Brownie points goes to you movie. And speaking of the nightclub, Sid stops at a TV store and watches the news converge of his handy work. The store owner gets annoyed that Sid keeps changing the channels on the TVs so Sid takes care of that problem by snapping the store owner’s neck. Minutes later Parker and Madison arrived at the mall watching a video recorded by a nearby store owner of Sid just smiling evilly to the camera. Parker notices a live converge on the TV of a MMA fight and some of the cameras are suspiciously focus on a young woman in the crowd. He figures out that Sid has chosen a new victim for a live execution and hurries to the LA Olympic Auditorium. At the Olympic Auditorium Sid has already arrived and killed the camera crew. Inside the Auditorium Sid spots his prey and flirts with her; he gets creepily flirty which made her very creep out. Her boyfriend sees them and attacks Sid but he beats up the boyfriend and throws him off the balcony falling to his death. Sid grabs the young woman and is about to kill her is interrupted by a cop armed with a shotgun. Sid grabs the front of the shotgun but gets his hand blown off….dumbass. Sid punches the cop and makes a jump off the balcony. After hitting the ground like a Looney Toon character, Sid makes to the MMA ring as Parker enters the Auditorium. Parker tries to shoot him but can’t get a clear shot with all people in the way. Sid escapes the Auditorium and reached a nearby train to heal himself on a window. Parker follows him out of the Auditorium but lost him at the train stop. Sid peeps out of the train door holding a hostage at gunpoint as the train begins to depart. Parker takes careful aim at Sid opens fire; he misses but the woman gets shot and killed by Sid. Despite what happened eyewitnesses think that Parker shot the woman. OK apparently nobody notice the bullet ricocheted off the side of the train. Or that nobody doesn’t seem to recognize the guy from the news about the nightclub shooting. Hell in the next scene there’s news footage of Sid attacking the young woman. Also for a criminal psychologist Madison sure got some convenient Sherlockian skills to tell that the woman was shot from behind by Sid. I guest in the future either CSIs don’t exist anymore or they took a second job. Take your pick?
Anyway Parker is taken away by the cops as we get a flashback of him infiltrating Grimes’ hideout to rescue his family. Cut to Matthew Grimes (played by Christopher Murray) being interviewed by a news anchor, as Grimes makes his statement Parker finds his wife and daughter in a room with a bomb about to blow. Parker gets the door open only to trigger a motion sensor which activates the bomb to go off sooner. The explosion killed Parker’s family and blown his arm off (hence why he has a metal arm). Grimes hear the explosion and believe that Parker is now dead; however, Parker arrives to Grimes’ location and starts gunning down the lackeys. Parker comes face to face with Grimes and immediately shoots him dead; he’s then approached from behind by the news anchor and cameraman. Still in zoned out kill mode, Parker accidently shoots them dead (which explains why he’s serving time in prison). The flashback ends when Sid kills the escorting cops and frees Parker, but not before telling him that the micro-locator has a build in poison capsule that LETAC can set off if Parker goes rogue. Madison gets a call from Parker telling her that didn’t kill those cops and about the poison. She informs Cochran about the micro-locator poison which then he immediately heads to LETAC stops them from activating the poison. Madison heads off to meet with Parker at his family’s grave, but little does she Sid disguised as a repairman is outside her home as she leaves. At the cemetery Parker figures that Sid will go somewhere to get massive feedback to satisfy Grimes’ appetite. Cut to a TV station where a political debate is taking place, Sid has begun taken over the station and shoots one of the political debaters dead. This public execution was broadcast live, sending the station’s viewer ratings skyrocketing. Parker and Madison arrived at the station as Sid begins his “Death TV” debut; Madison sees the broadcast only to notice a little girl being held somewhere along with a bomb. That little girl is none other than her daughter Karin, Sid has given two hours for Karin to live before the bomb goes off. As Parker heads inside the station, Madison orders the owner of the station to cut the phone lines from the broadcast. Woman you’re a criminal psychologist not an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s a bit unbelievable that she has federal authority to do such a thing in her position. Anyway she spots Lindenmeyer watching the broadcast and takes him at gunpoint. Parker reaches studio B as the phone lines are cut which makes Sid very angry. Parker open fires on him but Sid does a Spidey jump through the ceiling making his escape to the roof. Parker quickly follows him up to the roof and continues gunning him down. A fist-fight breaks out on the roof; Sid seems to have the upper hand. The two of them jump on a moving platform and the fight continues. Parker grabs a rope and ties it around Sid; they both jump off the platform and crash through the window. Parker lands on a catwalk while Sid falls through panes of glass; though still Sid has his arm and legs chopped off. Parker tries to get the location of Karin from him but with his other arm Sid grabs Parker, pulling him towards the protruded glass shards. Sid starts healing his arm and legs from the glass shards as Parker breaks free. Parker punches him at the back of the head ripping out his character module, killing the nano-machines thus killing Sid. Madison arrives with Lindenmeyer in tow; he congratulates Parker for stopping Sid but states that they now have no way of finding Karin.
Cut to Parker fighting Sid and……did the filmmaker hit the rewind button? Anyway this time in this fight Sid stops Parker from grabbing the rope and holds him in a wrestling press slam move. And just like that Sid drops Parker off the roof falling to his death. What the hell….did the movie redo these scenes to have the villain win? Madison arrives without Lindenmeyer this time, seriously what the hell? Madison demands Sid to tell her where Karin is and he complies. Meanwhile, Parker somehow recovers from the fall, gets back up, and heads back up to the roof. Is Parker a Black Lantern now? Well not really, it turns out Sid is back in VR while Parker and Madison are in the VR Harnesses trying to trick him to revealing Karin’s location. And surprisingly it works as Sid takes Madison to one of the fan exhaust ports on the roof, implying that Karin is in one of them. Sid is rather shocked to see Parker alive again and even more to learn that he’s back in VR. Parker signals Cochran to get the two out of VR, Lindenmeyer gets Madison out first. Cochran is about to get Parker out but Lindenmeyer stops, taking a metal pipe and beating Cochran to death. Parker is trap as Sid gets so pissed off that literally distorts VR. Parker starts falling and his neural stimulation is starting to overload. Madison awakes from the VR only to see Cochran dead and Lindenmeyer watching Parker die in VR. As Parker falls to his permanent virtual death, Madison sneaks pass Lindenmeyer to the control console to free Parker. Lindenmeyer spots Madison and tries to kill her but she grabs Cochran’s gun and shoots him dead. Madison manages to get Parker out of VR before the stimulation overload kills him. Parker takes out Sid’s character module then he and Madison head back to the TV station. Back at the station Parker enters the exhaust port to find Karin on a pressure plate that will trigger the bomb if she stands up. Parker tries to access the bomb’s console but Sid apparently rigged it for the time to go faster if tempered. So Parker tries to bypass the timer by connecting a fiber optic cable to certain input/output ports. He makes the connection but goes even faster about to go off until timer starts to reset itself. Apparently Parker has set the bomb’s timer on a loop, making it unable to explode. With Karin now safe and reunited with Madison, the film ends with Parker throwing Sid’s character module from the roof to the streets below. Smashing into pieces and gets crushed by a passing car.
My Final Verdict: This film has a unique look and feel with its present day setting with advanced technology. The acting is impressive especially with Russell Crowe, his performance is just beautiful. Kinda like a 90s Joker if The Dark Knight was made in the 90s.
Next time I think I’ll start reviewing some comedies and I may have the first film in mind. Stay tuned as I review My Best Friend is a Vampire.
