When the sci-fi action girl ”Virtuosity“Was first released in the summer of 1995, it opened for mixed reviews (although some critics, especially Roger Ebertsang their praise) and modest cash office. It was the type of medium -sized studio programmers (it came from paramount during Sherry Lansing Regime) that came out with reliable frequency during these days, a movie that some but quickly forgot about most before it left theaters to make room for other genre films such as “Desperado“” The band that binds “and” hacker. ”
When we look back now, studio slates like those who launch monitored-release schedules that made room for an abundance of medium budget comedies (“clueless”), thrillers (“Primal Fear”), sci-fi films (“The Relic”) and adults drama (“no one’s fool”) between large -scale blockbuster as “mission: impossible” was in any danger of disappearing. It was easy to take movies like “virtuosity” for granted because there always seemed to be as many as they would come down in the gutter.
Thankfully, a delicious new 4K UHD edition from Boutique Physical media notice Vinegar syndrome gives “virtuosity” the respect it always deserved. Given that now, the film’s influence and prescience are more obvious than ever. The prerequisite for Eric Bernt’s script feels strangely relevant in several ways: in the (then) almost the future trained law enforcement agents in virtual reality by interacting with AI-generated criminals. When one of these criminals (Russell Crowe in a pleasantly unpleasant early performance) manages to break away from the computer and become evident in the real world, the shameful police Denzel Washington is released from prison to track him and stop him.
“Virtuosity” was led by Brett LeonardAs a brief, the go-to guy for technically oriented thrillers thanks to the huge success of his VR theme “The Lawnmower Man” in 1992. While his and Bernt’s vision for “virtuosity” looks back on some sci-fi classics in fun ways – Like Snake Plissken from “Escape from New York”, Washington’s character is released from prison with an implant designed to kill him if he does not end his mission – it is most looking forward to, and thus introduces ideas and pictures for which later Movies would be much more famous.
The key film In this regard, “The Matrix”, which came out a few years after “virtuosity” and, consciously or not, lifted a significant number of their tropes from Leonard’s less well -known film. From an opening track station scene where various non-players characters fill the Simulation Washington’s character, Crowe chases through, the visual and conceptual similarities are obvious; The minimal variations between the NPCs in parallel with the presentation of the “agents” played by Hugo weaving in “The Matrix”, and the kinetics and volume of the violence are looking forward to the Wachowskis film.
The units where characters hang and shake in the VR world are also extremely close to the skis that the heroes in “The Matrix” are linked to, and the fusion of retro-industrial design with futuristic VR technology is something that the two films have in common. Which does not remove anything from “The Matrix”, a movie that had more resources than “virtuosity” as well as greater philosophical ambition, and which takes its action sequences to a more innovative level than “virtuosity” does even in its best moments. But let’s give credit where credit is due – “virtuosity” went there first. It went so that the “matrix” could be run.
Not because “virtuosity” was the only movie that played in the VR sandbox at that time; Kathryn Bigelow’s “Strange Days” (probably the largest of all VR films when it comes to following the technology moral, philosophical, political and technical consequences) came out the same year, and the year before Barry Levinson and Michael Crichton’s sexual harassment drama “publication” even played with an eccentric VR sequence.
Where “virtuosity” really was ahead of his comrades was in his view of AI; The sequence where we see how Crowe has “learned” by having the profiles of Charles Manson, Adolf Hitler and many other legendary villains that are entered into their system feels extreme at the moment – not in 1995 but this moments, when ethical considerations about how AI companies teach their systems are a constant topic of discussion.
And “virtuosity” connects to current issues and anxiety even in sequences that have nothing to do with technology; A news program in the film contains a debate about immigration that feels like it could have been taken Verbatim from Maga’s age. All this makes “virtuosity” feel both timeless and at the right time; Leonard and Bernt exploited things so fundamental to American culture and the human condition in general that their seemingly escapist thriller works no matter what era you look at it in.
Vinegar -Syndrome 4K UHD edition is the perfect way to visit the movie or to discover it for the first time. Apart from an spotless transmission that perfectly preserves the structured, lively cinematography of Gale Tattersall, the album has hours with extra features that are all fantastic and provide unique insight into the film’s creation, reception and meaning. A new audio comment by Leonard in conversation with Cinematic Void Programmer Jim Branscome is particularly excellent, as Branscome skillfully evokes fantastic stories from Leonard while providing enough of his own pointed observations to supplement the director’s memories.
The record also has a lively trace of film historian Walter Chaw that places the film in different contexts, and there are several interviews that deepen the film’s writing, special effects, casting and other topics. Vinegar Syndrome’s package also comes with a brochure that addresses “virtuosity” from an engaging range of perspectives including its relationship with the launch of Windows ’95 and its location including the Sci-Fi files from the 1990s as “Demolition Man” and “Existz . ” “Virtuosity” may not have received the credit due in 1994, but 31 years later, the curators at vinegar syndrome have finally corrected the situation.
“Virtuosity” Limited Edition 4K edition is now available from Vinegar syndrome.
