Review of Flying Virus

Introduction

You`ve read the synopsis above, right? I can tell you that the film is most certainly nothing like this description and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise. Trying to figure out the storyline from the film itself is a rather tedious process and only becomes a little clearer two thirds into the film.

The Flying Virus is basically genetically modified bees used to kill people so that there`s no trace left of who or what is responsible. The government or some agency is trying to secure vast oil fields worth billions and they want to wipe out those that stand in its way. Some bees are stolen and are in the cargo hold of an airplane which escape and threaten the lives of all passengers, meanwhile there`s a journalist who stumbles upon a conspiracy with these bees and tries to do something about it by getting the antidote from the Shadow people who once saved her from a fatal bee sting. There`s a group after these Shadow people too who prove to be a pain to those that control the bees and want to make loads of money.

Phew, I think this is the gist of it. Even when it`s spelt out for you, it`s very underwhelming and remains somewhat confusing.

Video

Presented with a fullframe transfer, it`s hard to tell if it was made with a widescreen aspect ratio since everything onscreen seems to be framed well for a square shape. Detail and colour is well balanced with little dirt appearing. The CGI shots aren`t bad but it`s noticeable, especially the passenger airline which seems to lack any real inertia when in frame. While the quality of the video transfer certainly seems to be of a high standard, the fullframe lessens the impact of the action as it happens and feels a bit claustrophobic too.

Audio

Plain old 2 channel Dolby Digital is all that we have on this disc. The dialogue for the most part is clear and the rest of the soundtrack is distortion free but remains very limited in just 2 channels. The sound effects are sorely lacking any direction too. This is a wasted opportunity and it`s a shame more wasn`t done to enhance the ambience with these viral bees swarming around you. Lastly Flying Virus is in English only, there are no other language options.

Features

Static menus with bees buzzing in the background is meant to convey the atmosphere but it doesn`t really work. The trailer paints a slightly different picture of the film than what is actually told when you watch the feature. Plus it`s too long at 3 minutes so what`s the point of it? The Photo Gallery is a series of stills taken from the movie so it seems utterly redundant to me.

Then there are the Cast Bios for the main players in the form of static screens. After watching this film the last thing I want to do is read up on the cast. The included liner notes are poor and is just a copy of text from the box with stills from the menu of the film.

The only interesting thing on this disc is the trailer for "Harvard Man" with Sarah Michelle Gellar which is something I`d like to see. The way that the DVD cover for Flying Virus proclaims there`s a preview of Harvard Man is testament to the fact that Flying Virus is unable to stand on its own merit.

Conclusion

Oh dear, another attempt to cash in on genetic abhorrations, in this case killer bees. But the problem with this film is that there`s less focus on the bees and the motivation for them in the first place and more attention on the periphery. This film is called `Flying Virus`, but there`s no story addressing this.

The film takes a long time to get going and we never really understand the motivation for threads of the story either. For example, Rutger Hauer plays some kind of gun for hire with his band of merry men and goes around destroying villages and its people, but why? We`re never told until 69 minutes into the film. And he does this quite a bit. The story is partly confusing because of this lack of attention to the storyline and its characters. I had trouble understanding what I was watching.

The cast isn`t inspiring in any way, and I get the impression that Rutger Hauer likes to do straight to video movies for the money more than anything else. A very empty performance from the man here.

You may be very confused if you read the story synopsis since this is nothing like the film. There`s no sense of impending global danger and we never sympathise with the characters. We never really care about anything here. This is a big mess of a film without any focus.

Flying Virus is predictable, dull and tedious. All I can say is steer clear of this poor DVD.