Review of Project V.I.P.E.R.

Introduction

A scientific project known as Viper is being sent to Mars onboard the space shuttle Olympus and is the result of combining gene microbiology and microchips. A strange power surge awakens the viper project that is secure inside a canister and gets out of control within the ship, taking the crew as well. Back on Earth the home of the viper experiment, Novagen gets broken into and all security is compromised allowing a second viper prototype to be stolen.
The Government bodies assign Connors a policeman "in a dark Government type of way" to help the scientists responsible to track down the viper project. Connors and Burnham meet up and go in search in a similar "Mulder and Scully" fashion. They soon discover that there is an inside job at work here and that one of the team has made a control chip for viper and wants to take credit for his part with more money, in a life sacrificing scandal.

Video

The video transfer is an anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 version and holds the detail well but lacks on the quality slightly. The characters skin tones are natural looking enough and clear and there is no grain or dropouts either, the darker scenes are bold and clear with just enough light to see the detail in. The actual colors seem a bit washed out and on the pale side in places and not of the vibrant, rich quality you get on some put together DVDs. Some of the visual effects during this movie are not bad and some on the other hand are just too `tongue in cheek` to be classed as smart. The opening to the movie sets you in space with the Olympus shuttle; here you see a nicely done spacecraft, Earth and its surrounding haze and lighting giving the whole of these exterior shots quite a realistic look about them. The space shuttle cabin interior shots are also realistic and similar to the style featured in `Apollo 13`, but looking into space from the cabin windows is like looking at a dark sheet with specs of light, and has been thrown over or a stuck on painting and doesn`t look good!
There are a few NASA locations flashed around for good measure, a boardroom here, some corridors there and a mission control room etc and an array of outdoor locations including a fly over trees and hill ranges by a plane. A nicely done sequence that stands out is where a plane has to ditch into the undergrowth and as the pilot tries to make an easy landing the plane is ripping apart through explosions! The viper effects do little justice for the movie considering that this is what the movie is based on; the viper tentacles enter and exit the characters in different ways and are slimy and grey in color but don`t look brilliantly realistic. The far fetched demise of the dog walking man is also a laugh more than being scary as he is pulled by viper into a long thin grid embedded into the pavement and with no problems whatsoever, it was like seeing a hexagon shape inserted into a circular hole!

Audio

The audio track is a Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo one and is suitable enough although a Dolby Pro Logic or even Dolby Surround 2.0 would have been a better improvement given the topic of the movie. The dialogue and small ambient effects are clear and can be heard well, the explosions are also loud given the audio format they are in but lack the bass and rumble behind them. The music included within the movie has an `X-Files` theme to it and sounds very `government`, `official` and `military` the music speaks these descriptions through the instruments used like the snare drum and sinister low notes on a piano.
As Project Viper is on the borders of sci-fi I was surprised to hear a more or less identical theme to `Aliens` been played on the opening and end credits, the ending also featuring slight differences like female voice chorus and mellow space tunes using stringed instruments.

Features

The static background shows two figures bearing flashlights in the dark. Surrounding the screen is murky darks with subtle brown hints, the title sits top right and the options given are play movie, scene index and subtitles which even so there are only two of. No other features are included not even a trailer in this small package.

Conclusion

I have heard of or seen a lot of movies similar to this and in some cases done better, once Connors and Burnham get together it does start to look like a cheaper version of `X-Files` and concentrates on these two hunting the viper down. The acting isn`t amateur and the characters aren`t that bad but the star of the show should have played on the viewers mind instead of being shown in its glory as it`s not realistic. The movie does carry some jumpy scenes but apart from a few scenes of red isn`t a scary one. I noticed that Connors uses the same quote that Brody uses in `Jaws` at the same point when he finishes the viper off as does Brody with the shark. This movie can only be enjoyed to its full potential by fans of `X-Files` really as its pretty similar in storyline and investigation techniques, except on a lower budget I guess so be prepared.