Virus

A seemingly abandoned Russian science vessel is discovered by the motley crew of a storm-beaten salvage tug. Among them are amoral Captain Everton (Donald Sutherland), navigator Foster (Jamie Lee Curtis), generically masculine engineer Baker (William Baldwin) and a host of random crewmen who are clearly fated to be robot chow by the end of the third reel. The title, you see, refers to an electrical alien life force--inadvertently downloaded from the MIR space station--that takes over the ship and begins using the gizmos on board to create mobile, unfriendly emissaries out of human corpses. The pathogenic agent to fear, however, is the one that evidently turned every line of dialogue into inane gibberish. "You ever put a gun in my face again..." threatens Baker. "And you'll what?" inquires Everton haughtily. Baker's witty retort: "You figure it out." That's tellin' him! Not recommended. (M D'Angelo)