The Andromeda Strain
1971 Directed by Robert Wise
Synopsis
The picture runs 130 minutes!... The story covers 96 of the most critical hours in man's history!... The suspense will last through your lifetime!
A mysterious government project scrambles a team of scientists to investigate the cause of a spaceborne disease that kills nearly everyone in a small desert town. They find an extraterrestrial form of life that causes rapid, fatal clotting of the blood, and make some disturbing discoveries about the project as well.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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There are very few films in the science fiction genre that are just pure science fiction. If you ever flick through lists of the very best films in the genre (or even the very worst), you will normally see them described additionally as thrillers or horror films or action films.
The Andromeda Strain, though, is about as close to just pure science fiction as you are going to get, save for the frantic last 15 minutes which are arguably the weakest part of the film. The story revolves around a special team of scientists and experts that are brought together in a secret location by the government in an attempt to discover what has wiped out almost the whole population…
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Scientists in an underground hi-tech facility take on the menacing Andromeda Strain before it destroys the world. It's meticulously detailed, smart, and beautifully photographed. Yes, Hollywood used to make films like this a long, long time ago. All hail the 70's.
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Robert Wise adapts Michael Crichton's first novel using a similar approach to his adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House". While both films are very different in their surface style, both emphasize human interactions and scientific process in the face of fantastic subject matter. The real difference in tone in "The Andromeda Strain" is due to it coming after "2001". It really utilizes that films extremely realistic style almost to it's detriment. The film is extremely dry and talky, which makes it tough slogging, especially through it's rather uneventful middle third.
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Top-notch science fiction that's quite literate and engaging. Enjoyed the fact that the scientist characters were crabby and egocentric especially Kate Reid.
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The film's slow, methodical approach to the potential outbreak of an intergalactic biohazard might bore some, but if you buy into the pseudo-science you will be absolutely captivated by the astonishing levels of suspense achieved in the climax of this sci-fi thriller.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.
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Publiqué el 23/09/2011:
RT @olgageorgina: Lo del satélite me recuerda el libro "La amenaza de Andrómeda"... // Librazo de Michael Crichton y simpática peli de Wise :-)
2011-09-23 23:35:21 (EDT)Y el 15/12/2012::
Veamos "The Andromeda strain" (Wise, 1971). De cuando Michael Crichton aún no era tan mainstream... t.co/8J4yvwEG
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Interesting movie (just don't analyze the science too much). Interesting framing in some scenes.
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Was late, debated if I should start a movie or just go to bed and ran by this and put it on because it had been featured in The Art of the Title that day. Made it about three quarters of the way through the titles and promptly fell asleep. Probably will not attempt a rewatch.
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Very clinical in its approach. The scientist feel like reel scientist. The science feels like real science. Makes for a perfect double feature with last year’s Contagion.
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Good premise. Begins a genre.