The Andromeda Strain, 1971. Scientists in a secret lab fight a disease from space. Directed by Robert Wise. Written by Nelson Gidding, based on a novel by Michael Crichton. Starring Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olson & Kate Reid.
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). It doesn't help that half the lines are accompanied by gestures like whirling around, or pulling off glasses.
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Wise tried valiantly to make a serious science fiction film emulating A Space Odyssey. Any possibility at taking it seriously, though, is undermined by extreme corniness. Combining Space Odyssey's pace with a B movie level of intelligence is a fairly disastrous recipe. Of course, luckily for me, that didn't stop Wise from using that same recipe again to make Star Trek: The Motion Picture - but that film had enough grandeur and spectacle to make it work, while Andromeda Strain is forced to fall back on its half-baked plot to hold your interest.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)
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