Virtuosity
Encyclopedia
- For a person who is virtuous, see virtueVirtueVirtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
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Virtuosity is a 1995
1995 in film
-Top grossing films:-Events:* March 22 - The Dogme 95 movement is officially announced in Paris by Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.* March 28 - Actress Julia Roberts and singer Lyle Lovett announce their plans for separation....
techno-thriller
Techno-thriller
Techno-thrillers are a hybrid genre, drawing subject matter generally from spy/action thrillers, fantasy/war novels, and science fiction...
film directed by Brett Leonard
Brett Leonard
Brett Leonard is an American film director, producer and music video director specializing in the science-fiction and horror genres. A few of his films such as The Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity feature groundbreaking computer animation and visual effects...
. The movie tells the story of a virtual villain's successful attempt to escape into the "real world". SID 6.7, the villain program portrayed by Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
, is eventually transplanted into an android body and escapes. Parker Barnes, a reinstated police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
played by Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
, is given the chance to catch him. The film was shot in and around Los Angeles, California
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Plot
Programmer Dr. Darrel Lindenmeyer of the Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre (LETAC) has developed SID version 6.7: a Sadistic, Intelligent, and Dangerous virtual realityVirtual reality
Virtual reality , also known as virtuality, is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in places in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds...
entity amalgamation of 200 notorious criminal personalities: mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
ers, serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
s, and megalomania
Megalomania
Megalomania is a psycho-pathological condition characterized by delusional fantasies of power, relevance, or omnipotence. 'Megalomania is characterized by an inflated sense of self-esteem and overestimation by persons of their powers and beliefs'...
cs. Programmed using genetic algorithm
Genetic algorithm
A genetic algorithm is a search heuristic that mimics the process of natural evolution. This heuristic is routinely used to generate useful solutions to optimization and search problems...
s, each of the 200 killers in SID holds the memories, personality/behavioral traits, and emotional composition of the original. Being far too complex to design, Lindenmeyer has SID's program begin with him as a child (sped up in virtual reality), having the killers in his subconscious raise him and guide him in the ways of the world. The killers emerge through the 50 terabyte
Terabyte
The terabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix tera means 1012 in the International System of Units , and therefore 1 terabyte is , or 1 trillion bytes, or 1000 gigabytes. 1 terabyte in binary prefixes is 0.9095 tebibytes, or 931.32 gibibytes...
, self-evolving neural network
Neural network
The term neural network was traditionally used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons. The modern usage of the term often refers to artificial neural networks, which are composed of artificial neurons or nodes...
that is SID through a type of Multiple Personality Disorder
Dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis and describes a condition in which a person displays multiple distinct identities , each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment....
, giving way to the stronger personalities depending on each situation.
LETAC would like to train police officers by putting them in full-sensory simulation VR with SID, the idea being that if the cops in the virtual reality simulator can catch him, they can catch anyone. First they must prove the concept works, which they decide to do using prisoners as test subjects. While Parker Barnes (Washington) and another prisoner are inside virtual reality, SID, having the accumulated knowledge of 200 killers, has figured out how to raise the neural sensitivity calibrations in the VR program, causing the pain being received to affect real life. SID kills one of the two prisoner-turned-temporary-police officers by torture through electrocution
Electric shock
Electric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
- a technique Barnes accurately notes is NOT available as one of his programmed methods of killing. The aftermath leaves the prisoner dead of severe, concentrated seizures to the major pain receptor
Nociceptor
A nociceptor is a sensory receptor that responds to potentially damaging stimuli by sending nerve signals to the spinal cord and brain. This process, called nociception, usually causes the perception of pain.-History:...
s of the brain. Barnes is left traumatized and later has to fight for his life in prison because it has become known he is an ex-cop.
Witnessing the catastrophe, Commissioner Elizabeth Deane, the director overseeing the SID project, orders it shut down. Later, Lindenmeyer gravely tells his 'masterpiece' his fate. SID, in turn, tells Lindenmeyer an alternative: tricking Clyde Reilly, a befriended coworker at LETAC, into turning SID's persona into a regenerating android (better known as a 'nanotech synthetic organism'), by making him think he is actually generating the persona and form of a sexy virtual prostitute
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, Sheila 3.2. Less than 30 seconds after the ultimate madman is released into our world, Reilly becomes SID's first victim. Now in the real world, he is free of all behavioral limits he previously had in virtual reality, gaining the ability to now grow on his own - rewriting and improving his own programming. The cops remember that Barnes was the only subject who could keep up with SID in the simulator and decide they need to use him to stop the virtual-turned-actual killing machine.
Barnes is given an offer by LETAC: he will be temporarily released to track down SID, but he is also injected with a radioactive device that will "terminate" him via satellite uplink if he fails. Barnes ultimately tracks down SID (after he kills dozens of people, and after several high-speed chases) and manages to damage his body severely by causing it to be impaled on a sheaf of glass. Before SID can regenerate, Barnes removes his core, killing his body. But SID has kidnapped the daughter of Dr. Madison Carter, a psychologist who has also been assigned to the case and has been accompanying Parker all along, and who has followed Parker throughout his exploits on this case. In the meantime Carter's superior [William Cochran] has managed to capture Lindenmeyer and force him to help them set up a simulation that causes SID to think he won instead of being impaled and reveal where her daughter is, all in VR. Lindenmeyer bludgeons Cochran to death, then sits down and rapturously observes as SID ramps up Barnes' sensitivity in the virtual world to nigh-unbearable levels. Lindenmyer is killed by Carter after she breaks free; she then frees Barnes. Barnes rescues her daughter where she held in an air duct after figuring out Sid's puzzle, then tosses SID's core drive off a rooftop, where it is run over by police cars on the road below, destroying it.
Cast
Cast (in credits order)- Denzel WashingtonDenzel WashingtonDenzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
- Lt. Parker Barnes - Russell CroweRussell CroweRussell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
- SID 6.7 - Kelly LynchKelly LynchKelly Lynch is an American actress. Once a model for the Elite modeling agency, Lynch appeared in the film Drugstore Cowboy which starred Matt Dillon, and the film Road House which starred Patrick Swayze....
- Dr. Madison Carter - Stephen Spinella - Dr. Darrel Lindenmeyer
- William ForsytheWilliam Forsythe (actor)William Forsythe is an American actor, known for playing "tough guy" roles. He is also a writer, and has several short stories that are set to be published.-Early life:...
- William Cochran - Louise FletcherLouise FletcherLouise Fletcher is an American actress best known for her role as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and as Kai Winn Adami in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She also guest starred on the science fiction television series Heroes...
- Commissioner Elizabeth Deane - William FichtnerWilliam FichtnerWilliam Edward Fichtner is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on Invasion, as Alexander Mahone on Prison Break, as William Sharp in Armageddon, and as Ken Rosenberg in the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.- Early life...
- William Wallace - Costas MandylorCostas MandylorCostas Mandylor is a Greek Australian actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Kenny in Picket Fences, and for portraying Mark Hoffman in the Saw films.-Early life:...
- John Donovan - Kevin J. O'Connor - Clyde Reilly
- Kaley CuocoKaley CuocoKaley Christine Cuoco is an American film and television actress. She first came to attention for her role as Bridget Hennessy on the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 8 Simple Rules. She later starred as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the supernatural drama series Charmed...
- Karin - Christopher Murray - Matthew Grimes
- Johnny Kim - Lab Tech
- Heidi Schanz - Sheila 3.2
- Traci LordsTraci LordsTraci Lords , also known as Traci Elizabeth Lords and Tracy Lords, is an American film actress, producer, film director, writer and singer...
- Media Zone singer - Gordon Jennison Noice - Big Red
Reception
The film received mixed to negative reviews. It has a rotten score of 34% on Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
External links
- The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
gave the movie a negative review (August, 1995).