Virtuosity
Tags: murder, violence, flashback, good versus evil, insanity, sadist, sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
Lt. Parker Barnes (Washington) and another officer, Donavan, step off of a subway car. Their surroundings appear to be glitching as they run down a crowded city street. Donavan is not sure of where he is going, but Parker runs confidently into a Japanese structure. Donavan asks what they are looking for, and Barnes replies that they will know when they find a man with eyes like his own. They see a man (Crowe) sitting behind a screen, and they begin firing upon him. He jumps out of the way and grabs a gun of his own to return the fire. The foe snidely knocks out his partner and promises to return for Barnes. Barnes searches for him inside the building, but the man is able to surprise him and injures his arm. As Barnes recovers, the man taunts him, until Barnes is able to successfully shoot him in the arm. Unfortunately, the villain cheats and is able to gain the upper hand. The men disappear from the scene, and is is shown that they are in a virtual reality mechanism and in peril. The men are going into shock, and Donavan dies.Wallace (Fichtner) and Elizabeth Deane (Fletcher) oversee the whole thing and argue about the failsafes before driving away. Parker claims again that the man, SID 6.7, cheated. He was not supposed to be able to electrocute people, as he found out by checking the database. The police chief, William Cochran (Forsythe) tells Barnes that he is trying to get him out of prison sooner, but all he wants is chalk. He then reprimands him for shooting another person within the program, but Barnes said that he wasn't real and he didn't want to end up like Donavan. Barnes then goes back to his automated prison cell, where it is revealed that he has a metal arm. He is forced to walk through a hall with many doors and people that are booing. A man emerges and attacks him with a knife, but Barnes wins handily and is dragged away by guards. Daryl Lidenmeyer (Spinelli), the program creator, approaches SID and tells him that he knows that he is the one that deactivated the protocols. SID says that killing was a real rush and refuses to be shut down. He says that in order to continue operations, Lidenmeyer needed to sacrifice his queen.A therapist, Madison Carter (Lynch), comes in to give a psychological evaluation on Barnes. He claims that he was defending himself in the fight yesterday, and subtly mocks her. She reveals that she was watching his simulation yesterday to research a book that she was writing. He tells her that he knew that SID was in the restaurant due to the :) on the building. She states that they need to talk about Matthew Grimes, the man who killed his wife and daughter and took his arm. She claimed they needed to make sure that his act of violence wouldn't ever happen again, to which he replied that it couldn't because his family was already dead.
The scene cuts back to the testing lab where a woman in a robe is flirting with a man named Clyde (OConnor). She strips down to her underwear and begs him to come inside the program. Lidenmeyer approaches behind him and terminates the program, and offers to combine their technology of nanobots and AI to bring Sheila, the girl program, to life. Clyde agrees and goes to set up the necessary materials, while Lidenmeyer activates SID instead. SID begins flirting with Sheila, until Lidenmeyer deactivates him and takes out his module. He follows Clyde down to his lab where he shows him the nanotechnology that allows him to rebuild a part of a snake using glass. Clyde drops SIDs module, which he believes to be Sheilas, into a blue substance.Parker lies on the floor of his cell with his chalk, and has flashbacks of his family.SID is able to emerge from a shell into a nano body of his own. He immediately kills Clyde, and searches for Daryl who has fled out of fear. SID chops off his own finger and watches it regrow. The police chief vouches for Barnes to be able to catch SID out on the streets. They offer him a full pardon if he is able to catch SID in the real world, but he would be tracked for the rest of his life. He mocks them for thinking he would agree to be treated like an animal for their mistakes. However, allows them to place the microchip into his head. Carter says that she would like to go with Parker and threatens to go public if denied.Barnes dislikes the idea of Carter going with him, and he states that he is not responsible for her if anything happens. She suggests that they start by investigating earlier models of SID to figure out his motives.
SID dresses himself in a suit in a room that contain the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Edwards. Barnes and Carter arrive at the scene to see the decapitates bodies and a message scrolled on the walls. They determine that SID is copycatting murders; starting with the Manson murders.They go back to the building where they can run the earlier SID programs and learn that he is composed of almost 200 different murderers. Barnes is horrified to learn that one of these murders is Matthew Grimes. Carter comes back to her house to see her daughter, Karin (Cuoco), and Barnes cringes watching her. She calls Cochran to ask why Grimes would have attacked Barnes's family, when he was a political activist. Barnes was getting too close to his plans, so he kidnapped his family to throw him off. Karin approaches Barnes's car and they make small talk about baseball. (Simultaneously) SID goes to a club where people in leather are dancing and taking photographs. He approaches the main woman in leather, and then shoots the head off an automated bartender. He forces everyone down to the ground, shoots a man trying to run, and forces a woman to film him. Barnes picks up the news of SID's hostage situation and drives there with Carter. SID is recording peoples screams and cries to make a symphony. Parker leaves his vehicle to rush onto the scene. SID shoots four cops who come inside, and he alerts everyone that they are almost out of time. Parker arrives and empties his entire mag into SIDs back, who leaps onto an elevator, flicks him off, and escapes in a cop car. Parker jumps onto the hood of the car and shoots it as it races away. Carter follows and picks him up to chase him. SID eats the glass from the broken windshield to patch himself back back up. He giggles and crashes into cars along the road, while taunting Barnes through the police radio. He gets out and stands on top of the car and jumps over the side of the bridge.Wallace complains to Deane about having to destroy the future of nanotechnology. Cochran scolds Barnes for shooting Sid that many times in a populated area. Deane, Barnes, Cochran, and Wallace discover that he is evolving into something new. SID walks through an electronics store and changes every TV to the news coverage of his attack from the previous night. A man switches the channel to watch his wrestling program, so SID breaks his neck while someone records on a camcorder. Carter and Barnes arrive at the store and discover that SID has probably gone to the wrestling match, due to the enormous number of people. The crew up in the control room have been slaughtered, unbeknownst to the crowd who is still cheering. SID flirts with a beautiful woman in the crowd and throws her boyfriend on the bottom floor. He backflips onto the floor and then into the ring, before spotting Parker in the audience and running out of the stadium. Parker chases him out of the building and onto a light rail. SID holds up a woman in front of him and taunts him while the rail pulls away. Barnes shoots anyway and the hostage falls down dead, and SID rides away on the train. The police put Parker in the back of a van to return him to prison. Parker tells Carter that SID is now mocking him with Grimess catchphrase; "This ones for you Parker", before killing someone. Carter checks the body and finds out that the woman was shot from the back, so Parker couldn't have killed him. She realizes that SID is trying to set him up and tells Cochran, but he doesn't believe her. Barnes is sitting in the van and has another flashback about his family. In it, Grimes is being interviewed by a reporter and spots Parker sneaking in through a window. Parker hears cries and rushes to find his wife and daughter locked up in a room with a bomb. They beg him to help them, but when he enters the room, a motion sensor sets the bomb off, killing them both and blowing off Barnes's arm. Barnes rushes in and kills Grimes's henchman and finally Grimes. The reporter and cameraman approached him from the back, and he turned around shooting blindly and killed them. Back in the van, SID arrives and talks to him through the grates.Then he opens the back of the van and throws Barnes the key. He reveals that the microchip in Barnes's head has the capability of killing him in 30 seconds, and then frames him for killing two guards before disappearing.Barnes calls Carter to let her know hes with his family. Carter then calls Cochran who now believes that Barnes is innocent. She also tells him about the neurotoxin in the microchip. Wallace readies the satellite for the activation of the toxin, but Cochran busts in and destroys the machines.Carter finds Barnes at his family's grave and they rush off to try to stop SID from his next demonstration at the largest television event ever. While people on the street are chanting about borders and guns, SID kills the men in the sound booth and tweaks controls to project Death TV. He then shoots a man in the head on camera. He states that he can do any kind of killing that the viewers want to see, but his first victim will be Karin Carter, Madison's daughter. Madison begins crying hysterically, so Barnes promises to find her, but she needs to find a way to cut off all phone lines to the building. SID states that Karin will be blown up in two hours, and the viewer number continues to rise. Barnes is spotted by the police, but escapes the gunfire by entering an elevator. Lidenmeyer returns from hiding, but Carter pistol whips him across the face.SID puts a gun in a man named Ed's mouth, but releases him when the phone lines go dead. Barnes arrives and shoots SID many times, but he escapes through the ceiling. They exchange gunfire, and a helicopter threatens Barnes. Barnes shoots SID multiple times and they fight on the rooftops, before crashing into a glass building with glass sheets. The shards stuck through SID's body and separate his limbs. Barnes believes that he is incapacitated, and gets very close to him. However, SID grabs Parker and attempts to impale him, as well, while regenerating his arms and legs. Parker punches through SID's head and grabs the module; effectively disabling the antagonist. Carter walks in with Lidenmeyer, who states that Barnes has now ruined his chances of finding Karin. Parker stares into the module and relives the moment before the crash through the wall. However, this time, SID wins and throws Barnes over the wall and onto the pavement. Carter approaches SID who kidnaps her and takes her to her daughter. It is revealed that this time, Barnes and Madison are within the virtual reality mechanism, but SID does not realize this. SID flirts with Madison against a building that holds Karin. Daryl kills Cochran with a tire lever, which traps Barnes inside the simulation. SID sends Barnes into sensory overload in an attempt to kill him, so Madison shoots Daryl to help Barnes out of the mechanism. Barnes punches Wallace and unplugs SID, then tells Carter that they are going to save her daughter. Barnes avoids the booby traps by climbing in the fan in the top, but realizes that Karin is sitting on a press switch, so he cannot move her. Carter tells her daughter to remain very still. Barnes pulls a wire out of his arm and connects to to the computer box and successfully disarms the timer. The bomb squad neutralize the bomb and save the girl.

Review: You can't help but like Crowe's gleeful portrayal of a schizophrenic nano-bot serial killer in this ridiculous film, and with futuristic fascists, pervey programmers and a bucket loads of virtual reality cyber nonsense, this should really be a winner in the style of The Demolition Man or the Robocop series.
Parker must hunt down and destroy a murderous cyborg, SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who is menacing the general public after jumping out of a virtual reality program.
It is not Denzel Washington's finest hour (he is adequate); however, Russell Crowe is positively gleeful in his portrayal of the ultimately designed killing machine.
That though is because of Russell Crowe's character: SID 6.7 who possesses over 150 serial killer personalities.
He had two very talented actors in Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe yet he was not able to generate the excitement and fast pace feeling that is needed to make a good action movie.The writing is also at fault too.
You could see that Denzel Washington, already an established actor at that time, and Russell Crowe, not established, really tried to push this movie forward.
I especially liked Denzel Washington, who always manages to be believable in his role when he doesn't try to be a soul brotha.' Granted, the cinematography was pretty average as well as the music, but then again, the performance of the two main stars really made this film a winner..
Hollywood's always been a midwife for technology between the science industry and the common man, and in the area of virtual reality it's given us "Johhny Mnemonic" and this actioner, starring Denzel Washington.Basic plot is this: The police have been using virtual reality as a training method, to test recruits.
Here, Denzel gets to briefly run around inside a VR world, chasing after virtual killer Russell Crowe, known as Sid 6.7 (very close to 6.66, isn't it?).
Denzel Washington plays Lt. Parker Barnes, who has to help find SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), a virtual serial killer who has escaped into the real world in 1999 LA.Yes, that certainly sounds like it could degenerate into the kind of garbage that Hollywood usually turns out.
Obviously, this isn't even remotely in the same league as that one, but given that it was released in 1995, it almost seems like a prediction of how computer-centric the world would become.Not a masterpiece by any stretch - both Washington and Crowe have done much better work (and now they're both Oscar winners) - but worth seeing, if only once..
I watched this movie again last night and didn't know whether to classify it as a comedy or Sci-Fi. I think the reason why I gave it a 6 star rating is because it does have some humor to it.
Denzel Washington plays the hero Parker Barnes while an over-the-top Russell Crowe plays Sid 6.7, the villain.
In the end, this advantage is also Sid's only weakness: the larger his injuries, the longer time it will take to regenerate and the easier it is for him to be defeated.Now some people may view "Virtuosity" to be, at best, ultra-violent entertainment, which it is not.
In the futuristic world of 1999, former policeman Denzel Washington (as Parker Barnes) is released from prison to help catch "virtual reality" android run amok Russell Crowe (as S.I.D. 6.7).
Crowe gets a kick out of killing people, and eats glass to rejuvenate.***** Virtuosity (8/4/95) Brett Leonard ~ Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Kelly Lynch, Stephen Spinella.
In 1991, with John Lithgow playing the heavy, Denzel Washington was the puppet in a movie called 'Ricochet.' It is now five years later and once again Mr. Washington is taken for a violent ride in this Brett Leonard film called " Virtuosity.
With Police Chief Cochran (William Forsythe, finally playing a Good-guy), oversees, Lt. Parker Barnes, (Denzel Washington) a former detective as he sets out to recapture an impervious maniacal Android.
The director of such a film as The Lawnmower Man didn't really make anything of note since this film Virtuosity (unless one counts Highlander 5: The Source to be of actual quality which is hard to argue for), but there was a time when he knew where to put the camera and shoot as far as action and competency with his actors.
The plot of Virtuosity is cut out of other movies to be sure, and would be again (one may be reminded of 12 Monkeys with its convicted man put on a mission by his captors, or even by Batman with its anti-hero and psychotic villain creating chaos all over the city), but, perhaps if only in retrospect, the movies carries some solid entertainment in the near-mindless tradition of loud, stupid Hollywood science fiction movies of the 90's.
It's like John Woo lite.There isn't much to the plot except that a former detective (Washington) in prison for killing a man, and a few others, one of whom responsible for the death of his wife and daughter, is put into a virtual reality simulation against a psychotic being (Crowe), who is let into the real world by an asswipe who wants to get back at his bosses or something, and now the mano-a-mano is on in the real world (and, another former movie reference, Escape from NY: finish the mission, get a full pardon, but don't mind the chip in your head that might kill you).
It's likely the highpoint of Leonard's career, which may not be saying much, but putting together cool virtual reality sequences (the opening is most thrilling) and two high-caliber stars makes for some fun Saturday afternoon viewing..
Denzel Washington's Parker Barnes, hired to track down a virtual villain let loose in the real world, is, surprise, himself an ex-cop.
The villain in question, Russell Crowe's SID 6.7, is a composite of dozens of murderers, including, surprise, the killer of Barnes' wife and daughter.
And Crowe's over-the-top bad guy is just too much at times, though perhaps that was the point.But there are some good things to be said about VIRTUOSITY.
Washington's performance is nearly the saving grace the film needs, even though our star sometimes seems to be asking the same question as the audience: What is he doing in a picture like this?
Director Brett Leonard keeps things moving at a reasonable pace, though the film sometimes feels a bit too much like THE LAWNMOWER MAN, his highly disappointing entry from three years prior.VIRTUOSITY is not a completely lost cause, but it is stunningly average considering the talent involved.
And as a result when you add pretty ordinary acting, cliched special effects and action sequences and a really poor script that just tries too hard to be cool you come away with a really poor film.
She is indeed the mother of the little girl, that Sid uses ultimately in trying to kill Parker Barnes (played by Washington).
Linch gets so little character development that we couldn't care less for her.Overall, the movie is entertaining, but only because of Russell Crowe.
I recently managed to hunt down a copy of the dvd (ah yes the joys of widescreen and stereo sound!) This movie is by far (in my opinion) Russell Crowe's and Denzel Washington's best movie.
It's much like a dark comedy, and is done in an almost comic-book fashion, with SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe) stealing the show with a top-notch performance.
Denzel Washington is Parker Barnes, a convict who can gain his freedom by destroying Sid 6.7, a virtual reality killer who gets into the real world.
I like Denzel Washington, and it seemed to have a decent plot, that though it seemed silly, I thought would explain itself better in the film.
I even thought the film would be good despite Russell Crowe's presence (I think he's full of himself).
The reason to watch "Virtuosity" is Russell Crowe, who's in top shape here (women will agree for sure) and clearly having the time of his life.
The premise of the film is that a police training, virtual reality serial killer, programmed with over 200 personalities, gets put into a robotic body and reeks havoc on LA.
What makes this interesting is Russel Crowe's character polarization towards the use of fear, which is emotion and contrary to the movie plot theory using only logic and power of that logic.
Denzel Washington comes off flat as a pancake here while Russell Crowe steals every scene he's in.
Denzel Washington looks bored the whole time and Kelly Linch's character is written autrociously, but Russell Crowe is having a ball and he is so hot, hot, hot.
VirtuosityIf real life were like a video game you would get gold coins and eternal life for committing mass murder.Unfortunately, as the avatar in this sci-fi thriller is about to find out, the real world has real consequences.SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe) is a VR composite of serial killers, including the man who murdered the wife and daughter of Lt. Barnes (Denzel Washington), who is now serving time for his retaliation.
So when SID escapes the virtual world and goes on a killing spree, it only makes sense to send Barnes, and a criminal psychologist (Kelly Lynch), after the astute android.
Ahead of its time, this action-heavy, tech savvy cat-and-mouse cavort with a memorable performance from Crowe is crippled only by its clichéd cops and robbers script and by the clunky special effects of the mid-1990s.Incidentally, there would've been more bloodshed if Ask Jeeves had escaped into our reality.
I hope none of the other reviews spoiled it.) To shoot you straight, in 2018, this movie is just a silly parade of nonsense, and not even Crowe or Washington can save this from a bad act.
He and John Donovan are test subjects tracking down serial killer program SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe) in virtual reality training in the Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre.
With SID being free in the real world, the Commissioner offers Barnes a full pardon to bring SID back to virtual reality with the help of criminal psychologist Dr. Madison Carter (Kelly Lynch).I really love the ideas in this movie.
Sid played by Russell Crowe is the type of character you expect in this type of movie and gives the movie some spice which helps it from being a completely terrible movie and waste of time.
If you are thinking of renting this movie remember that there ARE plot holes, and bad moments in the film as well as funny moments too, just don't take it too seriously..
Sid 6.7 wreaks all sorts of havoc and only one man could stop him is ex-cop turned convict (Two Time Oscar-Winner:Denzel Washington) might be able to stop him.Directed by Brett Leonard (Hideaway, The Lawnmover Man, Man-Thing) made an entertaining if forgettable futuristic action thriller.
The story, on an overall scale, is too slow and dreary for its own good but this movie has excellent special effects, awesome action scenes and a fantastic musical score that make it marginally worth a look anyway.
The good guy in this film is Denzel Washington's Parker Barnes, a cop assigned to catch the bad guy, Russell Crowe's SID 6.7.
Some other strong points of this film is it's good pacing along with some decent effects (for the time) and, like I had mentioned, Russell Crowe as the bad guy is pretty entertaining, although at times, also quite chilling.So, I think what you have to consider if you are trying to determine whether you want to spend your time watching this or not, is whether you like this TYPE of Science Fiction.
First Russell Crowe wasn't even getting work before this movie.
We are taught through the genius of this film that if man does one day create a virtual man comprised of over 200 serial killers, that perhaps that man should not be brought into the real world.Denzel Washington was good, but not The Preacher's Wife good.
If you enjoyed Russell Crowe's Gladiator arena viciousness, watch Virtuosity as well -- its an effective display of mean streak :)   Denzel is his standard bland cop.
Terrible Denzel Washington-Russell Crowe Vehicle.
"Virtuosity" is a pure mess of a movie about a computer-generated killer (Russell Crowe) who escapes cyber-space and becomes a threat in the real world.
The only real thing that might make someone check this film out is the fact that fellow 1999 Best Actor nominees Washington and Crowe worked together on this yawner.
Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are both good in this movie, Crowe as a jolly killer and Washington as the jaded cop.
Denzel Washington has done better, and he really does not shine in this film, but he outshines Russell Crowe by about a googolplex (ten to the googol'th power).
Denzel Washington Week: Day 1Nothing says the 90's like Virtuosity, a big hunk of circuit board sleaze and cheese that is so of it's time that it's hard to watch it these days without believing it to be some kind of spoof.
Crowe is Sid.6, a virtual reality program molded from the personalities of several different serial killers and designed to basically wreak havoc.
The head of the Institute (William Forsythe) has the brilliant idea to recruit ex-cop whack job Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) to hunt Sid down and destroy him.
Admittedly, I enjoyed Russel Crowe's performance as he has some of the best one-liners in the film but with such a below average script and action, the experience is that of dullness, uninspired, trite and true film making that would make Ed Wood proud to this day(if he were alive that is).I tried to like it.
There's one main reason to see this film; sure, the story is interesting, the sci-fi concepts innovative despite their derivative nature, and the performances are all quite good, but it still remains undisputable to this viewer that Russell Crowe as SID 6.7 is a performance not to be missed.SID is a great villain; he is repulsive, revelling in death and pain, but at the same time charismatic and very, very funny.
By the time this film got a cinematic release in Australia, Denzel Washington's visage had been firmly relegated into the background of the theatrical poster in favour of Russell Crowe.
But the film is valiantly rescued by a brilliant performance from Crowe, who eats up the character and his surroundings like there may well be no tomorrow (and in his position at the time in Hollywood, there usually isn't).
In this film the best actor is, no people not Denzel Washington, he is merely OK, but Cameron Crowe, he rocks.
While I have nothing against action films, I usually like a bit of intrigue and clever plotting to help move things along.
Not so in this film.The sole reason to watch is for the special effects, of which there are lots, as the film uses virtual reality as a basis (much like its predecessor, THE LAWNMOWER MAN).
Washington is a good actor and is fine in his role, but Russell Crowe, as the villain, is very obnoxious (intentional) to the extent that he made me want to switch off.
Both Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe are 'A-list' actors who have been in some top-notch pictures during their careers.
End of movie.What could have been a fascinating journey through a virtual reality dream-like world, turns into an ordinary cop-criminal encounter featuring a series of dull chase scenes, once SID becomes a real-life android.
When SID manages to inject his personality into a nano-machine android, it appears that Barnes might be the only one who can stop him............The film is total rubbish from beginning to end, and Washington allegedly only starred in it because his son wanted him to do it, but to see two wonderful actors star in such exploitative nonsense, you cannot help but love every second of it.Crowe has a mouthful of scenery in every frame he's in, and he appears to be channelling every comic book villain portrayed before 1995.
Anyway I had a lot of fun with Russell Crowe's psychopathic killer android and Denzel Washington's ex-cop ex-convict hero.7/10.
Fun Little Flick With Great Performances From Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe!.
This was a fun little flick with great performances from Washington and Crowe!.
It is a little cheesy at times, but it's all a lot of fun due to a great performance from Denzel Washington, and a delightful over the top performance from Russel Crowe.it started out rather average, but it soon turns up a notch, and becomes exciting and thrilling the rest of the way!.
i saw this movie way back,close to when it came out.i loved it then.however after watching it today,i'm not sure why.i was just not impressed.true there was some action,but mostly the movie was loud music and noises,more than anything.it was directed by Brett Leonard,and you never no what you might get with him.for instance he directed the Brillint VR masterpiece,"Lawnmower Man"but then he was also behind the dreadful(and i mean dreadful)man-thing.while"Vituosity" is nowhere near as bad as "Man-thing,it is also nowhere near as good as "Lawnmower Man.the strongest aspect of the movie is Russel Crowe's Performance as the villain.you can tell he really immersed himself in the role and had a lot of fun with it.Denzel Washinton plays the hero in the movie,and while his performance wasn't horrible,he has done better work.Also in the cast are Kelly Lynch and William Forsythe.Forsythe plays a good guy in this movie,a departure for him,however his role is very small.now,to the negative aspects of the movie.there were many boring moments and it was just loud for the sake of being loud,maybe distracting the viewer into thinking something is happening,when nothing of any consequence is happening.anyway,i'd have to say this movie average at best,therefore 5/10.
Even though the concept was a little thin, Denzel Washington and Russel Crowe rescued the film with their performances..
Denzel Washington stars in apretty thankless role as Parker Barnes, a vengeance-ridden cop who has to stop a vicious killer named Sid (a deliciously over-the-top Russell Crowe).
But the film's real winners go to Russell Crowe and its creativeout-of-the-ordinary premise.