A rather strange aspect of Virtuosity is that it seems as if it was produced in a version of 1995 when everyone had already seen The Matrix but didn’t give a damn about what the actual future would hold. Although the film is silly, noisy, and at times ridiculous, it is still surprisingly enjoyable.

Brett Leonard’s film takes the well-known concept of a rogue artificial intelligence and gives it a distinct flavour typical of the 1990s. The virtual reality program SID 6.7, portrayed by Russell Crowe, is based on the personalities of over 150 serial killers and is intended to assist in training police officers, a notion that is doubtful from the outset. Unfortunately, all goes wrong, and SID escapes into the real world, which is why the disgraced ex-cop Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is brought in to deal with him.

The whole concept is wonderfully absurd, and the film’s portrayal of technology is even more exaggerated. Screens flash, computers shine, and the virtual worlds appear just like those in fancy video games. The movie actually says that nanotechnology could turn a computer program into a real person. This is science fiction that doesn’t aim to predict the future; instead, it dumps all sorts of outlandish ideas onto the screen, hoping at least one will stick. Nevertheless, its outdatedness is part of the pleasure.

Washington attaches far greater importance to Virtuosity than it actually deserves. Parker is the usual kind of action hero: he is traumatized, angry, and has so much personal baggage that it could occupy several sequels. Instead of taking a relaxed attitude towards the increasingly absurd situations he finds himself in, Washington plays his role seriously, and this seriousness gives the film a sense of stability. Think Will Smith in i-Robot and less Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man.

There is also Russell Crowe, who seems as though he’s having a great time. Crowe portrays SID as a wild, over-the-top digital villain with a big ego, grinning, sneering, taunting, and strutting around in the film with so much energy that it’s hard not to enjoy watching him.

The supporting actors, particularly Kelly Lynch, who plays Madison Carter, are more than sufficient, even though the script gives them few opportunities to move outside the rigid framework of the plot. The story is essentially a pursuit that unfolds through a series of increasingly complex action sequences.

At this point, Virtuosity starts to lose a bit of its luster. Beneath the dazzling lights and the technological nonsense, there lies a fairly ordinary revenge thriller. Although the film continually raises interesting points about artificial intelligence, identity, and what happens when technology begins to understand humanity, it never takes the time to examine them in any depth, which is a shame given how we have started to move towards an ever more AI-powered world.

There is no denying that part of the fun of watching Virtuosity nowadays. As its future has already become the past, its technology looks rather primitive, and its cyberpunk style seems like a time capsule. Unlike some science-fiction films produced in the 1990s, this film hasn’t completely fallen apart because of its outdated features; after all, there are no three-breasted women or Mars colonies.

The movie is messy, excessive, and frequently incomprehensible, yet it has a great deal of energy. Above all, it features two actors who fully understand the kind of film they’re in, even though they show it in completely different ways.

Virtuosity isn’t a forgotten masterpiece, but it does serve as a funny example of 1990s sci-fi pushing the limits. There can be merit in being gloriously silly.

IMDB

For fans of:

• The Lawnmower Man (1992)
• Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
• The Matrix (1999)