Despite Virtuosity (1995) was 30 year-old, its concept cannot be more appropriate in 2024. AI is our zeitgeist. Chatgpt, Co-polit, etc … share the DNA of Sid 6.7 to the extent they search and aggregate knowledge to solve problems and answer questions. As for the transformation to physical form, it may not be far off either. There could be a secret lab somewhere on earth which has already been testing an AI android prototype for years now? A robot that can regenerate themself with nano particles and has full cognizant of every aspect of “their” life. .

The opening scene reminded me of the Matrix(1999). In a virtual world, everyone was stiff, robotic, but human-looking. Two humans, i.e., unplugged real humans in the Matrix, chased Sid(an agent who could sync into others) in a simulated environment as part of a prototype security training program. Parker Barnes(a young Denzel Washington) has an instinct where to look for Sid. They fight in a sushi restaurant but Sid outsmarts Parker and wounds him. The simulation ends and Parker brain electric is overloaded, and he is convulsing in a helmet and a suspended machine similar to the one in Lawnmower Man (1992) but without the 360 elliptical manœuvres. 

Parker is a convicted cop in prison. He is used by the DA office as a guinea pig for a new AI virtual security training program. Parker committed a crime of rage and revenge and is incarcerated for life unless he can arrest Sid, who is now in human form. He was incubated in an Alien (1979) egg and emerged in a blue glue humanoid that turned into a fully naked adult man: Sid. 

As typical as any Hollywood film, there were scenes with car crashes, a disco night club with a dj spun the latest hits. Despite it being in 1995, video blogging with a regular video cam was in vogue: TikTok grand-daddy. It drew the narcissistic Sid to the front of the lens, a perfect place to harass and threaten victims for maximum exposure of fear. Quickly, police and media got him onto national broadcast and life in action, which is now regular occurrences on our TV sets. The situation with a diva who has combined psychotic killers’ psychies could only get worse and the carnage turned into a bigger scale of destruction. 

In the mix,  there has to be a hetero-stereotypical love interest between Parker and Dr.Carter to get censor approval, or to appease the audience.

An expected expectation is whether Parker Barnes, ex-cop, extraordinaire will or can save the day again without making the same mistake of killing those that are now most dear to him? Or will it trigger in him another psychotic gun rampage to get even with the killer: Sid, his creators, and promoters.

This is a nostalgic movie that was well made (par for the era) and endures its relevance. 

If anything, Russell Crowe’s derrière is worth another regard. This one shines in comparison to his pixelated one in Thor: Love and Thunder’s Zeus 😉! 

Watch!