Rent The Andromeda Strain (2008)

Run-of-the-mill US TV fodder. - The Andromeda Strain review by RP

Hmmm... It's a made-for-TV version of the classic 1971 sci-fi film, so the question is: does it suffer from the 'remake syndrome', that is, is it boring and by definition unoriginal? Well, if you haven't seen the original or read the book then you might think it's quite good. It's certainly not awful, but then it's not excellent either. It really is just run-of-the-mill US TV fodder. There are some good bits: the updating to modern technology works quite well (the original at over 40 years old looks pretty dated now), the effects are reasonable, and it generally looks good (although the spread of the virus shown as the land turning yellow is pretty naff). But then there are many jarring notes: US politics and the re-election of the president creeping in, unnecessary conspiracy sub-plot, politically correct multicoloured scientists with the obligatory gay member, silly unscientific science, intrusive background music, wormholes / time travel / hidden coded messages / environmental consequences of undersea mining, and the really low point - the so, so, silly 'thumb throwing incident' (you'll know it when you see it). I've seen a lot worse but I really can't recommend it - it's very average stuff so I'll give it an over-generous 3/5 stars.