Virtuosity

Directed by Brett Leonard, Virtuosity details the chaos and violence that ensues after Russell Crowe’s malevolent AI SID 6.7 finds its way into the real world – with the movie following disgraced police officer Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) as he leads the charge to find and arrest SID 6.7. It’s a high-concept premise that’s employed to mostly watchable yet thoroughly erratic effect by Leonard, as the filmmaker, armed with Eric Bernt’s screenplay, delivers a decent-enough thriller that ultimately fares best in its briskly-paced (and periodically exciting) first half – with the picture’s engaging atmosphere perpetuated by a smattering of compelling sequences and the top-notch work of its two stars. (Washington offers up a predictably sold turn here, and yet it’s Crowe’s scenery-chewing and completely captivating performance that remains an ongoing highlight within the proceedings.) There’s little doubt, then, that Virtuosity‘s hold on the viewer’s interest and attention begins to waver once it progresses into an increasingly hit-and-miss midsection, and although it does contain its fair share of impressively prescient elements, the film builds towards an underwhelming special-effects heavy climax that’s hardly as thrilling or engrossing as Leonard has surely intended – which does, in the final analysis, cement the movie’s place as a passable endeavor that could (and should) be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****