a highly intelligent life form that is completely electronic in nature , beams itself onto a russian science vessel . well , this is the point where the movie strays from becoming a decent and original movie and simply becomes a predictable sci-fi thriller . anyhow , this life form takes control of the computers on the russian vessel then starts creating highly advanced robots to help it in its gruesome task of exterminating the ‘virus' known as man . the original crew of the russian vessel is all but exterminated , and then a hapless crew on a tug discovers the derelict ship and tries to salvage it . no more needs to be said as to what happens and where the conflict lies , the movie is that predictable . the story is full of very shallow characters that don't do much other than subsist . the captain of the tug , played by donald sutherland , makes irrational choice after irrational choice leaving the audience wondering as to how he has survived long enough to reach his age ( looks to be in his 60's ) . to add to this we're shown this motley crew that at times seems to be highly skilled in specific fields , and at others seems barely capable of basic tasks . some of the supposed capabilities of the characters leads one to wonder what they are doing on a tug transporting cargo in the middle of the pacific , in a typhoon no less . none of the characters seem to work together at all ; they are always bickering and vying for some form of control . this makes no sense what so ever and only takes away from the story , a story that is full of holes and is extremely predictable . all the flaws of the actual story are only helped along by the special effects . the waves that are generated to be part of the typhoon make it look like boat was is small model sitting in a tub and someone is simply creating waves . it looks genuinely fake , granted trying to recreate a typhoon or hurricane cannot be easy by any stretch of the imagination but having the storm approach in a style similar to the huge wave of deep impact only ends up looking corny and amateurish . also on the topic of flaws , the robotics that the advanced life form creates seem to move extremely slowly , why ? if this life form that is so advanced as to be able to create these robotics , should it not be able to create them move faster ? regardless , the special effects in this movie in many cases take away from the film rather than add to it . as to the actual casting for the movie , finally there is nothing to complain about . the actors were superb , but then again it is highly doubtful that chimpanzees would have had difficulty acting the roles . having the cast that was present probably saved this movie from being an absolute catastrophe . watching these actors act this story out made it bearable , if barely . the one saving grace of this movie is that it was highly action packed and there always seemed to be something happening . so if you are going into this movie not expecting to see anything grand and are only going to kill some time and watch a mediocre sci-fi thriller then you won't be too disappointed . as the movie is but the latest in a genre that was originally created by aliens , it does little more than try to cash in on that aspect . this movie would be best left for video and even then you might be advised to simply wait for one of the major networks to air it on tv . 
