Antiviral (2013)

Memorable, crazy movie

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the worst movies I've ever seen in my entire life. Bored as hell No sense at all. The story is boring, the movie is slow and it is badly acted. Do not waste two hours of your life watching this crap.It is incredible that today someone continue to spend money on making trunks like this. Totally meaningless.

ANTIVIRAL is the debut film from Brandon Cronenberg, son of famous Canadian filmmaker David. Cronenberg writes and directs this bleak tale of a futuristic world in which the obsession for fame and celebrity sees a company actually bottling up and selling celebrity illness to obnoxious fans. The main character is a young sicko who attempts to make a buck or two on the black market but who finds himself in a very serious situation as a result.I have to say that I didn't care for this film at all. As a black comedy it's pretty sick and the humour feels rather forced and unpleasant; it's not the sort of thing I'd find funny. It's a gory effort with an emphasis on body horror which is odd given that in an interview I saw Cronenberg say he has no real interest in the horror genre; perhaps that's why this film feels so half-hearted as a result.The main character is a repulsive creep and the supporting cast of self-obsessed celebrities is even worse. The plot feels rather aimless, going from obvious digs at celebrity culture to viral outbreaks and illness, and it never really gels. The clinical look of the thing is overdone and over-obvious. In the end, it's the low budget and lack of coherence that makes ANTIVIRAL a chore to sit through.

Syd March is a scientist whose job is to sell viruses taken from sick celebrities to sell to obsessed fans. He lives in a society of the future where the famous faces of celebrities are everything, all the time. It is also a disturbing world; Syd is disgusted to see cells taken from celebrities grown into human body parts and sold for eating. One day he is injected with a highly dangerous virus from the most famous celebrity, Hannah Geist, who has mysteriously died. Unknown to him he is suddenly very valuable amongst the Black Market system. This movie has elements of celebrity obsession gone too far and the disregard for human life. Syd is just another face in the crowd until he has Hannah's virus. The movie was filmed in the steel city of Ontario, Hamilton. It's a very shocking movie, at times a little hard to believe, but the acting was great and the cast members were a great choice. Syd also gets to meet Hannah, and sees that despite her fame she is trapped within it and very unhappy with her life. For an independent film is was very well-made. It's really worth watching.

If you are willing to believe that any kind of dystopian future could produce a society of celebrity fans so enthralled with their idols that they are willing to pay dearly to contract even the fatal diseases of said celebrities, this movie could be worth your while. Unfortunately, I am neither willing nor able to swallow this premise, which is utterly ludicrous. Lots of crazy things constitute the real phenomena of mass idol worship, but none of them come close, or are ever likely to approach, worship in the form this movie bases its story on. Eating steaks produced by the cloning of a star's genetic material? COME ON!Therefore, this very commendable effort, utilizing some state of the art magic and talent, has a fatal flaw, which none of that magic or talent can overcome. I could not escape the feeling of utter ridiculousness and disbelief, and I don't believe the movie-going public is likely to either.In short, Antivirus says nothing to us of any value to us, either as we are, or as we are ever likely to be.