Virtual Revolution
Written and directed by Guy-Roger Duvert
Review by David Pitt
Set in Paris in 2047, Virtual Revolution paints a picture of a world that’s fallen into decay. Most people now spend the bulk of their time online in virtual environments, playing elaborately realistic games. The world is now run by a handful of massive corporations and politicians. When nearly 150 gamers are killed by a computer virus unleashed by radical terrorists, one of the major gaming companies, Synternis, brings in a gun-for-hire named Nash to find and eliminate the terrorists. Nash eventually learns that Synertis could be involved in a nasty conspiracy – they might even have killed the woman he loved – but by the time he finds this out, it might be too late for him to do anything about it.
The movie has a lot going for it. Its rain-soaked, crumbling-buildings, generally bleak Blade Runner-inspired near-future environment is convincing; its virtual worlds are nicely (if perhaps a bit thinly) realized; there are good performances by Mike Dopud as Nash and Jane Badler as Dina; and the CGI work is believable. What the movie lacks is a fresh, original story. Thematically, there is nothing here we haven’t seen before. We know where the story is going, probably well before writer/director Duvert would like us to, because we’ve seen other movies doing the same sort of thing. And that takes some of the fun out of it. We want to be surprised by a movie like this.
But I liked Virtual Revolution. I would have liked it more if it hadn’t felt quite so derivative, but it looks good, it’s got some impressive camera work – one 360-degree fight scene is especially clever – and it’s always nice to see Jane Badler, who will forever be known to SF fans of a certain age as the villainous lizard-alien Diana in the original V miniseries.
