It’s rare that a movie with names like Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, and Kelly Lynch attached to it could slide under the radar. But that seems to be the case with this sci-fi flick that bombed with critics and audiences alike when it hit theaters in 1995. And when we say “bombed,” we mean it: the movie currently holds a 30% critics’ rating and a 32% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But it will stream for free on Tubi soon, so you have no reason not to watch it.
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Virtuosity centers around Parker Barnes (Washington), a former cop who has been imprisoned for murdering the psychopath who killed his family. While in prison, he is recruited to test a new virtual-reality program aimed at apprehending a computer-generated criminal dubbed SID 6.7 (Crowe),modeled on hundreds of the most dangerous criminals. But SID manages to escape into the real world, and it’s up to Barnes to capture or destroy him before he murders untold numbers of people.
Virtuosity is the Wackiest Kind of Sci-Fi—and Most Underrated
For all its faults—and there are many—Virtuosity is the kind of sci-fi that’s so bad it’s good; it’s zany, it’s entirely predictable, and while woefully short on imagination, there’s still something about it that’s mind-numbingly fun, though critics will disagree with that last part. Critic Mike LaSalle says, “The presence of Washington lends the picture a much-needed dose of authenticity. But in the end, Virtuosity is disconnected and uninvolving.” Eddie Harrison adds, “One character complains about ‘neural stimulation overload,’ but that’s what anyone would get after watching Virtuosity’s incredibly outdated, laughably po-faced vision of a future that never ever looked anything like this for a moment.”
Audiences were 2% kinder to Virtuosity than critics—which isn’t saying much, but their reviews were slightly less brutal. “Hilariously dated action flick from the mid-90s that explores the dangers of virtual reality that’s so bad it veers into guilty pleasure territory. The entire nightclub scene is extraordinary,” said one viewer. But it was another viewer who summed up the movie best, though, saying, “The Matrix with a serial killer. Delightfully unhinged, very 90’s, excellent cast, but some parts of the simplistic story don’t make sense.”
Will you be catching Virtuosity now that it’s free to stream? Let us know your favorite moment from the movie in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the ComicBook forum to see what other sci-fi fans are saying.
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