The Contaminated Man (Rental) (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	93:43
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Anthony Hickox
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	William Hurt Peter Weller Natascha McElhone Michael Brandon
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	Rental	Music	Michael Hoenig

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Contaminated Man isn't going to make the top of anyone's 'must watch' list and to be brutally honest this was a real 'beer and pretzels' movie for me (eat the salty pretzels and drink copious amounts of beer to rehydrate; watch the movie in a semi-stupor). Although not really a bad movie, this direct-to-video effort isn't that inspiring, even though it sports a fairly decent cast.

    Movies about viruses, chemical spills and the dangers of contamination aren't all that rare (Andromeda Strain, Warning Sign, Outbreak to name a few) but they usually come with a bit more zest and lots more twists and turns. This is a movie that moves almost totally in a straight line from start to finish. In fact, the extreme lameness of the script actually makes this a more watchable movie than it has any right to be. The cast is also another mystery. How do so many (so-called) major stars get roped into something this tame? I know some of them have been around the track more times than an F1 driver, but you can still see some time left on their use-by dates for the most part. Anyway...

    The story is fairly basic. After a series of retrenchments and cutbacks at a bio-research facility in Hungary, ostensibly owned by an American pharmaceuticals company, a low paid guard, Joseph Muller (Peter Weller), accosts the new head of research and causes a minor catastrophe when his ineptitude in a high risk area causes a series of vials containing deadly toxins to be released into the atmosphere, killing everyone who becomes trapped in the room. Escaping the tragedy by lucky coincidence, but already infected by the virulent toxin that has splashed onto his skin, Muller panics and decides to head back to his home in Germany and to his estranged wife and son.

    Enter William Hurt as David Whitman, a biochemical hazards expert for HAZMAT, a toxic/ecological response team who clean up dangerous chemical spills. Inspecting the site, he attempts to ascertain the cause of the accident when he comes across Holly Anderson (Natascha McElhone), an anti-terrorist agent assigned to determine if this was an act of terrorism. Whitman believes it to be an isolated incident, Anderson isn't so sure, nor is Wyles (Michael Brandon), a rather ruthless agent for the NSA who believes Muller is actually an agent for a subversive group that go by the acronym SMB, which Muller leaves on a notepad.

    While this is going on, Muller, now a carrier of an infection that is instant death for anyone touching him, is trying to get home with no money and no idea about what he's become. As he travels, he infects various people who die horribly and it's up to Whitman to catch him before Wyles and his goon squad eliminate an innocent man. Like I said, this movie moves in a very straight line with very little deviation. There are the usual saccharine moments at the end plus a predictable ending which won't surprise too many people. The best bit about the movie, though, is that it is very watchable with decent sound.

Video

    Overall, the video quality is very good with only a few minor problems, even though this bypassed major theatrical release and was sent direct to video. Being relatively new helped in this regard, as none of the low-budget problems that used to plague movies of this type are evident in this transfer.

    The transfer is offered up at 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness is reasonably good although there are obvious uses of edge enhancement throughout (37:00 on Hurt's face). Grain is light for the most part but occasionally increases (67:50 for example) although it usually subsides in short order. Shadow detail is good but not exceptional and there is decent fine detail at times with backgrounds being well defined when shown in focus. There was no evidence of low level noise with blacks being solid although there was little delineation noted.

    The colour is good if basically made up of solids. There was no chroma noise noted nor any colour bleed and a decent, if unspectacular, palette was used to good effect throughout.

    There were few if any film artefacts of note. Possibly the only really notable example was at 15:30 with some slight black marks. Aliasing, moiré artefacts and MPEG problems were suitably absent throughout for a higher quality picture all round.

    There were no subtitles on this disc.

    This is a single layered disc so there was no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This transfer comes complete with two Dolby Digital soundtracks, the usual Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo at a respectable 224 kilobits per second and a more robust Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack at 448 kilobits per second. I stuck primarily with the 5.1 effort and this did a reasonable, if largely unspectacular job throughout the movie. For the most part, the sound is strictly front and centre with minimal sound cut into the rears. There is no real envelope effect almost all the way through, but I doubt you'll miss it too much.

    The dialogue and sync were spot on, although Peter Weller's horrible attempt at a German accent didn't help make him totally understandable.

    Fairly unremarkable music by Michael Hoenig accompanies this movie. Michael Hoenig has worked on some very decent, albeit mostly low budget, movies over the years.

    The surrounds are for the most part hardly heard, although they are present most of the time. A couple of noticeable exceptions during the movie at at 31:50 as a car drives off and at 43:28 at the casino. These prove the rears are in use, just mostly inconsequentially for the majority of the movie.

    I can't recall a single instance in which the subwoofer was in evidence. If the .1 channel was in use I certainly couldn't tell.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

Theatrical Trailer

    There appears to be a Region 1 version of this disc around but details are a little sketchy. From the only review I found in my searchings, the R1 seems to lack Dolby Digital 5.1, and although nothing major it would make this version (if it ever becomes available for purchase) the disc of choice by a long shot. Everything else appears to be the same.

    This is the sort of movie you rent when you are taking one of those 2 for $9 deals at your local video store and everything else is out, or you've seen it. Not the best movie in the world, nor as some would have you believe the worst. It won't win any awards, but trust me, you've probably seen a lot worse if you rent movies all the time.

    The video is very decent with few major problems. The direct-to-video nature means a lot wasn't spent post-production. Fortunately you probably won't even notice.

    For those with surround sound setups, this is a little on the light side although the movie doesn't have that much action to make good use of the rears or the LFE channel. Still, okay without being classic.

    For a rental you'd expect this many quality extras... a trailer.. wow, my life is replete!

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall