Chicago Tribune
There's too much hardware, too little sense. Too much blood, too little flesh. Too much program, too little mind. That's the virus of the contemporary movie techno-thriller.
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Outbreak
A deadly, Ebola-like airborne virus unleashes itself on the USA. Col Sam Daniels' (Dustin Hoffman) job is to stop the virus spreading from a small town, which must be quarantined, and to prevent an over reaction by the White House. Co-stars Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Donald Sutherland and Kevin Spacey. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, based on Richard Preston's 1994 nonfiction book The Hot Zone.
1995Rating: M127 minsUSA
Thriller
Outbreak / Reviews
Variety
Whether scarily charting the spread of the virus or choreographing a cat-and-mouse chase of choppers above a winding riverbed, Petersen demonstrates a smooth stylistic savvy that keeps the film highly absorbing from beginning to end.
Full reviewThe Washington Post
Outbreak is an absolute hoot thanks primarily to director Wolfgang Petersen's rabid pacing and the great care he brings to setting up the story and its probability.
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Empire Magazine
Petersen pulls off the thrills at a stomach lurching pace, and with its requisite Hollywood ham - husband and wife reuniting over piles of haemorrhaging bodies - loud performances, crashing stunts and a fearsome, hypochondria-inducing conceit, there's barely room to catch your breath, let alone cry foul.
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Roger Ebert
The thriller occupies the same territory as countless science fiction movies about deadly invasions and high-tech conspiracies, but has been made with intelligence and an appealing human dimension.
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San Francisco Chronicle
In the end this is Hoffman's movie, and it's refreshing, finally, to see him not as an oddball or eccentric but as a decent, capable guy who is ultimately a lot more intense than most people.
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