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
59%63 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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.
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The 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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