"Virtuosity" represents familiar ground for director Brett Leonard. He dealt with virtual reality in the astonishingly awful "Lawnmower Man". This time, the special effects are more elaborate and successful but they are not state-of-art, even for a 1995 movie. The plot is also ordinary: how many times has a special man been sent to stop an almost unkillable murderer. However there are two twists to the formula: the first one is that the killer is a virtual killer, the second one is that he is played by Russell Crowe.

In 1995, Russell was "virtually" unknown. Right now, he is one of the most important actors in Hollywood, next to Mel Gibson, Kevin Spacey and his co-star from this movie, Denzel Washinton. What makes Russell an unusual choice for this role is that beside being incredibly good-looking (all that his Sid 6.7 would have needed),he is also tremendously talented (look at his Oscar nomination for "The Insider"). But it is his talent that gives Sid 6.7 life. He plays his character with a complete over-the-top flamboyance, which makes him even more interesting that Denzel Washington. Russell has a lot of fun in creating Sid.

The other performers mediocre or bland. Denzel Washington is boring as the hero, and the usually impressive Louise Fletcher is completely forgettable as L.A.'s Attorney General. A huge mistake was Kelly Linch. Her character doesn't do anything important, except just to be in the way of the two main characters. She is indeed the mother of the little girl, that Sid uses ultimately in trying to kill Parker Barnes (played by Washington). But it could have been any little girl. Linch gets so little character development that we couldn't care less for her.

Overall, the movie is entertaining, but only because of Russell Crowe. 7/10.

Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is a former cop imprisoned for killing terrorist Matthew Grimes after he killed his wife and child. He and John Donovan are test subjects tracking down serial killer program SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe) in virtual reality training in the Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre. SID overloads the system and kills Donovan. Police Commissioner Elizabeth Deane (Louise Fletcher) orders the program shut down. Instead programmer Lindenmeyer tricks Clyde Reilly to download SID into a nano-machine body. With SID being free in the real world, the Commissioner offers Barnes a full pardon to bring SID back to virtual reality with the help of criminal psychologist Dr. Madison Carter (Kelly Lynch).

I really love the ideas in this movie. I love the serial killer program, the virtual reality and the nanotech body. Russell Crowe is bringing a lot murderous glee into the character. I don't like the style of the computer program look. The whole movie could use a bit less of the stylized colored look. It was campy even back then. The movie is deliberately trying to be that 90s computer blocky look. I do really love the serial killer from Crowe and Washington as the dark hero. There's also an unrecognizable girl Kaley Cuoco as Carter's daughter. The brutality is relentless which doesn't wear out mostly because of the two great leads. It would have worked better with a darker look which would fit the subject better.

Set in the very near future, Virtuosity explores the evil fantasy of every science fiction addict by bringing an evil virtual villain out of the computer and onto the streets. Seventeen years ago, this was a wild fantasy. Today, with the way we are going with computers, not so much. But you have to enjoy the acting in this one as well as the plot, which is somewhat original. The cast is eclectic, with the powerful Russell Crowe as the virtual bad guy, a two dimensional creature bent on death and destruction, and Crowe brings a frightening believability to the role. Denzel wasn't quite the heart throb at the time, but his portrayal of Parker Barnes is excellent, and we get to feel the characters emotions and angst as he is taunted again and again by this evil construct. Louise Fletcher is the uncaring, evil woman in charge of the virtual simulations, and she is perfectly opposed by Kelly Lynch (aka Mrs. John Travolta) throughout the film. A cameo by Traci Lords and an early performance by a 10 year old Kaley Cuoco (Penny on Big Bang Theory) round out an excellent cast and make for an entertaining film. Rated R for violence, language, and disturbing content, including sex, this is one for an afternoon or evening when you are tired of the run of the mill fare. Collectible? Not necessarily, but worth a rental.