Dustin Hoffman, Renee Russo, Morgan Freeman and the Wolfgang Petersen movie ‘Outbreak’

The 1994 Richard Preston book The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus was the inspiration for the Wolfgang Petersen movie Outbreak (1995) that premiered a year later. The story of the communicable disease landing in America from Africa is a primary story of the Petersen movie.

Outbreak focuses on a fictional Motaba virus mixed with Ebola that shows as a fever within four hours of exposure. A horrifying bleeding death with 100% mortality follows infection, which attracts the attention of army generals Billy Ford and Donald McClintock, portrayed by Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland respectively, when encountered per the movie in the late 1960s. The two sanction the use a fuel bomb to incinerate an army camp infected with the disease.

The film opens with the underlying fact of the bombing, followed by the introduction of Sam Daniels as portrayed by Dustin Hoffman. Daniels is helplessly devoted to Robby Keough, his ex-wife as portrayed by Renee Russo. Both Keough and Daniels are committed doctors who trust the others medical instincts in fighting the outbreak of contagious disease, yet struggle with a comic relief of a relationship that ping pongs through the movie.

Lieutenant Colonel Casey Schule, as portrayed by Kevin Spacey, is part of Daniels’ army of medical doctors. Both answer to General Billy Ford, who functions to protect the secret weapon that he and General Donald McClintock are bent on aiming to maintain in the American military arsenal. As things transpire, Major Salt of the US Army, as portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr., joins the team.

An underlying truth that brings much of the film’s dramatic impact to bear begins with Jimbo Scott, as portrayed by Patrick Dempsey, who unwittingly smuggles a diseased monkey named Betsy from the country where the fictional disease of the movie originated. Betsy, as portrayed by Binx, brings multiple threads of the film together.

The movie Outbreak offers points of humor in speaking to a difficult subject. A difficulty I have with the film is the largely simplistic nature of the dramatic conflict in portraying a naturally complex subject in less than complex terms. The interpersonal stories simply were not the equal of the acting talent that this film had to offer, which is unfortunate. With my rating of 3.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five, I am suggesting that you determine your appetite for Outbreak with caution.

Matt – Wednesday, February 10, 2021