Why Denzel Washington’s Sci-Fi Film Virtuosity Was a Box Office Bomb

In an age where the concept of “movie star” seems to be losing its value (except for Tom Cruise), one of the few actors who can still boast of that title is Denzel WashingtonHe has one of the most impressive resumes of the past few decades, winning two Oscars to his name and helping to give street cred to the likes of Spike Lee and Tony Scott. Washington has worked in just about every genre under the sun, able to achieve equal success as an action and dramatic actor, and it really seems like there’s no role he can’t pull off with nothing less than total commitment.

Unfortunately, even the best golden boys have at least one flop to their name, and one of Washington's most notable films is the 1995 sci-fi thriller clevernessWhile it's an interesting film with a great setup, in execution, it feels like a reheated leftover from other, better-looking works of the genre at the time, The film remains one of the actor's biggest box office flops to date..

Was Virtuosity very similar to other cyberpunk films?

As mentioned earlier, cleverness A movie that might work, on paper at least. Denzel Washington stars as Los Angeles police officer Parker Barnes, who is imprisoned after killing a political terrorist who murdered his wife and children (and accidentally shot two bystanders in the process). His superiors temporarily reinstate him after a virtual reality entity known as SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe) escapes into the real world after being implanted in a robot body. Since Barnes helped test the program while in prison, he is tasked with stopping SID 6.7, with the promise of a pardon if he succeeds.

Initially created by the Los Angeles Police Department as a training program for cops, using personality traits from hundreds of real-life killers (including Adolf Hitler and Charles Manson), Barnes finds himself facing a monster of his own making. Complicating matters further is the fact that one of the personalities used to help program SID 6.7 was Matthew Grimes, the man who murdered Barnes' family. Upon realizing that Barnes is involved in the case, SID 6.7 finds himself regularly exploiting Grimes' persona, realizing that he can torture his enemy with memories of his wife and children, and a deadly game of cat and mouse begins.

Related to

This sci-fi movie with a perfect soundtrack on Rotten Tomatoes is much better than the modern version.

Hollywood can't get enough of remaking classic blockbusters, though these brave endeavors can sometimes prove to be hugely disappointing.

Director Brett Leonard's biggest project before this was lawn mower manAnother movie about virtual reality simulation and artificial intelligence. But while this movie made over $150 million worldwide on a budget of only $10 million, cleverness It didn't have the same staying power, grossing just $37 million worldwide on a $30 million budget..

It didn't help matters that it was released too close to similar films like Full recall, strange daysand Johnny MnemonicIn addition, after the director's cut of Blade Runner The film was released two years ago (which helped re-evaluate the film as a masterpiece), and the general public began to take cyberpunk seriously. This may help explain why cleverness Not well done despite excellent cast and promising idea – It had nothing to set it apart from other better movies. In this type.

Cleverness is stupidity and common

The main reason for this is cleverness Failure is the simplest thing — it wasn't very good.While the film has not been without its defenders, most notably Roger Ebert, it currently holds a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus being that it borrows generously from the cyberpunk genre and doesn't execute its already familiar material very well.

As mentioned earlier, 1995, in particular, was filled with countless other cyberpunk films, which were of varying levels of quality, but all overshadowed cleverness. What is even more telling is that while strange days It also failed at first, and is now rightly considered by many to be an unrecognized gem, while cleverness It has been mostly forgotten.At its best, cyberpunk encourages its audience to pay attention to the thematic ideas presented as much as to the visual effects, and because viewers notice this almost immediately, cleverness He had so little on his mind, he felt he was destined to fail.

Related to

Denis Villeneuve's 2016 sci-fi hit is now available on YouTube for free.

Arrival is perhaps Denis Villeneuve's most emotionally moving and subtly impressive film.

But even ignoring the cyberpunk influence, there is one movie that cleverness It seems to mimic more than anything else. That would be it. Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Released four years ago and a huge success, it is still considered the pinnacle of the franchise. SID 6.7 is clearly modeled after the T-1000, being able to instantly heal any bullet wounds and regenerate limbs. However, while the transformation effects in The Destroyer 2 It still looks impressive to this day, in ingenuity, The CGI looks ridiculously old.Not to mention, the T-1000 was a compelling opponent because it had a clear goal and was determined to achieve it, whereas SID 6.7 seemed to have no real end goal other than to cause chaos everywhere it went.

However, credit must be given where it is due, clevernessThe film’s strongest asset so far is its cast. Russell Crowe, in one of his first North American films, is wonderfully free as SID 6.7, clearly enjoying and enjoying the scenery. Denzel Washington, as always, is nothing if not completely committed, playing Barnes with the kind of gravitas that honestly deserves a much better film. It’s no wonder Washington started appearing in action movies a decade or so later. cleverness He's been released; if nothing else, it proves he has the power to do it.

There is no doubt that the ingenuity is still worth watching.

Despite being as stupid as a rock, cleverness The film still has a certain charm. It’s just another mid-’90s production, with an electronic soundtrack and delightful computer animation. Russell Crowe’s absolutely manic performance makes it worth watching (as does Denzel Washington’s more restrained work). And since artificial intelligence has become a hot topic in the last few years, it seems to have a strangely prescient outlook.

Objectively, it's not a very good movie; audiences have realized that it simply didn't live up to expectations. strange days or Full recall So I walked away. But cleverness I feel like I'm his partner. Johnny MnemonicIf you decide to watch it just for fun and not take it too seriously, you might have an unexpectedly good time. cleverness The film is streaming on Paramount+, MGM+, and Prime Video.