Bradley Robb | The Andromeda Strain

The Andromeda Strain

1971

When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico, are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scramble to a secure laboratory and try to first isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.

Ratings:

Brad Score: 7.1/10

Internet Score: 7.1/10

Genres:

I don't know what it is about technicolor, but films shot on it feel like childhood.

Mind you, this was filmed almost a decade before I was born, and the only part that I'd seen during that childhood was the ladder scene, but the color, contrast, and saturation were an instant transport back to the days of 19 inch tube televisions.

With how much I enjoyed this movie - a blind pickup of the Arrow disc - I am shocked that I hadn't seen it before. It's a solid mystery disguised as a thriller, with some decent twists and turns focused almost exclusively on applied processes. Which is, I know, a sentence that doesn't actually do a good job of selling the movie.

The pacing is quite sharp - with perhaps the multi-story decontamination process being the sole drag that could have been shortened. However, the placement of the conclusion where it is paired with how well dread is layered and each new discovery changing or recontextualizing the previous dread makes reaching that conclusion an actual a relief.

The Andromeda Strain

My notes