Customer Reviews

Terminal Error

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Although ludicrous and improbable in concept, TERMINAL ERROR is an interesting movie nonetheless. Timothy Busfield chews up the scenery as a computer hacker who seeks revenge on a former partner by sabotaging the computer software he manufactures, leading to a nuclear fallout in the Ukraine; the death of three employees on an elevator, and several other "accidents" that question the credibility and motive of its creator (a subdued Michael Nouri). Add to the plot the man's young son (Matthew Ewald) and estranged wife (Marina Sirtis) and you have the ingredients for the plot. The movie maintains its suspense and there are some tense "what if" scenarios and a message alerting us to the problems of having machines do everything for us. Craftily directed by John Murlowski, TERMINAL ERROR is a diverting and enjoyable entertainment.

An ex-acquaintance of an automation company's owner decides to wreck revenge by unleashing a powerful AI-centric trojan horse (aka, a virus) that first kills people and then decides to eradicate the entire planet of humans.

Pros:

1. There is only one... it makes you think. Should we really become so dependant on computers throughout the world? While viruses becoming hell-bent on the destruction of mankind are very unlikely (that would require a program to develop feelings of anger, desire, and many others), viruses can make a mess of things when they do strike. Especially in this day and age where even cell phones require an anti-virus package.

Negatives (there were many, but these two stood out):
1) Highly implausible. This is a huge one. Okay, I am a computer programmer, database manager, network administrator, and overall geek. I could produce pages and pages and pages of things that doesn't make sense in this movie. So if you want a movie based on reality, this isn't one of them. Sorry, it wasn't even close.
2) Acting. The acting veteran Michael Nouri and Star Trek's Marina Sertis give the better performances. Mathew Ewald as the child computer genius even put in a semi-decent act. But everybody else was waaaaay over the top or just plane silly.

Would I recommend this movie to anybody? Well, despite the bad acting and terrible script I did find it somewhat amusing. Whoever thought this movie up was trying to make a point, I think, and while it didn't really strike home with me, it did cause me to pause and reflect for a bit. Real sci-fi geeks may find something in this movie if they are willing to ignore the technological shortcomings, but few others will.

An ex-employee of a computer firm is bent on revenge & befriends the president's son & gives him a MP3 file with a computer virus in it which creates havoc all across the city by poisoning the water with chlorine, making planes crash and neearly causing a meltdown at a nuclear power plant. The movie stars the gorgeous Marina Sirtis from "Star Trek-The Next Generation"