Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Fantastic!

Beautiful, moving film.

Blistering performances.

The 1971 version of this chilling tale was exactly that - chilling. The notion of an extra-terrestrial microbe coming to Earth with devastating consequences was brilliantly handled. This can't be said of this 2008 TV mini-series.Sadly, this overlong adaptation of Michael Crichton's thriller is an overblown piece of nonsense. The background noise is frequently overpowering while assorted madcap dashes hither and yon are nothing more than attempts to create additional drama where none is needed. There are pointless additions to the original story and, of course, lots of military action with soldiers shooting at anything and everything. The introduction of a journalist 'hero' is completely unnecessary and simply detracts from the central plot which is the effort to identify and contain the microbe; that alone would be more than gripping enough to keep viewers' attention if it wasn't lost in amongst all of the extraneous junk.The 1971 film may now be a bit dated but it's infinitely better than this frenzied modern version. Avoid.

Instead of rehashing how awful this movie was, let's name the cliché or plot hole that stood out the most for us.For me, it had to have been when Dr. Barton was in the containment room, panicking because she had been exposed to the virus, and she realizes that her hyperventilation has probably made her flushed with CO2 so she has not been infected. And just then, the good Dr. Noyce motherly chirps in with "You have to CALM DOWN!"Why? Was Dr Noyce trying to kill her or something? And for that matter...whatever happened to Dr. Barton? Like so many other characters...she just fell out of the plot after that.

In 2008, The Scott brothers, along with the master of the mini-series, Mikael Salomon, decided to remake the 1969 debut novel and 1971 film, The Andromeda Strain, written by famed Jurassic Park author, Michael Crichton. The film was in serious need of an upgrade, and while the new technology really enhanced the film, making it all the more believable, the updates to the story along with the new characters that were introduced, really did the original story a disservice. The basic story was not changed, just modernized, and for that we are very thankful. The story was always a terrific tale of Science Fiction and an early message about the damage we are doing to our planet. I like how the story was updated and I loved the technological advancements. What I didn't like was how much they changed the cast. They wanted to make them more diverse and I don't have a problem with that, but this is not a story that focuses on individuals, it's more about the virus, the technology, and the human impact on our planet. In that sense, I felt it hurt the series, but the technology enhanced it, evening things out. The original novel and movie were 4 stars, and so is the remake. It's different, but there wasn't much harm done, the way you often see in remakes. I think Michale Crichton would have approved.

There is a certain type of movie. It's usually a made-for-TV movie, and it's usually an "updated" remake of an older movie.The cast and story elements are painfully politically correct.The writers appear to labor under the mistaken assumption that the viewer really doesn't need to be told a coherent story as long as there are a few visual elements from the original and some handsome-looking people emoting at each other. And things blowing up.If there was a punchline to the original, the film will either ignore, misinterpret, or completely blow it.The remake of Lathe of Heaven (2002)was such a film.The remake of The Andromeda Strain (2008) is also such a film. It takes the tight script and edge-of-seat stress and paranoia of the original and substitutes digital effects, things blowing up, and absolutely nonsensical plot. When the time comes for the big reveal (which I won't reveal here), instead of the insightful political message of the original, we get a sophomoric, pasted-on ending that doesn't relate to what's gone before and basically contains no message whatsoever, but does allow one last digital effect.It's not even bad enough to be good in a campy way. It's just dreary and indecipherable. See the original instead.