Fatal Error

I don't know why I'm writing a review for this but I wanted to say how strange this film was. It was actually very bad, but for some reason it was too interesting not too keep watching the whole thing. It's about all these mysterious deaths caused by a signal from a cable television box, and we know this all along so I'm not spoiling anything. The acting is reasonable, if you don't count the terrible performance (as always) from Antonio Sabato Jr. My advice is watch this because it will undoubtedly draw you in with its storyline but don't expect anything above average.

I have read the novel Reaper of Ben Mezrich a fews years ago and last night I accidentally came to see this adaption.

Although it's been years since I read the story the first time, the differences between the novel and the movie are humongous. Very important elements, which made the whole thing plausible are just written out or changed to bad.

If the plot sounds interesting to you: go and get the novel. Its much, much, much better.

Still 4 out of 10 since it was hard to stop watching because of the great basic plot by Ben Mezrich.

I remember when this premiered in 1999; at the time I caught the opening scene but never got any further. Now that I've finally sat to watch it in full, more than twenty years later - well, it's not bad, but the title at large operates on about the same level as the first minutes. That is to say, the plot is built on one contrivance after another of hearty suspension of disbelief, or what in purely cinematic terms is called Movie Magic. There are plenty of cliches, too, and strictly speaking some of the language is noticeably dated. One could cheekily argue that 'Fatal error' is a 90-minute public service announcement encouraging people to turn off their screens and step outside. This is enjoyable, with the caveat that viewers must be willing to engage with material that's about as realistically believable as a superhero comic.

True, definite themes present - relevant to real life - of corporate malfeasance, profit over people, the ubiquity of technology, and so on. On the other hand, we also get male and female leads, with requisite troubled backgrounds, who are destined for romantic entanglement just because they exist in the same space. A kernel of science is woven into the narrative in terms of the integration of the body's organs, and how information is processed through our optical nerves, and this is then twisted together with a proto-cyberpunk conception of technology also entering into that configuration. I'm not familiar with novelist Ben Mezrich, but the resultant story comes across as Michael Crichton-lite, wherein all that would be needed to complete the effect would be alarmist overtones decrying the evils of science. Scene writing and individual story beats launch forward with the unaware bravado of "This is how the plot will progress." None of this is to say that the writing is inherently bad, as it's all solid enough for what 'Fatal error' wanted to be, but the colloquial maxim about taking something with "a grain of salt" should in this instance be updated to reflect "a truckload of salt."

The effects, post-production visuals, and makeup that we see employed throughout to realize the death scenes are suitably gruesome to disturb the youngest of possible viewers, though it should be said that the more the camera lingers on such moments, the more over the top they appear. The feature is otherwise well made from a technical standpoint, with competent direction, sound, production design, and so on. The assembled cast are just fine. When all is said and done what it comes down to is that this is essentially B-movie sci-fi packaged inside a network TV thriller. That phrase may set off alarm bells for some, and understandably so, yet it's unfair to say this is without value. It's entertaining in the same way any second-tier motion picture can be: not particularly moving, stimulating, or otherwise rewarding, but a passable diversion. Yes, one has to accept a veritable cavalcade of gimmicky notions to have fun here, but if you can do that, then it's not a wholly deadly mistake to watch 'Fatal error.'

I've come to enjoy some of these dreadful TV sci-fi movies. I'm not quite sure why, but stuff like this is entertaining. The plot is flimsy to say the least and includes several huge leaps of faith. Think DEEP SHOCK or FROZEN IMPACT.

The plot revolves around a mis-matched couple, the Mulder and Scully of this story, who're on the trail of a computer virus that can kill people as they watch the screen. This is off-the-box stuff, but there's no spoilers here because it doesn't actually do anything else.

Oh, and watch out for the laughably bad "server room", a room full of outdated junk in racks, with no other furniture than a water cooler. Yeah, right. Glorious!

In some ways, the concept behind the storyline was a rather interesting blend of several typical movie types in an interesting combination. However, no point in this movie was so obvious that it did not deserve lingering close-up shots. I felt as though I had been beat over the head with the so-called mysterious explanation for the disease killing people.

The writer appears to have simply lifted clichés from other movies as a substitute for writing lines adapted to actual characters. The actors did not help matters. No chemistry. I guess they were supposed to develop some kind of attraction if only for the reason that such is an essential element of these stories. However, the writers didn't work very hard to develop the chemistry. Sure, they're both attractive, but whether they're attractive to each other seemed to be an open question.

The confidence Turner's character shows in Sabato's developed far too quickly and for no particular reason. Sabato's character is supposed to be a discredited doctor who just can't seem to play by the rules. Think of the Jeff Goldblum character in "Independence Day." Usually, that kind of character is supposed to demonstrate some kind of talent or brilliance. Sabato's character does not. He's Cassandra with just the crazy and all the prophetic skills of a magic eight ball. He appears to be right by random chance.

The death scenes are comical. Every actor was really trying more than a little to hard to demonstrate the agony inflicted on them. The symptoms looked like bad claymation, sort of like that video from the 80s, Peter Gabriel, I think.