Adrenalin: Fear the Rush (1996)

How bad is it? For a plotless action film, it's a bit static.
Should you see it? Not really.

This Albert Pyun film shows that the director had not improved since "Alien from L.A." There are two versions with different run times available; one has an excruciatingly long opening explaining the plot and the other has a ridiculously long opening explaining the plot. Take your pick. Or just fast-forward, as here's the plot: a virus has escaped from the Russian military that turns people into zombie-like killing machines and becomes infectious after two hours; there's a guy in Boston who has it and he has to be stopped. There - saved you 20 minutes or so.

The film stars Christopher Lambert, who I keep thinking has to be better than his Highlander films suggest, and Natasha Henstridge, who was great in "Species" (when she had almost no lines - that is, dialogue - though it's true of wrinkles as well) and has never achieved that success again. Henstridge has a child that's conveniently forgotten until the very end of the film, when there's an attempt at character development... after two hours of completely ignoring character.

The entire film appears to have been shot in one location, the exteriors being the same, regardless of where it's supposed to be, but most of the film is in a darkened interior, chasing down the bad guy. The climactic showdown is one cliche after another and uninvolving as well. The only good thing I can say is that there wasn't a clock ticking to 1:59:59 when they succeed (I really expected one).