Chimera Strain

A curious, intriguing **** boundaries of ethical behavior in the sciences have been fodder for Hollywood since forever. In some ways we, the audience have become accustomed to the predictability in such films, but every once in a while, a surprise takes you completely off guard. I remember being surprised by Cronenberg's wonderfully dark body sci-fi The Fly, and whilst Chimera Strain isn't in the same ballpark, it is a great film that made me ponder and evaluate my perspective on things. The acting is uniformly excellent, and the visuals and direction is top-notch.

Hitchcock would be proud. This is no hyperbole. There is a truly **** twist in the end of Chimera Strain which would make the great master proud. There are some genuinely unsettling images and viewer discretion is advised. But the film is engrossing, the camera work and cinematography is fantastic and the pacing- a muddle that has been many an independent filmmaker's Achilles's heel is good enough that you'd be engrossed completely for the 80 odd minutes. Great performances from the cast especially Henry Ian Cusick who plays the tormented lead character. This is one of the better indie features I have seen recently.

This great little gem of a movie somehow manages to mix genetics, cryogenics and ethics in its short running time and the results are quite good. Henry Ian Cusick(Lost) stars as the man who wants to save his children from the same illness that took his wife and he is willing to do anything to get that. I don't wish to spoil anything, but anyone remotely interested in the aforementioned subjects would be hard pressed not to check out Chimera Strain.

Henry Ian Cusick's film,Chimera Strain is Henry Ian Cusick's film through and through. He is the main lead, and present in almost all the scenes. The actor's serious demeanor lends itself well to the character and its travails. But apart from him there's not much in the way of great acting. Quinlan fans hoping to see their actress on the big screen are in for some disappointment as she's barely around, despite being prominently featured in the teasers. There is shoddy acting from the kids which is rather sad as they're cute and the chemistry between them and Cusick is palpable. There are some cheesy lines such as " If God intended us to be immortal, we would have more durable bodies”, said exasperatingly by the titular character's wife. I'd rate this film a six on ten and that's above average. In fact, for a first-time filmmaker this is a good effort.

Muddled message; exciting narrative whenever I sit to watch a film I place two criteria on whether the film is good- the narrative and the message (or theme). Chimera Strain by Maurice Haems gets one right- the narrative. This is a well-made thriller with a bioscience backdrop, well-paced and very well acted. Henry Ian Cusick needs to be in bigger movies is all I'll say. The cinematography and editing is good and the background score also needs a mentioning. But then the message is muddled- Is stem cell application ethical? Should it be practiced at large? If the underlying theme is such then an effort should be made to emphasize the theme's larger repercussions- which is what all great movies do. But I will still recommend this film to anyone who has a passing interest in sci-fi. From a story perspective there's not much to blame.

A dull but eventually fascinating affair Chimera Strain is a indie movie that tries to exceed its abilities. It is a brave attempt and I guess the filmmakers had to go through a few loopholes to get everything on screen. But in the end is it worth it? The audience wants to be entertained and I felt that the entertaining aspects were toned down in favor of a lesson in judging moral standards. Then on top of it there's the unexplained dilemma of the narrative jumping all over the place. Many of the events presented on screen are often out of sequence, and/or blend the protagonist's reality with his imagination, which is more than a bit difficult to follow. Having said all this I still think that the movie is fascinating.

Loads of reviews from 1 or 2 review accounts. Metacritic should really delete those bot accounts. No way this is anywhere near a 7. I should have seen this coming, still I tried to watch it all the way through and failed. Boring low-budget flick not worth even 5 minutes of your time. On a really good day it might get a 2 or a 3, anything above 4, there is just no way they're being honest with themselves. Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Do yourself a favor and avoid this crap even free on tv, it's really not worth it.