Outbreak

Warner Bros. | Release Date: March 10, 1995

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

64	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

Mick LaSalle

In the end this is Hoffman's movie, and it's refreshing, finally, to see him not as an oddball or eccentric but as a decent, capable guy who is ultimately a lot more intense than most people. Read full review

Roger Ebert

The thriller occupies the same territory as countless science fiction movies about deadly invasions and high-tech conspiracies, but has been made with intelligence and an appealing human dimension. Read full review

Steve Persall

Outbreak is an expert what-if nightmare, albeit occasionally tempered by conventional distractions. [10 Mar 1995, p.2B]

EmpireIan Nathan

Petersen pulls off the thrills at a stomach lurching pace, and with its requisite Hollywood ham - husband and wife reuniting over piles of haemorrhaging bodies - loud performances, crashing stunts and a fearsome, hypochondria-inducing conceit, there's barely room to catch your breath, let alone cry foul. Read full review

Jay Boyar

Outbreak is sharp, sometimes-exploitative entertainment that does its job with great efficiency. Read full review

Rita Kempley

Outbreak is an absolute hoot thanks primarily to director Wolfgang Petersen's rabid pacing and the great care he brings to setting up the story and its probability. Read full review

Susan Wloszczyna

It's a case of bad guys who want to use an invader for nefarious purposes - in this case, germ warfare - and good guys who want to save humanity. The formula is still potent, especially when stirred by director Wolfgang Petersen. [10 Mar 1995, p.1D]

Peter Rainer

It's a B-movie with A-accouterments. Read full review

Todd McCarthy

Whether scarily charting the spread of the virus or choreographing a cat-and-mouse chase of choppers above a winding riverbed, Petersen demonstrates a smooth stylistic savvy that keeps the film highly absorbing from beginning to end. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

For today’s filmmakers, the addiction to kinetic overkill has become a disease in itself. Read full review

James Berardinelli

This movie is an entertaining and sometimes wildly-exhilarating ride. Read full review

Stephen Hunter

Outbreak is fast on its feet and simple in its head. Read full review

Jay Carr

it's an OK genre movie, providing an honest quota of scares and carried by Hoffman's way of alternating stoniness and warmth as the guy in the anticontamination suit. [10 Mar 1995, p.49]

Lawrence Toppman

The director is strong on setups, and the hunt for the virus is tense. [10 Mar 1995, p.1F]

Steven Rea

No amount of accomplished acting and directorial skill can conceal the fundamental silliness of Outbreak's storyline, its inconsistencies, and the miraculous coincidences necessitated by its plot. [10 Mar 1995, p.3]

Joe Lipsett

The film is less effective, unfortunately, at trusting its audience to remain invested in Cedar Creek’s drama, which results in two grating subplots that become the A-plot in the draggy third act. Read full review

Steve Davis

Outbreak has the feel of a movie written by a committee of writers -- it's totally lacking in personality. Read full review

Janet Maslin

The effort to turn Outbreak into an action picture insures that little of it will be believable, regardless of how much scientific data has been woven into the story. The film's shallowness also contributes to the impression that no problem is too thorny to be solved by movie heroics. Read full review

Michael Wilmington

There's too much hardware, too little sense. Too much blood, too little flesh. Too much program, too little mind. That's the virus of the contemporary movie techno-thriller. Read full review

Rene Rodriguez

It's all pretty hoary stuff, but you'll be willing to overlook most of it because the premise is so compellingly delivered, with flashy sturm und drang, by director Wolfgang Petersen. [10 Mar 1995, P.5G]

Rick Groen

After a great start, Wolfgang Petersen's intelligent medical thriller is infected by some nasty germs, resulting in the all-too-common Actionitis. [10 Mar 1995]