Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Virtuosity 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf March 13, 2025

With the development of the internet and virtual reality in the early 1990s, Hollywood wasn’t about to let such futuristic fun simply walk on by. Instead, producers dabbled in tech-thrillers, trying to make sense of difficult concepts while playing to the mass audience. One of the most successful of these odd pictures was 1992’s “The Lawnmower Man,” as co-writer/director Brett Leonard endeavored to transform a bizarre Stephen King short story into a VR nightmare, generating unusual visual effects to create a film that strived to be scary and sensual. The approached clicked at the box office, giving Leonard a career to manage, making himself a valuable player in uncharted cinematic territory. 1995’s “Virtuosity” provides Leonard with a bigger budget to examine the ways of digital horrors, but instead of creating another creeper, he goes the action route, working with a promising manhunt tale from writer Eric Bernt that explores the wrath of an A.I. entity in the real world. The feature has the potential to be real fun, and the work has a few moments of B-movie clarity, but Leonard isn’t the proper fit for a bruising thrill ride. His vision tends to turn “Virtuosity” into a cartoon, which might connect for certain viewers, but promise of something more suspenseful and demented isn’t met in this mediocre offering.

Barnes (Denzel Washington) was once a top cop in Los Angeles, but a disastrous run-in with a serial killer took away his wife, daughter, and left arm, leaving him in prison to stew in his dark thoughts. The Police Department is experimenting on virtual reality training simulations, recruiting convicts to take on digital madmen, including Sid 6.7 (Russell Crowe), a perverse villain created from the profiles of 200 murderers. Dr. Daryl (Stephen Spinella) is a frustrated employee angry that the training program is being shut down, electing to turn Sid 6.7 into a “nanotech synthetic organism,” unleashing him on the real world. As the killer commences his reign of terror, the police turn to Barnes for help capturing him. Joined by Dr. Carter (Kelly Lynch), Barnes hits the streets on the hunt for Sid 6.7, gradually realizing that the ghoul who destroyed his life is part of the machine’s psychological mix.

For additional information and analysis, please read Michael Reuben’s 2015 Blu-ray review.

Virtuosity 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screencaps are taken from the Blu-ray.

"Virtuosity" was originally issued on Blu-ray in 2015, and now Vinegar Syndrome tries their luck with a UHD release, listed as "newly restored from its 35mm original camera negative." The Dolby Vision viewing experience is lively, leading with a strong sense of color in this futuristic world. Digital realms and Los Angeles locations carry sharp primaries, exploding in more varied hues, including the bluishness of Sid's blood and wilder costuming. Urban activity registers with a compelling coolness, along with VR hangar interactions. Skin tones are natural. Blood remains a deep red. Detail is excellent, exploring skin particulars on the cast, and clothing is fibrous. Interiors are deep, surveying cavernous locations, and street action remains dimensional. Delineation is exact, handling evening activity and shadow play. Highlights are tasteful. Grain is nicely resolved. Source is in good condition.

Virtuosity 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix offers an immersive listening event for "Virtuosity," finding surrounds quite active, pushing out musical moods and atmospherics as the action heads into heavily populated spaces and digital environments. Sound effects are also distinct, supplying snappy gun play and glass-shattering movement. Dialogue exchanges are crisp, balancing Crowe's loudness with Washington's hushed performance. Scoring offers clear instrumentation and dramatic support. Soundtracks selections are also distinct, providing a chirpier techno presence. Low-end does well with heavier beats and violent activity.

Virtuosity 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet offers essays from Justin LaLiberty, Elizabeth Purchell, Matt Lynch

• Commentary #1 features director Brett Leonard.

• Commentary #2 features writer Walter Chaw.

• "Democratizing Virtual Reality" (13:13, HD) is an interview with director Brett Leonard, who shares his early fandom of sci-fi literature and love of Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Building a career as moviemaker, Leonard wanted to bring technology to his pictures, scoring a success in "The Lawnmower Man," allowed to expand his interest in virtual reality for "Virtuosity," which he claims partially influenced "The Matrix." Casting is explored, highlighting ways to control "wild beast" Russell Crowe, while Denzel Washington required less handling. Technical credits are celebrated, including scoring achievements and soundtrack selections, digital screen work, and visual effects. The helmer closes with a plug for his company, which develops tools for virtual reality therapy, and trumpets the prescience of "Virtuosity" as our A.I.-assisted world is pounded into shape.

• "Ahead of its Time" (13:45, HD) is an interview with producer Gary Lucchesi, who charts his development in Hollywood, becoming an agent in the late 1970s before landing executive roles at Tri-Star Pictures and Paramount Pictures. Self-identifying as a "curious" man, Lucchesi found his way to "Virtuosity," looking to explore virtual reality, discovering director Brett Leonard. Casting is examined, acquiring interest from Denzel Washington, who wanted to sample action cinema, while Russell Crowe was a rising star ready to graduate to bigger films. The interviewee is semi-candid about the endeavor's shortcomings, vaguely pinning some mistakes on Leonard's desire to be the next James Cameron, but he celebrates how "ahead of its time" the effort was, recognizing that 1995 audiences weren't ready for it.

• "Character First" (17:38, HD) is a discussion of casting on "Virtuosity," featuring interviews with casting director Deborah Aquila, and actors Mari Morrow and Stephen Spinella (via video conference). Aquila takes the lead during the featurette, exploring her career and professional demands when it comes to hiring actors for roles. Some on-set activity is shared, and reverence is provided for Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.

• "God Complex" (18:21, HD) is an interview with writer Eric Bernt, who broke into Hollywood via 1994's "Surviving the Game," soon drawn to the mysterious world of artificial intelligence to help inspire "Virtuosity." Story development is inspected, as Bernt pushed to maintain balance between the hero and the villain, also working to flesh out the world for audience enjoyment. The interviewee discusses his working relationship with director Brett Leonard, responding to his technical interests, but also identifying the helmer's struggle with collaboration. Bernt discusses troubling test screenings for "Virtuosity," but suggests audiences weren't ready for the material, noting how much of his work was turned into reality over the last 30 years.

• "A Virtual Reunion" (37:40, HD) is a discussion of interactive screen technology used in "Virtuosity," featuring video conference interviews with director Brett Leonard, and digital art directors Kelly Durkin and Georg Berger.

• Image Gallery (3:40) collects poster art, publicity shots, films stills, and BTS snaps.

• A Theatrical Trailer has not been included on this release.

Virtuosity 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Elements in "Virtuosity" do connect, including colorful, glossy cinematography by Gale Tattersall, and costuming by Francine Jamison-Tanchuck is certainly unique, working to bring some future L.A. to the mid-1990s. And there's Washington, who tries to remain stoic and sharply focused as Barnes, making for an interestingly unsettled protagonist. The rest of the picture tends to slide into ridiculousness, slipping out of Leonard's control as technical details and showy visual effects (which look incredibly crude, but they did in 1995) compete with unrelenting broadness, especially found in Crowe's performance, as he turns pure evil into Ace Ventura-style acting at times. "Virtuosity" is violent and loud, but it also runs out of energy long before it reaches a conclusion. It invests in flashiness and technology to add a special wow factor to the effort, but Leonard's not much of an action craftsman, unable to give the story much impact, despite having the exploitation ingredients to create a VR-enhanced roller coaster ride.