Outbreak MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +3 1/2 Content: -2 1/2

Imagine a virus so powerful it kills its victim within 48 hours with no way to stop it. A virus so frightening and so unstoppable that the President would be willing to annihilate an entire town to prevent its spreading. This is the scenario for OUTBREAK. Colonel Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman) and his ex-wife, Robby Keough (Rene Russo), both work for the Center for Disease Control. They are forced to work together when the Motaba virus breaks out in a small town in California. Circumstances become complicated when Daniels discovers there had been an effective vaccine developed for Motaba, but the vaccine is now useless because the virus has mutated. The only hope is for Daniels to locate the host of the virus, which is a monkey, and develop a new antiserum. The suspense mounts as Robby becomes infected, and Daniels has only 48 hours to develop a new serum. And if these odds are not enough excitement for you, the government's solution is to blow up the town, sacrificing it for the safety of the nation. OUTBREAK's suspense will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

Though some scenes are intense, Daniels' sense of humor lightens the mood somewhat. The moral dilemma of destroying a whole town for the sake of the nation creates unbelievable pressure to find a better solution. To his credit, Col. Daniels refuses to accept the government's destructive choice. Most of the violence is minimal with guns being fired, and results in no injuries or deaths. The most disturbing scenes occur when the infected victims and those in danger because of contact with the monkey are forced to leave their families. Gruesome views of dead and dying victims with bleeding sores on their faces, and some going into convulsions may not be gratuitous, but they are certainly difficult to watch. The frequency of obscenities and profanities in the film's dialogue, however, is gratuitous. Absence of offensive expletives would not make the movie less appealing - what's the purpose? OUTBREAK is fast-paced, good-conquers-all adult entertainment muddied by foul language.

Preview Reviewer: Sherry Oswald
Distributor: Warner Bros., 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522