Sole Survivor (2000)

This movie is so prolonged it is awfully annoying.The dialogs are to lengthy and the flashbacks are too many.The story takes too much of a twist, genetically designed children, child # 2121?, ridiculous. Parts of this movie were okay, but the story line was too drawn out. It became almost too hard to endure. The main character was okay but the CIA agent tracking him was too corny, too much of an idiot character to even watch.I saw this movie on the Mystery channel and thought that it was all a waste of time once the movie winded down.This movie turned out to be more of a sci-fi film than a horror film. Nothing scary about this film at all. I don't know, but maybe that was what this movie was supposed to be classified as.

I think this was a very enjoyable movie, even if it wasn't exactly the same as the book. There is no way that you can expect a story written by Dean Koontz to translate to a TV broadcast, even a 4 hour mini-series, without having some problems. I don't think it would have been as "perfect" as everyone seems to want, even if it had been a 10 hour mini-series. I seem to remember reading an article about Stephen King several years ago and I believe he said that his stories translate to the screen best if he does the screenplay, but even then they aren't perfect. What you should do is read the books for the full story and let your mind be the screen. If you decide to watch the movie or TV broadcast, enjoy it as another 'telling of the story'. If you can't accept that some things are going to be different, then you should probably stick to the books. Remember, it's only a movie, 'Suspend Belief' and enjoy yourself!

SOLE SURVIVOR Aspect ratio: 1.78:1Sound format: Stereo(2 episodes)The trouble with Dean Koontz's literary thrillers is that - for all his undoubted writing talent and his ability to create indelible characters and believable environments through skillful prose - the stories themselves are usually as bland and predictable as you could possibly imagine. Which makes them perfect fodder for the insatiable conveyor belt of American TV, as demonstrated by this little time-waster, co-produced by Koontz himself, and written by Richard Christian Matheson based on Koontz's novel. Clearly in it for the money, Billy Zane (who seems determined to make himself look as unattractive as possible - he doesn't quite succeed, but that HAIR!) loses his wife and daughter in a horrific air crash, only to discover their deaths were linked to disturbing scientific experiments conducted inside a super-secret government research center. Cue the villainous government agents (led by a terrific John C. McGinley, who can do this kind of 'slimy villain' role in his sleep), determined to prevent Zane from discovering the truth, which naturally encourages him to do just that.This two-part mini-series, directed by former cinematographer Mikael Salomon (also responsible for the 2004 update of 'SALEM'S LOT), dangles enough intriguing clues about the film's Ultimate Secret to keep viewers hooked to the very end, but it's bogged down by a series of lengthy dialogue exchanges, and the climactic revelations are hardly the stuff of Great Drama. Production values are polished, but cast and crew are simply going through the motions.

Caught this on the UK Sci-Fi channel over two nights and I really enjoyed it. Billy Zane is excellent and playing a more mature and vulnerable character than usual, a very convincing family man. The little girl '21-21' really reminded me of my own daughter so I had a lump in my throat at the end (if you aren't a 'daddy' you won't understand!). The Yates character was certainly over-the-top, but still (just) believable, as he got more and more frustrated in the chase and let's face it, he got all the best lines. I love science-fantasy material rather than horror, and although I haven't read the book, I will be keeping an eye out for it. A first-rate TV mini-series.