4 Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 27, 1985 Gene splicing thriller mutates drama By Chris Lauer I T'S STRANGE that a movie with such pretentions to be concerned with biohazardous materials, misguided genetic engineering, and the preservation of the human species should bash its characters around in bloody, grotesque drama like so much meat on a stick. As if the equally crude ap- proximations of life that are the good guys and bad guys really mattered - the latter sporting man-made-virus- induced flourescent zits and the for- mer spouting pathologically clean dialogue from the bottom of the dialogue editors' (yes there are dialogue editors) polyurethane- pumping hearts. As if this was the way great souls put down insurrec- tions of evil. As if a couple of car- dboard boxes could save the world. Warning Sign is a textbook B-movie that isn't even fun, which is the necessary excuse for a B-movie. Un- doubtedly from the same intellectual mold as the nuclear power plant thriller The China Syndrome and TV- movie cheap-effect extravaganza of all time The Day After - Warning Sign concerns biological warfare research and what happens when a killer virus gets loose. The virus is supposed to cause "maximum tactical confusion" and imminent death. Kathleen Quinlan plays a security guard immune to the virus trapped inside a quarantined lab with ap- proximately 100 scientists turned hyperactive zombies. The security guard is that resourceful woman kind of heroine - always managing to stop lab-coated zombies just in time with a fire extinguisher or some other neat trick. Here's the heartwarming part: The woman is in radio contact with the town's sheriff Sam Waterston, a grown-up Boy Scout with a gun - a sort of poor man's Jimmy Stewart - who happens to be her husband. Naturally, the oh-so-cold government investigators on the scene won't let him rescue her. Naturally, he tries. But not without the help of a cynical middle-aged doctor-type, zucchini pancakes and all, played by Jeffery DeMunn. The doctor character would be ex- tra baggage in the movie if the sheriff weren't too down-home to be able to find the anti-toxin himself. (The sheriff still seems to show a fair knowledge of biochemistry.) But given the doctor character, the movie also uses him for some self-indulgent and probably cheap-effect motivated moralizing about bioethics. But he's so intensely "good guy" and the government so "bad guy" that drawing lessons from this movie would be like treating Marvel Comics like Scripture. I don't think this movie intended to provide social commen- tary anyway, just like if The Day Af- ter had really meant to be a weighty message why would the network in- tersperse it with Mr. Coffee commer- cials. It's what movies like Warning Sign and The Day After pretend to be that irks me. It's the drama of grotesquely deformed faces and scientists turned ax murderers that matters in Warning Sign, and the fact that it relies on the volatility of an emotional issue only makes the movie more dramatic - albeit base. Unfortunately the audience is never able to share in the suspense. I hope the filmmakers didn't seriously 4 A When a 4 hour test counts as much as 4 years of school, youd better be prepared. LSAT,GMAT,GRE classes forming now 4 Kathleen Quinlan and Sam Waterson brace for 'maximum tactical confusion' as man meets virus. LSAT GMAT MCAT SAT GRE Preparation for LSAT, GMAT, GRE, MCAT, SAT. Day and evening, weekday and weekend classes. Guarantee: Score in the top 25% or take the next course free. 1-800-222-TEST. The National Center for Educational Testing NationalCenter believe people would identify with their good guy characters. The dialogue is spewed forth with almost consummate rankness - I'm sure if I saw the movie again I could find a line even worse than the B- movie classic uttered by Harrison Ford in Force 10 From Naverone: "If we don't blow this baby, the Yugoslavs'll be dog meat." How can one get involved in a story with the actors backing you off with smaller- than-life bits of verbal repulsiveness? Meanwhile there's about 100 guys in I I lab coats with flourescent zits all over their faces running around in the unrealistically and overbearingl technological-looking laboratork smashing every test tube and head in sight. These are the bad guys. Some of them have names, but forget thai - they all look the same. I was ab confused, though not quite as violerf- tly disposed, as they were. This kind of confusion is not tactical; it's just shoddy craftsmanship. There's more to being the main villain than having a couple of more lines than the othe~r4 bad guys. The ax seemed to be the weapon of choice of most of the zombie scien- tists. Axes, along with windows 4o break and heads to split seemed tok growing on (genetically altered) trees, so to speak. Not to give the plot of this mus- miss film away, but let's just say thi the good doctor is faster at coming up with instantaneously effective anti- toxins than Dr. McCoy of U.S.S. Ea terprise fame. UB40 aims high with reggae pop UB40, the English reggae band wie an eye to the American pop charts, seems to be well on its way. As drummer James Brown said, "We're simply looking to establish reggae as pop music." UB40, who take their name from ah unemployment benefit form, play down the political aspect of thi4 music, saying, "the music is the im- portant thing. We care about the lyrics, but we've never believed that the success of the band depends on the lyrical content of the music." Nonetheless, commercialitfy depends on the strength of a band' singles - and UB40's have progressed quite a bit. The band's 1983 release, Labour of Love was an album of cover songs from a wide range of other established reggae bands. 1984 brought Geoffery Morgan, and with it a spicier variet to the band's reggae flavor. The hi point of this album is that 'h showcased their own songwritiiig credentials. UB40's latest release is the EP Lit- tle Baggariddim - which makesa direct attempt to crack the pp charts with its first single, "I've Got4 You, Babe." By performing this ren- dition of Sonny and Cher's '70s hit with established pop star Chrissi Hynde, and seeking more MTV e - posure, UB40 is unquestionably looking for pop success. UB40 have proved with their latest material that they can make reggae form of pop music. For an excellet glimpse of their beat in action, they will be performing at the H Auditorium this Sunday, Septem 29th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are availab at the Michigan Union Ticket Office.' - n b BLOOM COUNTY MI UI tt 1''ni N : W