I remember seeing commercials for this made-for-TV
movie on the Sci-Fi channel and really wanting to catch it.
Unfortunately, wanting to see it and remembering what night it’s on are
two completely different things. How different? Think Martha Stewart
and Mother Theresa. Unfortunately, since I no longer watch the Sci-Fi
channel nor officially support anything they do ever since they screwed
over the cast, crew and fans of “Farscape” by canceling them at the last
possible second, I never caught another viewing of “Antibody”. Well,
thank goodness for DVD releases because now I can watch it without
giving the Sci-Fi Channel two hours of my viewing time.
Dr. Richard Gaynes (Lance Henriksen, “Mimic:
Sentinel”) is a top-notch bomb defuser for the FBI, only he seems to
have met his match when he orders the killing of a terrorist being held
at the airport who happens to be holding the trigger. As soon as the
villain’s pulse stops, the bomb goes off. Oops. Guess who the
scapegoat is? A year later, Gaynes finds himself in Germany running his
own security company. Unfortunately, he can’t even seem to do that very
well and another terrorist saunters right on in and attempts to hold the
country hostage.
Yes, there’s another bomb, only this one is big
enough to lay waste to everything for close to fifty miles and leave
enough radioactive fallout to last a solid six years. The catch? The
trigger is inside the terrorist and killing him will set it off. It
doesn’t take long before the terrorist is subdued (though kept alive)
and Gaynes is brought in by some scientists for a desperate mission.
He’s about to be shrunk down, sent in with a team lead by Dr. Rachel
Saverini (Robin Givens, “Boomerang”) in an experimental craft and forced
to fend off the body’s defenses in order to locate the trigger and
disarm it. Whew!
One of the main attractions to watching this film
is the special effects, which are pretty sweet in some sequences.
Unfortunately, it does not a successful movie make. The saving grace
here is Lance Henriksen. Despite supporting roles in films like
“Mangler 2”, Henriksen proves once again that the man can helm an
average film and make it something a little extra special. Even Givens
does what she can despite being given stilted dialogue and a cast of
supporting players who couldn’t act their way out of a paper bag.
Director Christian McIntire is smart enough to understand the material
is so-so and instead lets his lead actors do what they do best; chew up
the screen. I can respect that!
First Look Home Entertainment has released
“Antibody” in a very nice looking Full Screen transfer. Since this was
made-for-TV, I’m assuming this is the correct aspect ratio. Video
quality is quite nice and the audio matches. Okay, I even liked the
theme music. It must have reminded me of something from the 80s. As
for extras, there’s a trailer. Too bad McIntire didn’t do a commentary
for this because I would have loved to have heard what it was like
putting the project together. It looks like the cast had a ton of fun.
“Antibody” is one of those rare films where it
shouldn’t have worked, that the special effects were the only reason to
watch it, but somehow you end up far more entertained than you have any
right to be. Okay, more than I had any right to be. It was fun and I
really enjoyed it, especially Henriksen.
