Released in 1995 this hit from director Wolfgang Petersen (Line of Fire,Air Force One) is brought to you courtesy of Warner Home Video. Warner have been an excellent contributor to the growth of DVD thus far and I believe should be supported by us in any way possible.

Outbreak sports an excellent cast including Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland so with all those stars in one movie why would'nt it be a big hit. It is the story of an expert virulogist Sam Daniels (Hoffman) in his battle to contain a deadly virus in a small american town. The virus made it's way to this Californian community courtesy of a monkey smuggled in from Zaire, Africa.

Daniels is not only battling the virus but also the US Army who have another secret agenda for this deadly disease and whp pursuade the President to authorise the complete firebombing of the town and everybody in it. This is a great suspenseful movie in a race against time to save the town and the world from this virus.

From the opening scene this is a class movie, the first few minutes you'll want to turn up your Home Theatre very loud as the gun battle and bombing sequence is something that will rock the house. Interestingly enough the part of Daniels was originally intended to be played by Harrison Ford.

The transfer is good but I would not go as far to say that it is demo quality. Although not as noticeably as good as recent transfers e.g The Fifth Element the picture is still clean with good colours and it is well detailed. The film is presented in both Pan & Scan and the theatrical letterbox (1.85:1) release. The letterbox version is preferable but not that much is cropped if you decide to watch the Pan and Scan version.

The audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and the usual Pro Logic downmix, The digital track is great especially in the opening sequence previously mentioned above with bombs, bullets and explosions whizzing all around you. This movie seems to be the demo Laserdisc for AC-3 sound in the majority of Home Theatre stores in my area and for good reason. Features include Interactive menus, production notes, star bios and chapter scene access. Overall a great dvd for your collection.

Languages: English & French. Subtitles English, French and Spanish. 16 x 9 Anamorphically enhanced.