Pandemic (2007) User Reviews

100% generic, but still enjoyable...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 10 May 2017]

When I found "Pandemic" I was a bit hesitant to sit down and watch it, because it had Tiffani Thiessen in the lead role, and for some reason she will always be associated with playing Kelly in "Saved by the Bell" and Valerie in "Beverly Hill 90210". But I still decided to give it a go, because the synopsis did sound interesting enough.

Sure, the storyline is fairly generic and has been done many times before in other similar movies. The storyline is about a rampant disease that is out of control and threatens mankind. The future of mankind hangs at the balance in the hands of a very select few people determined to save it all.

"Pandemic" was entertaining actually for what it turned out to be, and despite being such a generic storyline, there were actually some enjoyable moments throughout the course of the movie. And the storyline actually was entertaining, although it has already been seen before in other such disease movies. The movie is not without its flaws, trust you me, but I will let you pinpoint them by yourself.

My initial reservations towards Tiffani Thiessen were actually put to shame, because she really performed quite well here in this movie, and proved that she has indeed stepped out of those "Saved by the Bell" and "Beverly Hills 90210" shackles. It was somewhat odd to witness French Stewart in a serious role such as this, and he did feel like a fish out of water. Faye Dunaway and Eric Roberts also made some short appearances in the movie and actually did flavor up the movie with their grace and charms.

"Pandemic" is nowhere near being a masterpiece, nor is it an innovative or revolutionary movie in the disease genre - if there is such a genre. But it still turned out to be entertaining and enjoyable.

If you have about almost 3 hours to spare, got "Pandemic" at hand, and have nothing else to do, then perhaps do sit down to watch it. Who knows, you might actually just find it surprisingly enjoyable as I did.

My rating of "Pandemic" is 6 out of 10 stars.

Major Blooper From Fay

[crigslistr · 5/10 · 26 November 2018]

I'm a can of disaster movies and I don't know why. A high rating from me for 90% of them would be a 5 out of 10.

But Pandemic has a good cast and even though it is lengthy, I'm watching on Amazon Prime so I can break it into pieces.

But I did manage to sit up and take not when the Guv, Fay Dunaway, delivered her Marshall Law address. She declared a "dawn to dusk curfew". So the hapless folks of LA can raise the roof at night but come sunrise, they have to be put away their fangs retreat to their homble abodes.

It amazes me that a mistake like that can make to the final cut. But that's what makes watching these types of films fun.

Well done movie with an ensemble cast

[subxerogravity · 6/10 · 21 April 2015]

It seem like a low budget version of the Steven Soderbergh picture, Contagion Like the Soderbergh movie, it has an ensemble cast, but not as all-star as Contagion, unless your huge fans of Tiffani Thiessen(I was more into Jesse Spano), French Stewart of Third rock and low budget movie icon, Eric Roberts. Faye Dunaway is also in the made for TV film.

The cast of characters have to deal with a virus coming from Australia that landed in Los Angeles. Pandemic is quite long which make me think that it may have been a miniseries packaged on DVD as a movie, but in a way that help to weave out a full fledge story without having to worry about missing a few elements of the story and the subplots, which were compelling.

Thumbs up for me.

Q: How many clichés can you cram into a movie? A: The sky's the limit!

[willshagya · 2/10 · 21 November 2007]

First of all, I'm not sure if I remember all of the clichés, so please feel free to add to the list.

Before I start listing, let me say that this is one of the worst movies I have seen in quite a while - and I do watch a lot of movies. If the whole idea behind this movie was to just cliché to cliché to cliché until eternity - they certainly made the best movie ever! But, let's just get on with it and do the list (in no particular order): 1. The dips**t gun nut white supremacist who has watched too many Rambo movies.

2. The Australian who cares about nothing else than surfing.

3. The rogue law enforcement officer (in this case FBI) who breaks the law in order to uphold the law.

4. The national guard being completely out of their depth.

5. The law enforcement officer (same as #3) who's estranged from his wife and doesn't have enough time for his son.

6. The (almost Die Hard type) villain who f**ks everything up and in the end gets caught by the guy from #3,5.

7. The relative of one of the people in charge (in this case the niece of one of the CDC heads) who gets infected, but is saved in the end.

8. The political quarries between the big boss and the little big boss (i.e. governor and mayor).

9. The opportunist who just wants to make a fortune, no matter what.

K, that's all I can remember right now, but that's probably due to the fact, that I subconsciously tried to erase this 'thing' (I just can't bring myself to call this a movie) from my memory, even while I was still watching it! Oh, there's one more person who really ticked me off - the obsessive compulsive photographer, who just made me wanting to take the camera off her and use it to beat her into a bloody pulp with it!!! Sorry, I'm not a violent person, but AARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Pandemic: Quite entertaining all things considered

[Platypuschow · 7/10 · 4 February 2018]

Virus themed movies tend to follow the same formula, and for that reason I always struggle to enjoy them as I already know exactly how it's going to play out.

With an all star cast including Tiffani Thiessen, French Stewart, Faye Dunaway, Eric Roberts to name just a few they pull out all the stops and a couple give career best performances.

Telling the story of a new virus outbreak and how it breaks containment and spreads through Los Angeles like wildfire.

Standing at almost three hours in length nobody can say the movie isn't thorough. With fantastic character development, decent writing and a competent cast this rises above most films of this sub genre.

Thiessen surprisingly delivers like I've never seen her do so before and even Roberts is less hammy than usual.

I enjoyed this, for all it's flaws it's a well made film.

The Good:

Cast do a great job

Well written

Movie length really helps no end

The Bad:

A lot of it you'll have seen before

Spano is still stupidly unlikeable

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Gun toting right wing militia types doing stupid things?! LIES!

Framework only.

[dskauai_bunch · 23 December 2011]

This might have been an interesting movie. The storyline of a pandemic spreading like wildfire may be a cliché, but when done well, could have been decent. Unfortunately, I saw this movie and simply had to laugh at things that were not taken care of anywhere near a "real world" scenario. For instance, if you were trying to keep 6 million people in one place, you'd use more than a single wooden 2x4 painted barricade across the road.

An interesting premise, but that's all it is - a premise that went into production as a "movie" without any further thought.

The B-list-at-best cast certainly doesn't help.

I grade it as 3/10 for being bad enough to be laughable, but not make me throw things at the screen.

By the end of the 3 hours . . .

[cwoliver-1 · 1/10 · 3 November 2007]

you'll realize that the characters didn't really die, but the movie did. In fact the movie was DOA. This movie misses the mark in so many ways I can't count them. It was nice, however, to see French Stewart in a semi-serious role.

Overacting abounds with little believability in any character. I just wasn't convinced that this story was real. The story idea wasn't a bad one but the writing was stupid. The doctor saves the day by coming up with a treatment and immediately applies it to her niece. No board/peer review or informed treatment? I guess ethics is no longer a required course in med schools. The technical effects were also wanting - when they put Kayla's niece on "a respirator" it turns out to be a simple continuous-feed oxygen mask. I could go on but I won't waste anymore time with examples - watch and see for yourself.

While I'm willing to suspend disbelief, the movie can't ask that I suspend ALL disbelief forever. And that's what Pandemic does.

1 out of 10

An Immensely Watchable, And At Times Unsettling, Piece Of Work

[timdalton007 · 7/10 · 30 March 2020]

In the age of cable, the miniseries format got something of a second life. Even as network TV seemingly abandoned them, they thrived on many a channel. 2007's Pandemic, the winner of a WGA award for its script the following year, is one such example of the format's re-invention. Not to mention one that has, with recent events, been getting a much deserved second life of its own.

Dealing with a flu outbreak, which comes to be known as the Riptide Virus, there are plenty of echoes of what's happening now. There's a team of doctors trying to contain the disease, often struggling with both patients and political leaders. There are scenes of panic buying and profiteering. The miniseries also shows what happens when members of the public choose to ignore warnings, breaking quarantines to get on with their lives. There's even a group of conspiracy theorists who end up insisting that the government is up to nefarious ends, despite all the evidence. We also get to see versions of what governments are now terming social distancing and see characters in self-isolation. And, in one scene that's become eerily prophetic thanks to reports from Spain, the use of an ice skating rink as a makeshift morgue. It's clear that writer's Bryce and Jackie Zabel did some homework going into this, and it benefits the production, in particular with hindsight.

Pandemic has other things going for it, of course. One of which is its large ensemble cast, taking in all sorts of perspectives. They range from Tiffani Thiessen's CDC scientist to French Stewart as her colleague, Eric Roberts as the mayor of LA, Bruce Boxleitner as his political advisor, Robert Curtis Brown as a slimy realtor whose cockiness helps spread the virus further, and Faye Dunaway as the Governor of California. The direction of Armand Mastroianni adds much to the piece, such as the series of quick cuts that visually show the journey of the Riptide Virus from an Australian beach onto the streets of LA. The score from veteran composer Kevin Kiner, while louder than it needs to be in places thanks to the mix, adds tension to the proceedings neatly as well. Given the made for TV budget, it looks and sounds pretty good across the three hours.

Not that the miniseries isn't without its faults, however. At three hours, it's perhaps inevitable there are parts of the Zabel's script that don't hold up or seem contrived. One particular subplot, involving Michael Massee as a drug baron who not only happens to be on the same flight as patient zero but who gets busted out of quarantine, only to then steal the anti-viral drug needed to fight the outbreak, comes across as convoluted. Indeed, it's purpose seems to be adding both a couple of action sequences and the overall running time. Others seem to fizzle out despite the attention given to them, like the aforementioned conspiracy theorists, for example. There's some casting that doesn't quite work too, such as Vincent Spano's FBI agent whose performance comes across as stiff and a little cliched, and some of the smaller supporting roles suffer in places from that as well. None of these are fatal flaws, by any means, though they do keep the miniseries from being better than it is.

On the whole, though, Pandemic is a solid miniseries. From a smart script to its ensemble cast and some neat moments of direction, there's plenty to recommend it for across its three-hour running time. Indeed, even with its flaws, it remains an immensely watchable, and at times unsettling, piece of work.

About as inventive as the telephone book

[saintcecilia · 2/10 · 5 November 2007]

I should start by confessing that I didn't last the distance on this movie - I bailed when we got to the traditional gooey sentimental bits - but I can't resist a good disaster movie. This was not one of them.

The start was not promising. Note to producers - if you want to show someone just coming out of the water from surfing, make sure there's something more than a six inch break in the background. There's actually very little surfing in far North Queensland because the Great Barrier Reef stops the swell from coming in. Second note to producers - there is no way you could get from far North Queensland to Sydney by car in 8 hours.

After that, things got a little better. A bit of character establishment on the plane (so we care about them later when they keel over) though I do wonder why there only seemed to be one stewardess. The landing, unloading of body and passengers and the setting up of the ERC was all low key and convincing. The hovering media rang true but I cannot believe that the Head of the CDC would be so incompetent at handling them.

Then it started to get gooey and silly. Gangsters being broken out with no security to be seen. Nieces having to take taxis and thus getting the virus because career-oriented mothers and aunts can't spare the time to pick her up (and can I say that the niece got to the coughing up blood stage remarkably fast). Touching farewells between FBI colleagues - "Hey, you're going to die (maybe he didn't), it's been nice knowing you."

That was when I gave a less than touching farewell to this movie.

Watch Pandemic during the Pandemic

[eyesorecozza · 7/10 · 15 March 2021]

Ofcourse this is dated and full of plot holes but that adds to it's charm. The characters are clumsy and cliché but it's so watchable. Now we are living through a pandemic, it makes you feel like more of an expert to watch this and say, 'well that wouldn't happen'. It's fun.

Forrest Gump meets Outbreak.

[CyberShaggy · 1/10 · 10 October 2008]

What can one say, the idea was there, the execution wasn't. This made for television disaster flick lacked intensity. A person with bird flu type symptoms dies on board a plane from Sydney to L.A. The plane, passengers and crew are quarantined, this is all fine. The passengers are moved off the plane to waiting buses, there is little supervision at this point letting a passenger get away. Mistake 1. No government agency would allow such a potentially deadly virus to escape like this. The E.R.C has people with and without bio suits entering and exiting through the same door, Mistake 2. You would enter through one door, change into protective equipment, then enter the quarantine area. you would exit through decontaminating showers and change into new clothes in another area, or you would just spread the infection. The National Guard uses a few wooden barriers to block the road during the quarantine allowing the quarantine to be breached twice. Mistake 3. They would have had armoured vehicles across the road as mobile barricades, every National Guard unit has more than a few. The passenger that escaped walked through the airport, how many people had just got off planes and were catching domestic flights to elsewhere in the U.S? Mistake 4. The virus would have shown up in other cities as containment was breached, just as it did in other cities around the globe. There is a lack of urgency by all those involved, particularly the CDC. How did the head of the CDC, who was taken hostage by the convicted drug smuggler before it was found that Tamiflu was ineffective, know the timing of the drug transport for the drug that was found to be at least partially effective? In such a situation, where was the armed escort? Where is USAMRIID in all this? Would the Federal Government really sit on it's hands and let the locals really stuff this up? Surely there are protocols in place that would have been activated, or are U.S authorities really this stupid? Watch this Movie at your own peril.

Spot on depiction of how a pandemic would play out

[lemner · 8/10 · 21 February 2021]

It was spooky watching this in the middle of a real pandemic. They really predicted a lot of aspects of the disaster that we've seen happening with Covid. Spread from animals to people, traveling around the world through airplane travel, person to person transmission on surfaces and through coughing, people unwilling to quarantine, clearing out the supermarkets, hoarding, frontline and healthcare workers dying, needing cold facilities to store all the bodies as morgues and funeral homes are overwhelmed, mass graves, political jousting, and even "patriots" thinking it was a deep state conspiracy. It was amazingly prescient. They showed it progressing through different parts of society, but kept enough focus on the main characters to keep viewers engaged and caring. I'm surprised it doesn't have a higher rating.

Not a bad series but not written well.

[mrmgarnham · 6/10 · 28 May 2022]

Another warning from TV history that wasn't heeded by Authorities 13 years later. Good miniseries badly written. If you manage to overlook the terrible writing the overall plot is good with a good cast.

Writer is Poorly Informed

[parhat · 4/10 · 26 June 2009]

Given any good story you need a good topic, premise, plot, focus and character. Given a story of scientific and legal in nature a writer must have good familiarity in these realm. He has none of it. It's a made for t.v. show. Given a good story line, most amateur writing will focus on too many characters, in this case, a wanted criminal, a rifle crazed man, a rogue FBI agent, two politicians competing for power, an all powerful CDC officer who don't really have a power, and the not too serious emergency response team. Characters are cardboard cliché', a plot whose ending found a cure for her daughter who got Riptide? The premise is too unbelievable, the plot lacks focus. This writer should watch more blockbusters. Originally one of the best movie Rwanda Hotel had too many characters, until the writer found out and decided to focus on one man. Most movies are focused on relatively few major actor not exceeding 2-3. Take Something's Gotta Give, Jerry Maguire, Rain Man, Die Hard, for example focused on relatively few characters, mostly 2-3 making up 80% of the movie screen. And those characters are a strong one, take the Dark Knight, the Joker, Batman, Superman, Snow White, etc. Given the basics, there is problem about the lack of understanding protocols and laws. The CDC, just can't walk around everywhere, certain laws have to be considered when an act of quarantine is considered. For one thing, the first law is Title 42 United States Code Section 264 (Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act) gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) responsibility for preventing the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and within the United States and its territories/possessions. The second issue of the President, by Executive Order, which is Under the procedures required under the PHS Act, the list of diseases for which quarantine is authorized must first be specified in an Executive Order of the President, on recommendation of the HHS Secretary. By amending the list to include types of influenza that either cause or have the potential to cause a pandemic. As to the knowledge of Tamifl and ways or eradicating the virus, where are sanitation procedures, in place? The seriousness of quarantine, the authority's control over the situation, the closing of public places, the media frenzy into the area, the military action in closing off the area, instead of CDC giving the "idea" of closing off the region. The sudden shock of death. The movie is like there is fire in the house, and people are walking out of the house while they are sleepwalking. If there's any problem about making movies, it's the crappy writing I see all the time. To prevent this I believe that each scenes or plots are organized into modules where parts can be deleted, and characters are focused only 2-3 character through an entire time line of events, and the methodology of quarantine control, should ignore the obvious solution such as vaccines, someone who is immunized to the disease, and other cliché's so common in virus plagued. And in any T.V. drama, people should start being more serious of the circumstances instead of just waking in their sleep. In any event H3N7 virus and other things are interesting, but sanitation, and organized quarantine procedures the writer has difficult understanding the magnitude of the problem, as in most t.v. shows I have seen. To make a good story, the character must huff and puff until the house is blown down. It doesn't start by just sleep walking around the house either.

great disaster movie! nothing wrong with any of it

[tallyho-34810 · 10 May 2020]

I don't understand all the negative reviews here, I loved watching this movie Pandemic. As of today 5-10-20 it was included in my Amzon Prime membership to watch for free, so I did. I've watched a lot of disaster type movies lately, about the end of the world, societal breakdown, rampant viruses or disease, etc. And "Pandemic" was one of the best! Sure a couple of the plot-lines or even some characters' actions were a bit far-fetched or illogical (you want to yell at the screen....why didn't you do it this way?!?!) but overall I give this 10 stars!

A great movie RUINED by the final scene!

[newlifeintegrity · 4/10 · 3 September 2016]

Having experience in making movies, my son and I really enjoyed this film for its continued suspense, drama, and plot twists, except for the very last scene. The movie strongly led you to believe that there would be reconciliation between the lead male and his estranged wife and son. But for some inexplicable reason, during the very last scene, the lead male character suddenly shows interest in the female lead character where there was no previous romantic connection between them. This last scene completely spoiled an otherwise good movie. I would have rated this movie an 8 out of 10 if it was not for the terrible ending. What were they thinking?!

Reality underplayed

[hayleysmith-83592 · 7/10 · 28 September 2020]

I watched this for the first time in September 2020.... some of us are coming out of the COVID-19 world pandemic... this TV show was such a mild version of what our reality currently is.

The fast spread, ignoring the recommended health warnings and extensive deaths are made out to be extreme in this show.

I honestly watched this and thought maybe if everyone had seen this prior to our world pandemic maybe, just maybe some people would have responded better to our current situation. Obviously COVID-19 is miles worse then this virus but if we had of just learnt one thing from this show, I wish it was how easily we can spread a virus. How such small things can have a huge impact on those around us.

This show is so close to our reality, that to me it seemed like it for told our future.

fear based mess just like in 2020

[ThunderKing6 · 4/10 · 20 August 2020]

It's an ok product. It was basically fear based propaganda.

The acting is poor. The story is ok.

Verdict: If you are looking for a mini horror entertainment this product may scare you a tiny bit.

Very bad movie

[TheNonSmoker · 1/10 · 16 October 2021]

Not entertaining, only overhyped and misleading, the movie is not even slightly entertaining, just a waste of time, not felt any thrill while watching this.

Boring and bad acting

[sharengon · 3/10 · 25 April 2020]

I felt that the acting in this movie was very bad. I felt like they were just saying the lines. There was no change in expressions on their face the entire movie. Dragged on too long with too many externals stories. Ending was horrible. Too much repition when two people touched each other and got the virus, with annoying background music.

The only good part is that sometimes it was exciting and you were like what will happen next But after that you would get bored again.

It was not horrible but I would not recommend because acting is awful and it is too long.

Good quarantine movie SPOILER ALERT

[YesWeCan2017 · 10/10 · 28 March 2020]

Enjoy while you are in quarantine. It's a good way to fill 2.5 hours and there's a wonderful happy ending.

It'll be Ok

[lesanncats · 9/10 · 14 November 2021]

Tried to watch CONTAGION. Made to believe this was it. Saw about an hour, then again with my wife. Finally recorded CONTAGION on TV. Not the same. Good but not memorable. Finally saw the rest of the PANDEMIC mini-series. Riveting and followable. Too many characters can easily confuse me. I don't tend toward espionage; so it didn't bore me as dejà vu. What did he whisper into Vicente's ear? The imagination is much better! TB a hero? Well, check out the original WAR OF THE WORLDS. Anyway, very enjoyable and gripping for me. Hope I didn't give too much away.

Be prepared for any future pandemic.

[alanbourbeau24 · 10/10 · 23 March 2022]

Regardless of whether if this movie is only fictional or not. The bottom line is any dangerous pandemic like Covid-19 should be taken seriously. When the Covid-19 pandemic began escalating out of control, some people fortunately managed to recover. And the rest unfortunately died of the pandemic such as my primary health care physician. Now don't think of this movie as entertainment. Think of it as future preparation. Fortunately I myself have taken extreme caution by wearing a mask and sanitation plus I've been fully vaccinated.

Well.. We have seen this played out on screen & in real life,so.. A bit cynical of a review.

[ts-0000 · 14 June 2023]

This movie feels like a bad parody of the pandemic over the past years,but considering it was made in 2007 guess not much really changed how disasters are handled.

This was full of holes the size of the Grand Canyon plot wise,to clichés that are overdone right out of a play book.

It had a good cast listing but acting to overall storyline,was rather dull in delivery.

Eye rolled pretty hard when the niece was given the first treatment over anyone,without any type of testing prior incase of side-effects.

Of course big disasters happen in.. LA or New York,well.. Except in Outbreak,centered around a small town.

Worth seeing? If you like the actors or aren't burnt out with pandemic stuff,but overall skip it!