Movie Review: ‘Chimera Strain’

Review by Caitlin Zeigler

Quint (Henry Ian Cusick) is a scientist who’s gone mad after his wife, Jessie (Karishma Ahluwalia) and children Miles (Raviv Haeems) and Flora (Kaavya Jayaram), fall ill. He tries to cure his children, who are in the beginning stages of the disease by freezing them, while figuring out how to use DNA of immortal jellyfish. While he’s working on the cure, he constantly sees and hears his wife and kids and has flashbacks of earlier days. At the same time, he’s hiding out from his former job and agrees to work for a woman named Masterson (Kathleen Quinlan), who will fund his research in exchange for curing someone for her. Masterson doesn’t care about Quint’s family. She only wants his research completed and will do anything to get the cure, including using her righthand woman, Dita Gruze (Erika Ervin). While Quint is dealing with Masterson, his colleague Charlie (Jenna Harrison) from his former job, let’s Quint know that she cares about him and is there to help him in any way. He doesn’t want to let her in without his notes that he left behind. When he does let her in, it turns out to be a big mistake as Masterson isn’t the only one interested in his research.

The plot of this film is good, but the story drags too much for me to be interested in it. The ending was fast paced and shocking and a great way to end it, but it felt like I had to be rewarded to get to see it. Most of the film is Quint doing his research alone and picturing his wife and kids there, even though they aren’t really there. The action and the twist are at the end. I don’t feel like I get anything that can’t be skipped over for the first hour of the movie. It’s one of those films you watch when you’re very bored.