A deadly virus threatens to wipe out an entire Rocky Mountain town, leaving the town doctor to find some way to escape the soldiers who enforce the town’s quarantine and devise an antidote. Matters take a more deadly turn after the physician is captured by a dangerously unstable band of militia extremists.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Wesley McClaren: Steven Seagal
• Floyd Chisolm: Gailard Sartain
• Pogue: Silas Weir Mitchell
• Holly McClaren: Camilla Belle
• Richard Bach: Dan Beene
• Lt. Johnson: Damon Collazo
• Frank: L.Q. Jones
• Big Bob: Brad Leland
• Molly: Molly McClure
• Judge Tomkins: Douglas Sebern
• Clem: Ross Loney
• Col. Harvey: Robert Harvey
• McClaren’s Assistant: Ayako Fujitani
• Grandpa: Leonard Mountain Chief
• Young Militiaman: Philip Winchester

Film Crew:

• Producer: Patrick D. Choi
• Director of Photography: Stephen F. Windon
• Editor: Derek Brechin
• Producer: Howard Baldwin
• Producer: Victor Hwang
• Producer: Nile Niami
• Screenstory: M. Sussman
• Producer: Julius R. Nasso
• Novel: William Heine
• Producer: Steven Seagal
• Production Design: Eve Cauley
• Executive Producer: Avram Butch Kaplan
• Screenplay: John Kingswell
• Stunts: Dane Farwell
• Stunts: Joe Bucaro III
• Original Music Composer: Stephen Edwards
• Director: Dean Semler
• Stunts: Heather Burton
• Casting: Shari Rhodes
• Sound Editor: Mark L. Mangino
• Key Makeup Artist: David Atherton
• Sound Editor: Mark A. Lanza
• Special Effects Coordinator: Michael Wood
• Sound Editor: Michael Chandler
• Costume Design: Rosanna Norton
• Supervising Sound Editor: Sandy Gendler
• Art Direction: Tim Eckel
• Supervising Sound Editor: Jon Johnson
• Music Editor: Dan DiPrima
• Stunt Coordinator: Jon H. Epstein
• Stunts: Diana R. Lupo
• Stunts: Diana Lee Inosanto
• Stunts: Troy Robinson
• Associate Producer: Douglas Kahelemauna Nam
• Associate Producer: Phillip B. Goldfine
• Associate Producer: Karen Elise Baldwin
• Associate Producer: Jeff Flach
• Co-Producer: Paul Mones
• Co-Producer: Doug Metzger
• Hair Designer: Mary L. Hart-Mastro
• Makeup Artist: Juliet Loveland
• Makeup Artist: Kristina Vogel
• Makeup Artist: Christie Garan
• Set Decoration: Daniel Loren May
• Hairstylist: Doreen Vantyne
• Dialogue Editor: Scott G.G. Haller
• Dialogue Editor: Bruce Stubblefield
• Stunts: Danny Rogers
• Special Effects: Brian Wood

Movie Reviews:

• Wuchak: **_Steven Seagal tackles a rebel militia group and a fatal virus in scenic Montana_**
• A holistic doctor in the town of Ennis (Seagal) seeks to find a cure to a deadly disease unleashed by an unhinged paramilitary leader (Gailard Sartain). Meanwhile, a Federal biological response team seals off the area.
• “The Patriot” (1998) smacks of a Western-in-the-modern-day, just meshed with elements of “Outbreak” from 3 years earlier. It’s no where near as compelling as that movie (which had twice the budget), but there’s quite a bit to appreciate, like the southwest Montana locations, the commentary on lethal viruses, the expected action sequences and the focus on medicinal plants & traditional medicine over popping pills, not to mention dubious vaccines.
• Since Seagal is a Conservative who readily exposed the LIEberal “Russian Collusion” propaganda, I wouldn’t take the militia side plot as a demonization of militias or Conservatives. Seagal’s character in the story makes it clear that even a generally positive group of people can be tainted by a wacko leader and misled. The script simply needed a villain and, since there’s no ANTIFA-like groups in small town Montana, the writers opted for the easy target of a militia organization.
• There’s a siege at the beginning reminiscent of the 51-day Waco siege in 1993, which involved the FBI & ATF’s controversial handling of the Branch Davidian compound. McVeigh had visited Waco during that siege and later described the Fed fiasco as a major factor in his radicalization. I’m sure Gailard Sartain’s character in the story, Floyd Chisolm, was modeled after someone like McVeigh.
• This marked the beginning of Seagal’s second decade as a lead actor (he starred in ten movies in the previous ten years, 1988-1997, not including his cameo in “My Giant”). The $25 million budget is quite less than the $60 million it cost to make “Under Siege 2,” but it’s way more than his more recent direct-to-video flicks, which cost $5-6 million or less. Yet $25 million is more than enough to make a competent picture, keeping in mind that his most famous film, “Under Siege,” only cost $5 million more than that.
• It runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Ennis, Montana, as well as nearby Bozeman, which is an hour’s drive to the northwest.
• GRADE: B-