ANTIBODY

Robin Givens and Lance Henriksen

ANTIBODY (Made-for-Cable/2002). Director: Christian McIntire.  

In Munich a terrorist named Moran (Julian Vergov) has placed a detonator to a massive bomb inside his own body. If he dies the bomb will detonate, demolishing the entire city and everyone in it. When Moran is shot, he is taken into custody and put under, while a team of scientists -- along with former FBI agent Gaynes (Lance Henriksen) -- are miniaturized, put into a sub called the Helix, and injected into Moran's body, where they only have a certain number of hours to find and destroy the detonator. The stakes are even larger when the team discover that Moran also placed bombs in several other cities, including Paris, where Gaynes' daughter is. 

Okay, it's obvious that Antibody -- an offering of what was then known as the Sci Fi Channel -- is a complete rip-off of the vastly superior Fantastic Voyage. Admittedly, Antibody has come up with a clever alternate scenario, and the film is especially suspenseful in the tense final minutes, but it's a major understatement that it doesn't get any points for originality. The prologue of the film depicts Gaynes dealing with a terrorist bomb in the Russian consulate in New York, a situation that doesn't work out so well, forcing the agent into private security management in Germany. The prologue is exciting and well-handled, as are the early scenes with Moran and his men invading a conference in Munich. 

Once inside Moran's body, the FX are nowhere nears as good nor as elaborate as in Fantastic Voyage. The danger comes from white blood cells, which look like something from a video game, and there are also some lively skin mites that are somehow in the blood stream and are creepy scuttling creations. To distract the white blood cells, the head of the team, Dr. Saverini (Robin Givens), orders cold viruses to be injected into Moran's body. 

a skin mite attacks the sub

As for the actors, both Henriksen and Givens give satisfactory performances, although they rarely seem to be displaying the extreme fear or tension they would be feeling in such a bizarre situation, at least not until the final moments. As an ice cool former agent, Henriksen plays it essentially in an unemotional fashion -- he was criticized for this -- but I at least think he hit the right note considering the level of the material. The supporting performances are mostly more than competent. It's interesting that the Helix apparently has no seat belts despite the fact that it is noted in the dialogue that a trip through the heart will be difficult (as it was in Fantastic Voyage). Also amusing is Henriksen's comment when Givens complains about the quality of the men she's been dating. "Brad Pitiful?" he says. 

Verdict: Watchful but highly derivative sci-fi with some interesting aspects. **1/2.