Russell Crowe Is The Sci-Fi Villain To Denzel Washington's Hero In This '90s Cyberpunk Movie

Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are two of the most successful actors in Hollywood, both critically acclaimed in their own right. Crowe has starred in Oscar-winning films like Ron Howard's John Nash biopic "A Beautiful Mind," the 2012 film adaptation of musical "Les Misérables," and action epic "Gladiator" (for which he won the best actor Oscar in 2001). Likewise, Washington has numerous award-winning films to his name, including biographical epic "Malcolm X," cop drama "Training Day," and civil war epic "Glory" (winning Oscars for the latter two).

It's no surprise then that pairing these two revered masters of their craft together for a film can be a recipe for success, as 2007's "American Gangster" proved. However, over a decade before Crowe and Washington starred in Ridley Scott's crime drama, they went toe-to-toe in a very different film.

Back in 1995, Paramount Pictures pitted the two against each other in "Virtuosity," a sci-fi cyberpunk film about the threat A.I. can pose — released long before A.I. became a part of our everyday lives. But, despite the two Hollywood titans leading this cyber thriller, it was far from Oscar-worthy, with many critics hating the '90s sci-fi movie, and it becoming largely forgotten.

Directed by Brett Leonard ("The Lawnmower Man") and released in 1995, "Virtuosity" follows former L.A. cop Parker Barnes (Washington), who's been imprisoned for murdering the person that killed his family. While incarcerated, Barnes is recruited into a new virtual-reality program with the aim to capture an A.I.-generated villain — modeled on the personalities of multiple serial killers — called SID 6.7 (Crowe), who's gained sentience and escaped into the real world. It's up to Barnes to apprehend or destroy the villainous A.I. before it goes on a killing spree.

Despite its A-list leading men, "Virtuosity" was a critical flop. The Austin Chronicle described the film as "95 minutes of unsubstantial firefights and meandering plot twists," while the San Francisco Chronicle called it "disconnected and uninvolving." The LA Times, on the other hand, offered a more mixed review, describing the sci-fi film as a "sleek, brutal techno-thriller that generates nonstop action, but for at least some of us the fun is spoiled by its numbing body count and murky story line."

"Virtuosity" has a 30% (certified "Rotten") Rotten Tomatoes rating, with the critics consensus describing the film as "woefully deficient in thrills or common sense" and its story's vision of the future as "depressingly short on imagination." Likewise, "Virtuosity" sports a "Generally Unfavorable" 39 Metascore on MetaCritic. The film was also a box office flop, grossing $24 million domestically and $37 million worldwide on a reported $30 million production budget.

Crowe and Washington have been honest about the poor reception to "Virtuosity"." In an interview with the African American Literature Book Club (via Far Out Magazine) to promote "American Gangster," Crowe and Washington reflected on the film, with the former sarcastically calling it a "wonderful movie". ""That was just a momentary lapse, wasn't it?," Crowe told the publication. "We were both young then, young and innocent." Washington then added: "Not after that movie. We were old and tired."

Washington also playfully revealed his reason for signing on to the sci-fi flop while speaking with The Interview in 2025. When asked whether he'd ever taken an acting job for the money, the actor laughingly replied: "I've taken every job for money. There's no job I've taken where I went, 'you know what you guys just keep the money'."

Washington went on to explain this was true for '90s action movie "Ricochet," and "especially true" for "Virtuosity," as he "had some bills to pay." "Virtuosity" definitely had something to do with tuition, I'm sure." "Virtuosity" is available to stream on Paramount Plus.