It is hard to believe that THE DARWIN CONSPIRACY was made in 1999 as it plays like really bad TV of the 1970's; indeed, the director's earliest work was in 1970's TV ("Barnaby Jones" for example). This made-for-TV movie is totally predictable with a plot and script (which are the real culprits) so weak as to be funny. The pseudo-science is outlandishly foolish, and the whole thing is silly enough to merit viewing once, if you're game.<br /><br />Best scene: a mentally-enhanced chimpanzee (it received injections of super-human DNA!!) steals a van - the chimp learned by watching how to start the vehicle and can operate the pedals by telepathy - but, alas, it apparently did not pay attention to steering and so plunges at high speed head-on into a tractor-trailer and, to the chagrin of government scientists, is killed.<br /><br />This poor example of film-making makes NIGHT OF THE LEPUS (1972) seem Oscar-worthy.