‘Absolon’ brings on a queasy feeling

If prevention is the best medicine, the disease-themed thriller “Absolon” (9 tonight, Sci Fi) is best avoided.

This action-packed silliness unfolds in the not-too-distant future, when the human race is ravaged by NDS, an airborne virus that emerges from the destruction of the rain forests. Economies have crumbled and 5 billion people have perished in the plague of NDS, which can kill within three days, but a scarce drug called Absolon offers hope.

Or does it?

When a maverick scientist studying the disease is mysteriously murdered while on the brink of a breakthrough, weary Det. Norman Scott (Christopher Lambert) begins investigating. Destiny propels Scott to unearth the murder victim’s discovery in an effort to save the planet, but not before he meets and romances a sultry scientist named Claire (Kelly Brook).

After Scott is surreptitiously injected with the virus, he and Claire race to uncover the secret while avoiding the bad guys (Lou Diamond Phillips as the icy Walters, a corrupt officer of the World Justice Department, and Ron Perlman as the Bond-style villain Murchison, a devilish megalomaniac who heads Unified Pharmaceutical Corp., the producer of Absolon).

Although Brad Mirman’s script rounds up many of the usual suspects -- polluters, the pharmaceutical industry, globalization -- it has amusing touches. Time literally is money, for example: A street taco costs your debit card 15 minutes.

And Lambert, Phillips and Perlman make the most of their roles.

But director David Barto musters little atmosphere and little tension in the requisite chases and shootouts.

The formula never quite takes hold.