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Death Machine (1994)

Directed by Stephen Norrington

Most recently watched by sensoria, sleestakk

Overview

Chaank Armaments is experimenting with the ultimate fighting machine which is part human - part machine. So far, the Hardman project has been unreliable and has killed a number of innocent people. The genius behind this project is Jack who lives in a world of models, toys and magazines. When he is fired by Cale for killing a few corporate officers, he unleashes the ultimate killing machine called the ‘Warbeast’ against Cale and those who would help her.

Length 117 minutes

Actors

Viewing Notes

Let’s face it, the 1990s were a low point in cinema. Death Machine started off down there with the lowest, so much so that I almost turned it off after the first ten minutes. After the first third it did get better as it shifted to a more solid thriller.

The movie is very derivative, and wears it’s idols on its sleeves by naming characters things like Scott Ridley. It borrows visual and plot elements from a handful of classic sci-fi movies such as Terminator, Alien and Blade Runner, desperately wanting to be something its budget and director’s lack of ability won’t let it achieve.

By far the most annoying aspect of the movie was Brad Douriff’s over-the-top character. It was a groan-inducing performance; luckily he didn’t get a lot of screen time the second half of the movie, which turned into a Terminator-esque killer robot/machine chasing the protagonists around actioner.

The robot was pretty cool and I found myself wishing that they’d had the budget to do more work with it, combined with more practical FX.

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