Automatic

AUTOMATIC is a low-rent sci-fi B-movie starring French martial artist Olivier Gruner, a guy who had all the acting ability of a hunk of cheese but who knew how to kick when it came to the fight scenes. This is an incredibly cheap-looking movie that sees Gruner playing an android who rebels against his corrupt creators and is forced to defend himself from a hit squad.

The entire film takes place in a dimly-lit building with the characters prowling the corridors and engaging in some low-rent fight scenes. The choreography is poor and the script worse, and it doesn't help that the cast is filled with actors giving laissez-faire performances which hardly fill the viewer with confidence.

Throughout AUTOMATIC, the scriptwriter rips off many other, better movies. The single-location stalking sequences are reminiscent of the basic premise of DIE HARD, while of course THE TERMINATOR hangs over everything with the presence of androids (although the movie doesn't feature much of the cool robotic effect stuff you saw generally in '90s B-movies). There are also lots of scenes inspired by ALIENS. Inevitably, this movie can't hold a candle to any of those classics and is a completely forgettable piece of popcorn fare.

Hey, the movie wasn't great. But for an evening in the easy chair and not much mind action..it was perfect. Oliver Gruner is my idea of a strong silent man...Not much talk but man, can he move. And Daphne Ashbrooke was not the wimpy female lead most often associated with "he-man" movies.

Basic Die Hard rip-off action flick with touches of wit and even satire. John Glover as the jolly corporate mogul is great. (Particularly in the first five minutes!) Jeff Kober, as always, has a lot of fun with a small role. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would!

For a low-budget action/sci-fi film, this is a really good movie. Of course the acting is rather crappy as you'd expect from Gruener, but the action is good and so are the sci-fi elements. I have seen a few of Gruener's movies and this one is by far his best in my opinion. One thing that really impressed me in this movie were the guns that were used. They had lcd type screens on them that allowed the holder to see around corners - a few years after this movie was made the military looked into actually using a similar system on their rifles.

I highly recommend any fan of action/sci-fi movies to rent this one as it is actually better than some of the big-budget action movies these days.

Although it is obviously "low-budget," this film combines "standard" action sequences with surprisingly well-done reflections on the plight of sentient "artificial life forms." I recommend it for its "science fiction" themes, and for those strictly seeking an "action-thriller" it's not lacking in explosions, shootings, and other mayhem either.:)