T-Force

OK....mix together elements of Die Hard, Blade Runner and the Terminator and hey presto - welcome T-Force! Yes it's yet more B-movie heaven from director Richard Pepin who apparently not only content to steal basic elements from the aforementioned classic flicks, additionally directly lifts scenes from them to(!), most notably an almost scene for scene swipe of big Arnie's attack on the police station from the original Terminator film. Well, normally I would berate any such blatant plagiarism with the utmost haste and deduct points from the offending film like there was no tomorrow......but you know what? - This film is simply so much damned fun that I can't but help to love it and actually find the rip off elements to actually ADD to it's bizarre charm (a factor which so often occurs in B-movies in fact).

Also adding to the enjoyment is the assembled cast including (in the beginning at least) Vernon (Bennett!) Wells, a still incredibly sexy Erin Gray (damn, I used to fancy her like crazy when she was in Buck Rogers!) and he of the cleft'd chin (no not Kirk Douglas!) Jack Scalia. I've just got to award another point to this for its inclusion of one of the most stupid excuses for a sex scene ever in which two of the cybernauts get down to it......after looking at a dirty mag(!!!!) Tremendously entertaining stuff from start to finish! Alas, shame there wasn't a sequel (yet.....)

Lately I have been renting some relatively unknown B movies due to the fact that some of them star actors who have managed to break into A movies out today. I am also intrigued to see what can be done on a small budget and above all I feel it deserves the watch that a Hollywood blockbuster also deserves. I have to say though that after watching this film I have decided that B movies are an absolute no-no.

This monstrosity of a movie is called T-Force standing for Terminal Force, which is a group of cyber naughts (not robots) that look completely human and work for the LAPD. They are sent in on dangerous missions when it is unsafe for humans. The story opens when a skyscraper is taken under siege by a man who demands some prisoners are released. When the hijacker proves that he isn't afraid to throw his weight around, the police send in the T-Force with orders to kill the kidnappers. These orders however are bought into question when one cyber naught kills the lead terrorist at the expense of six hostages, something the Police Chief and Mayor are extremely unhappy about and decide to have the T-Force programme terminated.

When the cyber naughts are bought in to be deconstructed, they turn on their maker, demanding that their 'self-preservation' takes priority. I put 'self-preservation' in quote mark as it has to be word of the film as one character must say it a hundred times in ten minutes. That's ten times a minute. That's once every six seconds!! It is so annoying. Right to carry on, three of the four cyber naughts (another word completely over used) go on a rampage to defend themselves, one however remains behind believing that he should obey orders. He has human individuality apparently. As he is willing to track down his fellow T- Force he is partnered with a man who hates robots!! Shock, didn't see that one coming. They then set off to find and destroy the rogue 'cyber naughts'. Lost interest in a plot that has been done so many times yet? I have.

What we actually get here is a film that rips off any Hollywood film that was made just prior to this was. We start off with Die Hard (skyscraper being taken hostage), moving on to Die Hard 2 (demanding prisoners are released), to The Terminator (a carbon copy of the police station massacre), then moves on to a dodgy porn segment (typical porn music played over the top of a male and female robot stripping each other!!) and then the finale is just like Mad Max, the vehicles are identical. Seriously is there no originality out there?

The acting also doesn't help the film as it is seriously dreadful. The dialogue is corny, cheesy and any other word you can think of that describes lame and tacky. The action scenes seem very set up with explosions just happening anywhere and everywhere. We get cyber naughts that can't shoot the lead cop for love nor money but can take out five men in five shots and robots that seem to be as human as anyone else other than the fact that they can strip off their skin and show their robotic hand (and yes one of them does give the finger!). One of the best bits is when a terrorist points a rocket launcher at a police car and the policeman jumps inside it to protect himself! What is that all about?

You know I wasted an hour and a half on this movie and now I feel like I am wasting my time in writing a review for it, so I will leave you with this one comment, do not watch this movie!

0.5 / 5

Tolli

T-Force is one of these films you only watch one time. The acting is poor and the story ( typical Die Hard / Terminator combination ) is equally boring and equally unrealistic. The movie lives from his unnecessarily long and bloody action-scenes, especially in the beginning. All together: A typical PM Entertaiment Group film. Not worth to rent on video.

Yes T-Force is a low-budget B-movie that went strong to video & TV back in the early 90's but it's way better than it probably should be.

Made by PM Entertainment, that Awesome cheap movie production place of the 90's, that created lots of truly awesome action-packed thriller's such as Zero Tolerance, Dark Breed & many, many more. Often their films were a mix of sci-fi action & thriller genres with lots of shooting, explosions & brutal killings & the excellent T-Force is no different. I'm a fan of PM Entertainment & their kick-ass output.

T-Force is a slice of action-packed Sci-fi with a mix of the buddy-cop genre & stars the cool Jack Scalia, he also made the Awesome Dark Breed & The Silencers for PM Entertainment, who plays a hard-ass Detective in a futuristic Los Angeles & isn't happy about all the Robots that live amongst humans. Jack Scalia has those looks of a chiselled 90's heartthrob but with a tough exterior & a sarcastic attitude, basically a perfect leading man for the video store era B-movie genre.

I felt vibes of Will Smith's Detective character Del Spooner from i,Robot (2004) here & T-Force came out well before so i,Robot definitely copied some stuff from this flick.

Jack Scalia is a decent actor that was a big TV star during the 80's & 90's & starred in many B-movies & i like him as he really looks like a hard-ass government agent or something lol. Scalia is great in Dark Breed & The Silencers, both kick-ass ultra cool sci-fi action thriller's directed by the same director of T-Force, Richard Pepin.

Scalia is a tough no-nonsense cop named Jack Floyd (i really liked his hardened character) who has to deal with a new Robot partner (fun buddy-cop stuff here) to track down & stop a team of super Robots called the T-Force (short for Terminal Force) that have gone rogue (Blade Runner style) & are on a killing spree against, what they believe to be a corrupted government. The Robots & wanting to be human stuff is done really well & the robot team of super soldiers that are called into handle terrorist situations are all well played by very well by the actors. Everyone took it serious in a way, there's a dodgy cheesy sex experimental scene between two Robots that is corny & there just for the steamy 90's Erotic stuff that 90's cheap movies did. This is actually a smart little film with that actually makes you think about what is the part that makes us...well us, is it the soul? Or our consciousness! This film asks questions & from the Robots side. Even the reason this crack team of Robot soldiers turn on their creators is done well. The T-Force are to be destroyed after a hostage situation goes wrong & some innocent people are killed but the Robots decide to fight back under "Self Preservation" that is one of their rights. These human looking Robots do not want to Die, just like a human wouldn't want to Die & would fight back. The Robots trying to understand humanity is done incredibly smartly & made me think. The material may be that of action & explosions but there's definitely something more heartfelt underneath it all. A damn good script is & top notch directing made T-Force a cult classic in my opinion. Great character actor Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2, Innerspace, Commando) has a little role as a terrorist at the Awesome explosive beginning action sequence.

I really liked the good robot soldier called Cain played by Bobby Johnston, he did a great likeable job & worked well with Scalia in an Alien Nation way.

There's lots of awesome 90's action sequences & a feel of Albert Pyun's Nemesis with a touch of Robocop & Universal Soldier & of course both Terminator films but T-Force deserves it's place up there with those as a cult classic piece of action sci-fi Entertainment.

I liked the music score & loved how the film looked, the cinematography is typically cool of PM entertainment with everything bathed in cool blue lighting with lots of smoke around & the combination works perfectly.

T-Force is a top action thriller with an awesome sci-fi sheen & a top hard-ass performance from Jack Scalia.

Ha! Why watch Die Hard, Universal Soldier, Terminator, Blade Runner or any buddy cop movie when you can just watch T-Force? That's all those films rolled into one. I nearly forgot the post-apocalyptic battle using mad max-style buggies! And all the other crap! T-Force is so awesome that we're introduced to T-Force by them posing in a futuristic landscape while stuff burns behind them, the first of many scenes that end with a character walking away from an explosion. We also get the plot of Die Hard condensed into a twenty minutes sequence as Vernon Wells turns up in a quick Klaus Kinski-like cameo, taking over a skyscraper, killing some dudes, then having all his men slaughtered by a bunch of cyborgs who discuss Assimov's rules of robotics while totally throwing those rules out of the window. Also, many people are thrown out of windows in this film too.

Jack Scalia also turns up as a grizzled cop who's probably correct in assuming that the cyborgs are a little heavy handed as they manage to kill about half a dozen civilians while blowing Vernon Wells to bits. This causes a lot of talk about primary directives and such like but you know what that means: The robots go rogue, following their own crazy logic. Except for the one that buddies up with robot hating cop Scat Jalia. So we've got indestructible cyborg killing machines like Terminator and Universal Soldier not only discussing their mortality, but also indulging in a bit of pro-creation. I was hoping at this point the female cyborg would become pregnant for some extra brain damage but they just kind of forgot about all this very quickly.

Jack cranks up the robot racism but his heart melts when his cyborg buddy fixes his car, as you do. Then some other stuff happens that's also cool. And the main bad robot gets shot in the head but for some reason the bullet wound moves to the other side of his head for the last ten minutes of the film.

Totally derivative, low budget, and cheesy, T-Force is also awesome for trying to fit so much into an hour and a half. Loved it when they jumped in those buggies for a car chase.