Hardwired

Okay, yes. You've seen the material a thousand times from Freejack to Johnny Mneumonic to Total Recall to Matrix. This echoes both John Carpenter's, "They Live," and the more-recent "Gamer," with some of the feel of the original "Blade," attempted, but never achieved.

The action is awesome, well choreographed, and professionally executed throughout a Terminator-stylized storyline including the end of the world as we know it via robotics and a mad scientist portrayed disappointingly by Val Kilmer.

Mad scientists should be either raving mad, or insidiously fiendish. Kilmer's Virgil was full of high ideas with no moral center, but he utterly lacked the diabolism required to carry through such a plan. It was like he knew from the beginning that he was doomed to fail, and played the character thusly, failing to invest too much of himself in a doomed role. I wanted him to be Madmartigan vs. the kid from Real Genius, and instead, I got Craig Ferguson's Dr. Wagner of Lenny the Wonder Dog. To say the least, I was disappointed.

Decent on a rainy afternoon if there's nothing left in the house to clean. Otherwise, you could find something better to do with your time.

It rates a 5.5/10 from...

the Fiend :.

In a future world dominated by the corporations, Luke Gibson (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is driving her beloved pregnant wife Veronica (Monica Mustelier) to her work on the day of his birthday; out of the blue, a truck hits their car. Luke's medical insurance is expired and he is doomed to die; however, the executive of the Hope Corporation Virgil (Val Kilmer) proposes Luke's sister to submit him to an experimental surgery with the implant of a chip in his brain. The amnestic Luke awakes and sooner he discovers that he has visions and he is the Subject 373 of a secret project. He is helped by a team of hackers formed by Keyboard (Chad Krowchuk) that became paraplegic after being shot by a henchman of the Hope Corporation; his father Hal (Michael Ironside); Punk Blue (Juan Riedinger); and Punk Red (Tatiana Maslany). Luke tries to recover his memories and discover the objective of the mysterious project.

"Hardwired" is an unoriginal and boring film that seems to be a bad pilot of a TV series. It is amazing the decadency of Cuba Gooding Jr., Val Kilmer and Michael Ironside. The worst is that I like these actors and regret their recent choices. Anyway, this movie is a good chance for those that have problems with insomnia and do not like to use pills. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Invasor de Mentes" ("Invader of Minds")

The plot: After being involved in a nasty car crash, a man receives an experimental implant, courtesy of an omnipresent, multinational corporation.

Hardwired is a throwback to the low budget cyberpunk movie boom of the early 90s. With former A-list stars, an interesting (though not quite original) premise, and lots of action scenes, you'd think that this movie would have lots of promise. One could even be forgiven for thinking that it'd even be good. Unfortunately, it's so cheesy, predictable, low budget, and comically inept that you can't help but laugh. Despite all of its ridiculous problems, it's so earnest and enthusiastic that I can't bring myself to hate it. It's an enjoyable mess of a movie, as long as you're not expecting something intellectual and artistic.

Amidst all the cheesiness, there were some things that worked well, and I have to admit that I'm tiny bit disappointed that there isn't a sequel. I would have loved to see Lance Henricksen play the evil megalomaniac. I guess we'll never know how the story ends, though it's probably for the best that we're not inflicted with an even more clichéd followup.

If you're a fan of low budget B movies, it can't hurt too much to give Hardwired a try.

Ploughing the same furrow as conspiracy-style futuristic sci-fi thrillers as Spielberg's MINORITY REPORT, HARDWIRED is a science fiction film on a budget. Starring the less-than-stellar Cuba Gooding Jr. as an ordinary guy who almost dies in a car accident and is brought back to life thanks to the intervention of a sinister commercial organisation, this is slightly disappointing and intriguing in equal measure.

The most interesting part of the production are the sly digs at numerous subject matters, including the failings of the American healthcare system and the increasingly desperate efforts of modern-day advertisers. The sci-fi and action tropes are less successful, with a few cheesy CGI effects thrown into the mix, but the script is a little more intelligent than is the usual for the B-movie genre.

HARDWIRED also boasts a fine supporting role for the criminally underrated Michael Ironside, who gets the opportunity to sink his teeth into a decent character part for a change after years spent whiling away his time in Z-grade disaster flicks. There's also a good performance from the up-and-coming Tatiana Maslany, although the less said about Val Kilmer's bad guy the better; Kilmer is stiffer than a board here and his acting often painful.

Still, this is a film which turns out slightly better than I had expected, and the various mind-melding mind-control stuff is handled in such a way that's not original, but nevertheless entertaining. HARDWIRED is certainly no classic, but an efficient enough timewaster.

...but it's not great either. The film has a budget, some nice action sequences, decent special effects and some good actors actually doing what they are paid to do. Oh, and Val Kilmer in a silly wig. Cuba Gooding Jr can act and does give his usual decent performance, despite the films flaws. Val Kilmer's scenes were obviously filmed in a day or two of shooting, hence the silly wig and the fact you only ever see him on a video screen or in the same set. Also looks like his lines were being read off a board or he had just read them for the first time 2mins before saying them.

Still the film did have some entertainment value, its not an awful film as other reviewers who voted it 1 have suggested, its just not a good film. It does have some pacing issues, sometimes there is too much explaining going on when anyone with sense can see what's going on, its not brain surgery (well it is in some parts!). It feels like a pilot for a TV series, especially the speech at the end and without giving too much away Lance Henriksen's face on the screen as the 'Mr Hope' of hope industry (you'll see what I mean if you watch it). If there is nothing else on, or you have watched most of the other recent releases then this will pass some time.