Megaville

A seedy production throughout, not helped by a manifest lack of funding, this unrefined attempt at making a cyberpunk noir film relates events in an unrevealed future when, in a locale referred to as The Hemisphere (and sometimes as The Zone), it is illegal to view television or movies, including those on video tape, thereby naturally causing a thriving market in bootleg recordings. Billy Zane portrays a member of the Media Police, Raymond Palinov, selected by the "CKS" (Internal Security) to infiltrate into a neighbouring city-state called Megaville wherein "media" is legal, in an ostensible attempt to assist in discouraging the continuance of a conduit of media products into the Hemisphere, and who has been recipient of a remote control transmitter installed in his brain, from which he will receive instructions from the CKS head, played by Daniel J. Travanti. There is a good deal of raw material here for application of satire, but the work is poorly written, directed and executed, with bafflement rampant as to what is transpiring during a majority of scenes, while poor Zane, charismatic under strong direction, is permitted in this instance his full range of fey mannerisms, and with contemporary street scenes of the Los Angeles Civic Center dolefully failing to impress as a future anything, at all.

The German director Peter Lehner only ever made one feature film, and this is it, shot somewhere in the Western USA. It is a rather surreal dystopian vision of a not-too-distant future where two incompatible regimes live side by side. On the one hand, there is Megaville, a rollicking and open commercial metropolis where uncontrolled violence takes place on a daily basis, and we see its 'President' assassinated live on television by having a plastic bag put over his head so that he suffocates while we watch. No one seems particularly bothered by this, and no one will admit having seen who did it. This is presumably meant to be a sarcastic reflection on the 'mindless violence' of 'normal society'. On the other hand, somewhere near Megaville is a horrible regime called the Hemisphere, or just referred to as the 'Sphere'. It resembles the more derelict part of East Berlin prior to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Just to make the film weirder still, it is ruled by a whining individual who lies in bed as an invalid, with breathing apparatus and heart monitors, perpetually on the verge of death but never actually dying. In between gasping for breath, he barks orders for people to be terminated. This may have been inspired by the geriatric Soviet leadership, as leaders like Brezhnev were said to be notoriously semi-comatose much of the time. The main character is played by Billy Zane. He has had a brain implant so that he is either Jensen who believes he is Palinov, or Palinov who believes he is Jensen. This is never made clear, and the ambiguity is intended. Whichever he is, the memories of the other have been implanted in his brain, by a device inserted there which also responds to signals from a box held by the invalid leader of 'the Sphere'. In 'the Sphere', all media are banned, and people caught watching television are rounded up by the police and executed. Into this equation comes a new virtual reality device called 'Dream-a-Life', which you put on your head and you can live an adventure as somebody else. 1990 was pretty early to be making films about the influence of virtual reality devices on human behaviour, so this film was in that respect and in others rather innovative. But the budget was so low, most things had to be left to the imagination, as there was no money to pay to show them. I think that Lehner was very creative in making something out of nothing, and that this film was quite an achievement under the circumstances. It has a 'weird feel' to it, which owes nothing to special effects, of which there are none. The film is strangely fascinating, partly because of the unexpected quirkiness of its conceptions and of various bizarre story details. It combines gritty reality, such as thugs with guns threatening to kill people and sometimes doing so, with dream-like events in which reality appears to dissolve. The film can only be seen on a 1990 video, if you can find one. It is an interesting sci fi film for those who like to keep track of them, and of special interest because hardly anyone ever saw it, so that no one really knows about it.

If you like heroic science fiction movies with a lot of action scenes and extraordinary stunts, or Disaster Sci-fi with a hero who wants save the world against the aliens, monsters and other disasters, there is nothing for you in the movie Megaville. Also you can't find any kind of superheroes there. But if you search for neo-noir psychological thriller probably you will like it. Science fiction is a kind of metaphor here, this is a way to show the facts in an indirect manner. It's shows how political decisions and the media can determine the life and even the destiny of a human. This is about being lost in a world of dirty secrets. It is about the factors that affect the people and make them believe they are the same as they were. This movie is about us in the very complicated world. That's why there is no need for special effects. The realistic atmosphere of the film, unlike other Sci-fi that uses the heroism is laudable. It is focus on characters and their situation, is refreshing. Another noteworthy thing is that the movie does not have a lot of actors. In fact only includes the characters that are supposed to do something. Perhaps this was due to lack of funding, but the calm of the movie made the loneliness of the leading character and his fears more tangible in this world of mysteries. The ending of the movie is dark, but when we know this is realistic Science fiction we will accepted. I am not interested in political films nor this is a political movie. It's about human games, games that have psychological reactions. This story is about human's position in a complex world. The ending scene when Newman finds himself handcuffed to Jensen without any explanation, ( in the middle of desert ) is amazing. I think this event a metaphor about one's human position being changed by his actions. He is caught up by his actions and possibly endangered and become a "burn notice" that he have to strive for saving his life even though there is no way to escape. Billy zane's performance is acceptable, but most of the actors does not succeed in their roles. But when we know this is made with very little money, we realize that the crew has provided the best possible work. The last word is that although it is not very fast paced movie with today's standard, the pace is kept steady and never goes away from the original story.