Circuitry Man

After an environmental holocaust, all of the surviving humans have moved underground. With no new frontiers to explore they choose to expand their minds to the extent that one of the most important luxuries to be acquired is a pleasure microchip. "Lori" (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) is a bodyguard living under Los Angeles who has been pressed into service to protect a smuggler by the name of "Juice" (Lu Leonard). As it so happens, Juice has a briefcase full of microchips she wants to exchange for money to a criminal by the name of "Plughead" (Vernon Wells). Things go wrong during the exchange and Lori winds up with the briefcase and attempts to flee to the underground city of New York with Plughead in hot pursuit. Accompanying her is a pleasure android by the name of "Danner" (Jim Metzler) who agrees to help get her to her destination. The rest of the film involves the chase and the troubles Danner and Lori encounter along the way. Now, although this wasn't necessarily a bad move, I found the wardrobes and some of the characters a bit too far-fetched for my taste and the acting was second-rate as well. That said, in my opinion the only two people I thought contributed anything of interest to this film was Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (who was attractive) and the character of Plughead. Other than that everything seemed to have a hollow feel to it. Others may disagree but overall I found the film slightly below average.

circuitry man's only flaw was the obnoxious pleasure droid's failure to die.. other than that, i found it stunning and captivating. i fell instantly in love with the darkly beautiful, sadistic "plughead". as a huge fan of dark sci-fi (dark city, a.i., blade runner, the matrix), this was everything i could want in a movie.

I REALLY like this film! I discovered it while checking out the filmography of Vernon Wells, who I first saw in 'The Road Warrior' in 1981. His over-the-top performance made me seek him out as one of the 'Ultimate Villains'...like Alan Rickman, Gavin O'Herlihy, Billy Drago, Max Phipps or Arnold Vosloo. (If these names don't ring a bell, you need to check them out!) These are people who always deliver for me! Contrary to one reviewer, I like Jim Metzler, as well. He is perfectly cast as the android sex robot. If you liked Dennis Christopher's wonderful performance in 'Breaking Away', you're going to undergo a catharsis when you see him in 'Circuitry Man'! 'Circuitry Man II' isn't bad either.

The positives:

Vernon Wells (Mad Max, Commando) is awesome. The setting and the concept are actually great.

The negatives: The movie, when you piece it all together it just misses the greatness it could of had.

Although the cover art is reminiscent of a kooky social satire in the vein of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Circuitry Man is not that. We see so many mega-budget films that are so uninspired, that it always brings a smile to my face to see a low-budget film that rises to the challenge and is actually entertaining. The characters are interesting, from Juice (a big woman who breaks easily) to Yo-Yo (who changes allegiances back and forth) to Plughead (I didn't recognize him from The Road Warrior.) and there's the mechanic and the big tough guy in the oxygen bar...

It's by no means a classic, but it's fun and deserves respect for what it accomplishes, given what they had to work with.