Chameleon

Chameleon, starring Bobbie Phillips was a Tour de Force. Special effects were astounding, the acting was top notch. Bobbie Phillips was THE only choice to play Kam, the way she went from "maternal" to "assassin" to "maternal" to "assassin" and so forth, was well played. Gan(the boy) was a fresh dose of reality, so innocent etc.... I will surly watch Chameleon 2 when it is aired. I give Chameleon an 8 out of 10.

Any SciFi fan who has read Robert Heinlein's classic "Friday" will feel at home with this very gripping story, which is yet very different.

A young woman, a laboratory genetic creation (a "sub" in this movie), moves outside the parameters of her merciless programming to protect a young boy from her own agency.

She has been programmed as the perfect Federal agent, naturally with some enhanced abilities, and a total incapacity to feel emotion. Bobbie Phillips excellently portrays the conflict as she goes against everything she has been taught, and begins experiencing the feelings of a human being. Probably the most poignant part of the movie is watching her awaken as a lover; she had been taught to use sex as a tool, nothing more.

The movie is well-paced, with a pleasant minimum of gore. There are some minor inconsistencies, (lasers barking like .44 handguns?), but the effects are very well done, and the acting, on the whole, far better than average.

I gave this movie a 9; take off a couple of points if you don't like SciFi. But this movie passes the most important test - I would definitely watch it again.

Since this is a made for TV movie, I'll be mild in my judgement. It's not really bad or something. The acting is okay. The few digital effects are okay. But over-all the story is pretty thin. There's not much action or fighting and the pacing is rather slow too. But if you like watching made for TV sci-fi/crime stuff, then I guess you could do a lot worse than watching this first CHAMELEON installment.

The main thing (for me) to like about this movie was actress Bobbie Phillips, of who you feel she has some pretty decent acting skills, but she isn't really allowed to show them in this movie. She has a bit of that Ashley Judd-beauty and a bit of that Kari Wuhrer-toughness going on there. Anyway, she plays Kam and actually she isn't a cyborg. She's a 'sub'. A genetically altered human clone with improved senses and the ability to take the color of her surroundings, rendering her almost invisible. She drives a groovy motorcycle and wears a slick chameleon-like outfit. But the best scenes are the ones where she takes off that outfit. On no less than three occasions you can see Bobbie Phillips do some naked hot stuff with random males. Now that might sound appealing, but don't expect too much, 'cause it's all kept rather decent and respectable, in order not to upset any younger viewers. So no frontal nudity, folks.

And what about the story? Well nothing special there either. Kam is a member of the IBI (a government-controlled police force or something). Some rebels, the Liberators, have produced a chip that could destroy all economy. Kam must get it, but falls for the charms of a boy who has the chip. She takes him under his protection and they decide to flee the city. Needless to say that the corrupt creator of Kam (also a member of IBI) isn't happy with this and wants to retrieve the chip at any cost.

So this could have been a fun movie with a lot of action, chases and shoot-outs. But after a promising start, the movie slows down in the middle part (when Kam and the boy arrive at the country-side). Then the script sets up for a final confrontation in the big city, but this is also a bit of a let-down (in terms of a spectacular ending). It's a pity, 'cause there was some potential to insert some more action and thrills, but it's clearly that the (rather small) budget didn't allow that. But like I said: you could do a lot worse with made for TV garbage and I hope the other two sequels are a bit better. I've already read the synopsis for the third installment, and that one seems to go over-the-top nicely. Oh, well, as long as Bobbie Phillips is in it, I'll be giving them a watch.

Filmed in a futuristic setting "Kam" (Bobbie Phillips) is a female cloned by genetic research who happens to possess special attributes which include keen eyesight, an enhanced sense of smell and the ability to camouflage herself into the surrounding environment much like a chameleon. She was created this way for the express purpose of allowing her to get close to whatever targets her supervisors deemed appropriate in order to steal important objects--or to kill them if necessary. In one particular instance she is instructed to accompany a commando unit and acquire a secret microchip from a revolutionary named "Aede" (Anthony Simcoe). Unfortunately, the mission doesn't go according to plan which results in both the revolutionary and his wife choosing to commit suicide rather than being captured. However, just prior to that they manage to transfer the microchip to their young son named "Ghen" (Eric Lloyd) with instructions to escape into the country to avoid capture. As a result of his escape Kam is sent to track down Ghen but when she finally catches up to him her instincts cause her to change allegiances. So now she decides to protect the boy from those who wish to do him harm. At any rate, rather than disclose any more of the story and risk ruining this film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this movie started off pretty good but seemed to falter a little after the first 20 minutes or so. Additionally, other than the performance of Bobbie Phillips I didn't see anything else that was necessarily that remarkable or noteworthy. In any case, I suppose this was an adequate film for the most part and I rate it as about average.

This is one of the better sci-fi/super hero movies made in the 1990's. Though the blatant use of sex could have been toned down, it did serve the purpose of highlighting the main character's evolution from an unfeeling "machine" to a very caring, heroic woman the viewer was ready to cheer for all the way to the bitter end. Bobbie Phillips, who played "Kam" the re-engineered woman who saves a young boy, really made this movie the gem that it is and was ably assisted by her co-star Eric Lloyd, the boy who played "Ghen".

If you like this movie, you will also like the X-Men, Xena, and the Queen of Swords. You may also like Wonder Woman and some of Ray Bradbury's works.