A Luta pela Sobrevivência

Trancers was a very enjoyable B Sci-Fi flick. The sequel was rather poor, and left me questioning the wisdom of making the movies into a franchise. However, Trancers III made me rethink that.

Trancers III reunites us with Jack Deth, a cop sent to 20th-Century Los Angeles to protect the future. In this brief installment, Jack is temporarily brought back to his own time to find that things have gone terribly wrong in Angel City (though no one seems to call it that in this movie for some reason). He is then sent back in time to 2005, to try and destroy the project that originally created the titular Trancers; humans turned into killing machines.

Charles Band appears to have wanted to amp up the action in this movie, I think it had more shoot-outs than the first two movies combined. However, it fell into the trap a lot of movies (especially Sci-Fi movies) do. The bad guys had worse aim than a company of Star Wars Imperial Stormtroopers. It sort of takes the wind out of an action scene when one guy is able to take on foes who outnumber him 10 to 1 and walk away without a scratch.

One thing that I was pleased by was the main villain in this movie. I won't give anything away, but I will say that he was the more complex than the bad guys in the previous two films. He had motivation beyond the typical Evil Overlord Megalomania used by lazy screenwriters.

Jack Deth didn't toss off one-liners quite like he did in the original film (and the one at the very end felt rather forced), but Tim Thomerson nevertheless was enjoyable to watch. The cameos by Helen Hunt (who by this point was on Mad About You) and Megan Ward were nice touches, as well.

The internal logic of the movies always seemed non-existent to me, and this one was no exception. I get the feeling Charles Band was more or less making up things as he went along, as there was little continuity in the movie. But, that's true of the series as a whole, and if you're willing to ignore such things, then you should get a good deal of enjoyment out of this movie.

The first "Trancers" was light-hearted fun. "Trancers III" plays up the dark film-noir aspects of the concept and adds a healthy dose of violence, not to mention a scathing attack on military "morality." Much ham acting and some tacky moments (including a dual trancing/sex scene) detract from what is, overall, a commendable attempt to make a serious science fiction film.

On first viewing, I hated this one, but a few years later the social commentary sunk in. This does not rate high on my "fun" meter, but it is well made. Look for Helen Hunt in a teeny-tiny cameo, on the verge of stardom but still with one foot in the B-movie camp.

These films keep getting better and better, Trancers 3 is good but not as good as the second one but better then the first one, thats so far. I think they should carry on making these films forever there so cool. And once again the acting is great.

10/10

Although this is a step up from Part II, this is still a notch below the original, and this is only an average film at best. Some new characters helped to breathe some life into this entry, but even though they participate in several good scenes, the film was still a little flat overall. The action was better in this installment, but really, it was only okay, and even though the film also had a few good laughs, it still fell far short of the frequently amusing original. This is a good time-killer, but nothing more.

Although "Trancers 3" is not as thoroughly entertaining as its predecessors, this straight-to-video production still delivers its fair share of cheesy fun.

Tim Thomerson is on the way to becoming one of my favourite actors - the more I see of him, the more I appreciate his comic timing and film presence.

"Trancers 3" is worth seeing just for Andrew Robinson repeating his old "Hellraiser" line, "Come to Daddy"! Here it's in a whole new context and is sure to raise a smile (or grimace) with Clive Barker fans! A darker "Trancers" tale than normal, this is a great film to watch with a few cans and nibbles. Enjoy!