Droid Gunner

With Matthias Hues on the cover and only $3.00, i had to buy it. I enjoyed some moments, like Hawks annoyance with the pleasure droids, but i only really watched to see Matthias Hues' scenes. I particularly enjoyed the showdown at the end. It was a cross between Clint Eastwood's "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" and "For a Few Dollars More" (a 3 man quick-draw showdown, with a musical pocket watch used as the countdown timer). Apart from that, there's really nothing more I can add. The actors gave good performances, (all except the "Assassin Droid" whose performance was nothing outside of comical) but the movie really lacked depth and purpose; simply not enough to fill up 1hour and a half of standard movie time, so we're stuck with the main characters aimlessly wondering around from place to place for an hour or so, until the ball gets rolling. For example, the main character returns to the same strip club about 4 times, taking up two-fifths of the movie.

The scenery really lacked depth and creativity, probably due to the films budget. I don't think we ever did get to see this "perfect city" of New Angeles that was always talked about, in fact, when the main characters finally reached New Angeles, its set in a factory or warehouse full of pipes and walkways; hardly the kind of "kingdom" the owner/creator of an entire city would dwell in. The "super-high security" of New Angeles was also always talked about, but only a total of 15, maybe 20, security guards were counted, even when the alarm went off; not even close to Matthias' approximation of "at least a hundred men out there".

If you are a fan of any of the actors/actresses in this film, then you may want to watch it, simply to "add it to the list". However, if you value 1 and a half hour of your time, or $3.00 of your money, you may want to give this one a miss.

After watching this film I experienced a new sensation. I had watched a film in which the lead actor had put in a performance that almost rivaled the legend Chevy Chase in 'Fletch'. This isn't to say that the performances are comparable, but both give practically flawless delivery of their lines. That actor is Marc Singer! Singer is Jack Ford, the 'Droid Gunner' of the title, grinding out a living collecting the bounty on androids.There are some mutants, topless pleasure droids(!), a Scandinavian smuggler, and possibly a half-hearted attempt to make a statement on class or maybe even globalization or......... well it doesn't really matter. What matters about this film is the dry manner in which Singer delivers his lines resulting in side-splitting humour! What matters about this film is that director Fred Olen Ray seems to realize that serious sci-fi very rarely works, and when your budget is skimpy it is best not to take yourself to seriously. Olen Ray has said that everyone involved in this film had great fun and this transfers onto the film.I dare you to criticize a film that allows itself to portray futuristic Earth as eternally dark and neon-lit and then ends in a 'pipes and valves' warehouse. Self parody is a very redeeming quality. To summarise, Fred Olen Ray is an ambassador for independent film making and Marc Singer the perfect B-movie lead.If only Olen Ray could draft in Tim Thomerson to the equation then we'd have a film on our hands.

A futuristic bounty hunter is assigned to track down four female androids smuggled to Earth for illicit purposes.

Busy director Fred Olen Ray's Cyber Zone aka Phoenix 2, Droid Gunner is as bland and heavy handed as they come. In this cheap Bladerunner and The Terminator rip-off Marc Singer is his likeable usual nonchalant self. Rochelle Swanson along with Singer know what type of film they're in but Matthias Hues (Dark Angel) looks uncomfortably duped and disappointed.

While borrowing lines and plot points from other better films, it feels DTV rather than B-movie. Some sound effects are not in sync but the score delivers. The sporadic action is clunky, the effects limited, but some miniatures, notable the underwater segments look pretty good. Ray offers a lot of nudity and soft-core moments pushing the adult rating. The locations and sets are a mixed bag, some backdrops are interesting while others look as if they were filmed in a hotel lobby or stage.

Overall, if script-less, stolen droid and cyborgs with super low budget Total Recall-like mutants is your thing, you may want to take a look. But be warned Ridley Scott, James Cameron and Paul Verhoeven maybe be disappointed with you.

Don't be misled by the phrase "rated R for nudity and strong sex scene". The scene in question is not strong (though it is a bit lengthy for no apparent reason) but does have a bit of humor at the end.

Rochelle Swanson turns in a strong performance as a technician assigned to assist Marc Singer in recovering 4 "pleasure droids" which have been smuggled into Phoenix for eventual shipment to New Angeles. Have I lost you? Ok, from the top.

In the future, Earth suffers a strong earthquake, which causes California and Nevada to slide into the ocean. It seems that most of America's beautiful women were in California at the time of the tragedy and so technology has created android human-lookalikes to serve Man's carnal pleasures (no, no strong sex scene here, either). There are 3 civilizations in the future: a) a cloud city where the wealthy, intelligent people live; b) the surface, where mutants and the dregs of society live; and c) New Angeles, a new community being build under the sea, which forbids sinful activities. So where are the droids being sent? Yep, New Angeles, where a crimelord is going to set up a monopoly on sex, gambling, booze, drugs, and more sex.

Singer is hired to recover the stolen pleasure droids by the owner, who also assigns Swanson to tag along with Singer to make sure he doesn't blow the droids away. Swanson does a good job playing the beautiful technician and most of the humor comes during her scenes. For example, Singer has entered the throne of the surface crimelord to recover a bounty on a dead droid. The crimelord offers Singer 10,000 for Swanson. Singer looks over at her (her expression is great here), and declines the offer. After exiting the throne room, Swanson asks what that was all about, and Singer replies "Down here, your value is reduced to the worth of your body, sometimes just the value of a watch." Since Swanson knows that she is worth 10,000, she asks Singer what he's worth. "About 5,000. Too many bullet holes."

The quality of the film is about average for a "B" level film. The supporting actors do a passable job, but don't look for a range of emotion from anyone. Swanson is a dead ringer for television's "Wonder Woman" Linda Carter, but no, she doesn't have any nude scenes. Singer does a good impersonation of Harrison Ford's "Blade Runner" character (though I didn't like the porkchop sideburns they stuck him with). Mathias Hues does a good job as the smuggler who becomes Singer's assistant in recovering the droids when the New Angele crimelord double crosses him. And look for Brinke Stevens as a mutant strip dancer (took me a second to recognize her - I never forget a pair of, ah, er, arms).

See this film for Swanson's performance. The rest is just the stuff needed to give the film a plot.

I was given this film by my uncle who had got it free with a DVD magazine. Its easy to see why he was so keen to get rid of it. Now I understand that this is a B movie and that it doesn't have the same size budget as bigger films but surely they could have spent their money in a better way than making this garbage. There are some fairly good performances, namely Jack, Beth and Hawks, but others are ridiculously bad (assasin droid for example). This film also contains the worst fight scene I have ever seen. The amount of nudity in the film did make it seem more like a porn film than a Sci-Fi movie at times.

In conclusion - Awful film