Hackers - Ladrões de Vida

This movie is quite OK as a cyber-punk. It is not Oscar material, but I found it totally enjoyable on a quiet Sunday.

The story admittedly is a little thin, and some times too emotional but still it was nice to watch. The actors are doing an OK job, and the lead actress is a beauty.

The CGI is OK, and the sets have that dark gloomy mood to it. The action sequences was OK choreographed as well.

If you like CP movies, then why not. Just don't expect Bladerunner, though even that was deemed doomed in its day. This is a paced action flick, with some love and emotion in to it.

But I actually liked it. Main characters are relatively well played and there are some cool (yet short) fighting scenes where Bai Ling shows some skills (a very quick scene reminds of "Equilibrium" gunning)! Her clothing (mainly) and face paintings are also worth to watch. A nice cyber-punk flick which tries to enter the Aeon Flux (etc) scene. The theme for the story (DNA) is clever but never develops much being a weak storyline. It was in this way that I was expecting more, more DNA hackers, more DNA exploitation (and explanation) and this is never delivered. If you are in this cyber-punk scene or Bai Ling's or this "super-heroin" thing, it's worth to watch, but don't be expecting much!!

A device is invented know as the transcoder. It can reform human DNA in order to cure a disease or to kill them. But it has fatal results for everyone who uses if except it's creator. The story centers around Michelle an assassin who is trying to maintain a stable life in a corrupt world, and her gambling brother Jackie who is in denial of his problems and thinks they can be quickly fixed. Solemn (the villain)wants the Transcoder for himself to save his wife and will use deadly force if need be. Not knowing what it is Jackie steals the Transcoder from Christian. Yada yada yada... The Transcode changes hands a couple of times. Then the plot gets a little confusing, but stays entertaining.

this movie is gem among those low budget straight to video sci-fi flicks. The acting is good and so is the directing. Although the cgi, production and camera work is the same as other straight to video films, i.e. ten years behind. The look is awesome and heavily influenced by H.R. Giger art. Many think it's suppose to be set in the future, but it is actual set in an alternate reality since there are no advances in technology except the DNA hacking. Bai Ling's out fits are unconventional and look great. She really kicks ass in this movie.

The plot is a little confusing and has a few plot holes. This movie is not for everyone. If you like techno punk futuristic waste land sci-fi movies then you will like this.

I give this film a 7 out of 10. The movie was entertaining by need work on the plot.

Get Your Body Beats, Let Your Blood Flow

I'm a fan of sci-fi and I love both the steam punk and cyberpunk/cybergoth sense of aesthetics. As such I should love this film, right? I guess I should, but unfortunately "The Gene Generation" is much too sub-par for me to remotely like it.

The plot is an incohesive and boring mess, the editing is clumsy, the characters are undeveloped and uninteresting, the special effects are laughable, the acting is not worth mentioning, the action scenes are worthless, etc. I didn't expect much from a film this obscure, but "The Gene Generation" really blew away any expectations I had to leave only continuous nay-shaking behind.

The only reason why I'm not giving this film a bottom rating of 1/10 is because the soundtrack was somewhat enjoyable and matched the intended cyberpunk/cybergoth atmosphere and the outfits matched the soundtrack. Watch this film only if you're a hardcore fan of either EBM or cyberpunk/cybergoth and you don't give a damn about this film having any quality at all.

I have a mixed feeling about this film.

In one way, it's an interesting story, out of the cyberpunk tradition of Philip K. Dick and others. The movie has a definite "Blade Runner" feel to it, provided by copious amounts of CGI.

The weakest element of this movie really is Bai Ling herself. Oh, she easy on the eyes, especially when she did nude scenes. But her thick accent is distracting, and at times she seems to be overacting. Playing against Alec Newman, who is understated in his performance, they are just not a well-matched pair.

The saddest element here is Faye Dunaway. She won a freakin' Oscar, for crying out loud! She's in the top class of her profession. Her performance here is a couple of voiceovers and one short scene, just enough to let us know how far she's fallen since her glory days in the 1970's.

Not a bad film to watch, but not anything anyone will remember...