Androïde

I love eighties films, and I love science fiction. This film is a good example of both, but I have to say it was a bit 'darker' than it felt like it should have been.

The music is classic analog synthesized fun, and the setting is very cool-looking, typical of any early eighties sci-fi movie but with a certain complexity and detail that makes it seem solid and believable.

The acting is absolutely phenomenal. I generally complain a lot about bad, hard-to-believe acting in movies but in this case I have no complaints; there was nothing to distract me from the story. I half-believed that Max was played by a real android (he is credited as "Himself". lol)! The acting was overall believable and appropriately restrained.

The story could have used some work... it was a bit slow-moving and somewhat uninteresting, and the resolution wasn't entirely satisfying due to certain characters who were insufficiently developed. Also I felt that there should have been some slight comic relief, and I think the drama of the situations was not emphasized enough. But, to the story's credit, it did have a couple of nice twists and I think I like the ending.

Overall I think it was worth seeing: much better than most of the junk that comes on at 2 AM!

Take a predictable android sci-fi plot, a coming of age story, some cops & robbers, and a pinch of "Bride of Frankenstein". Put it all in a low-budget ensemble film and stir vigorously. What you end up with is interesting, engaging, and unique in spite of its obvious flaws.

Android Max and his scientist master are living in a remote space station when they are joined by a trio of fugitives - a beauty, a beast, and a brain. The brain figures that they've stumbled onto something valuable seeing as how androids have been outlawed on Earth ever since the uprising. It turns out that at a certain age, the androids become disrespectful, insubordinate, and obsessed with sex. In other words, they turn into adolescents. So we can all sympathize with what Max is going through when he sees a female for the very first time. Meanwhile, the scientist is working on a new and improved replacement for Max, a model which just happens to also be a gorgeous blond woman.

The plot lines are cliché and full of holes, the ending is a bit of a cheat, and the special effects are weak. The film works, however, because it pays close attention to the things which matter, mainly Max and his own isolated world. Although many have criticized the cheap sets, they maintain a coherent mood and atmosphere which is entirely successful in creating a fictional space in which the story can take place. Max himself is one of the most intelligently scripted and well acted android characters to ever appear on screen. You'll be disappointed if you're looking for action or deep meanings, but if you allow yourself to take an interest in Max you may find yourself thinking about him long after the film has ended.

Very much a "mixed bag". The special effects and set design are terribly cheesy, with lots of random flashing lights and odd geometric shapes for no reason (why a trapezoidal water jug? because it's THE FUTURE!) and a defense system based on the classic Vectrex video game system. But the cinematography is generally decent (although typically overlit) and I rather liked the synth score, by Mother of Invention Don Preston. As far as the cast is concerned, Klaus Kinski is of course always a delight, but he's really not in it all that much and it's a rather subdued role for him. Don Keith Opper (credited only under his android name) plays the title character as a rebellious nerd, which is an interesting take but doesn't always work. Brie Howard and Norbert Weisser are barely passable, and Crofton Hardesser is downright awful. The script has some horribly clunky lines in it, but the story is pretty intriguing once you get into it, a kind of BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (or METROPOLIS, which Max 404 actually watches at one point) tale with BLADE RUNNER style commentary on what it is to be human. It doesn't run very deep, but there are some nice angles to it, and a neat ending. If you can overlook a lot of flaws and keep your Kinski expectations low, it's really not a bad watch.

This may be low budget... but so was Dark Star!

I have to say that I strangely enjoyed this low budget attempt at a sci-fi movie. Despite its constraints it had plenty of great ideas and one thing I like: A weird atmosphere!

If you don't mind low budgetness and like weird movies (like me) then I strongly suggest this... It could easily be a cult movie!

"Android" is somewhere between a cheesy film and a proper movie. The look isn't exactly on the level of "Star Wars", but those early 80s space films are both visually and plot-wise superior to any (semi-)cheesy 90s or 00s sci-fi movies. The interiors of the space station are quite good, the special effects are okay. There are certainly moments of nonsense, such as the female fugitive not being sure what an android is. If most late-20th-century people knew what an android is, then what are the odds that a relatively young woman from the year 2028 - imprisoned for corporate espionage - would not know this? Still, in spite of some logic holes, the acting isn't bad, the dialogue is okay. The movie's biggest assets are the somewhat unique atmosphere, and the unpredictability of the plot - which early on might appear to be easy to predict. Short and not dull.