Hardware

After all the horrible things I heard about this movie, I wasn't expecting much when I found it for $3 in a pawn shop... and, after watching it a couple of times, I don't know what the hell people who say this is "the worst movie in the world" were smoking... because this is one of the best low-budget sci-fi flicks I have ever come across.

Though it is by no means a sublime piece of art, I find the fact that the plot concerns one woman and her boyfriend fighting off this robot in her apartment, with the collapsing world as a backdrop around them to be somewhat refreshing in an age of sci-fi films trying to be epic and ending up trite. Though clumsily written at times and with the robot looking almost ridiculous at points, we get a nicely shot, stylishly lit sci-fi thriller that takes place on a human scale and whose premise has enough depth, symbolism and irony to make it all worthwhile. Best film I have ever seen? Hardly. But the best deal I've had for $3 in a very, very long time.

First off, let's get my bias out the way, I'm a die-hard fan of this movie, and this review is definitely intended to get the reader to give it a chance.

The film is riddled with industrial (music) culture references and cameos, and if you're into that scene, there's a certain sick thrill about seeing Carl McCoy as the zone trooper, and seeing footage of proto-industrial performance artist Monte Cazazza in this. The general tone and ambiance of the whole piece of wonderfully clichéd cyberpunk.

And that's really the interesting thing about this film. While there are a plethora of terrible sci-fi slasher flicks out there desperately claiming the 'cyberpunk' moniker, here is a film that claims to be nothing more than a sci-fi slasher flick, and manages to be somewhat of a pulp-cyberpunk classic instead.

The whole movie is a mood piece, designed more for its ambiance and the feel of its world, than particularly flashy action sequences or on-screen 'wow' factor. It's meant to be a genre movie, but it manages to feel like a 'serious' film under the influence of some heavy drugs. Not a bad thing really, but your tastes may disagree. Personally I've always liked that sunset-filtered-through pollution look that Bladerunner was infamous for, and hardware utilizes the same rather well.

Genre movie it may be, but it shows far less cheese coating and terrible acting than any of the current glut of genre movies being produced for the Sci-Fi channel. In fact the whole movie feels more like a good pulpy cyberpunk novella than a genre movie by far. Calling the movie 'mood music for rivetheads' isn't really an insult to it.

I saw this movie in the theater the week it opened way back when. It was a very, very late showing, and there were approximately five other people in the theater. Two walked out during the film. As the film credits rolled, the two women sitting next to us said, "My god! That was the worst film I have ever seen!" My only thoughts were, "They have not seen Starcrash!"

Both my friend and I loved Hardware. I introduced my SO to it this weekend, and he loved it. I think what I like about it is that it's a small movie that manages to execute its space perfectly. The universe of Hardware is dark, dirty, claustrophobic (without being small). The narrative is pure dystopia, which fits very well with the droid gone wild theme. The droid is so unrelenting, as is the dreariness of existence in this post apocalyptic space. I like how tight the movie is. I also like how clean the narrative is. There isn't any extraneous fluff.

I think this movie will appeal to the slightly more sophisticated film lover. It doesn't have big movie pretensions. Hollywood did not destroy this movie. The symbolism is far more subtle than in big productions. The pacing is also different. I loved the slow buildup.

This movie worked, but it's not an easy movie. If you're willing to work a little with a movie that doesn't have the big movie facade of Terminator II or Independence Day, and you enjoy dystopic science fiction, I think you will like this one.

The 21st century world is a radioactive wasteland as a result of a nuclear war. A traveling scavenger comes across the remains of a cyborg named Mark 13 in the desert; He salvages pieces of it. The cyborg head ends up with a metal sculptress, who is unaware of the cyborg's infamy as a governmental killing machine project that was scrapped due to its defects. Mark 13 reconstructs itself utilizing household appliances and metal parts, and goes amok.

Hardware is a movie that relies on its post-modernistic stylings to bring out its flavor but most of the time it falls flat. It's full of oddly placed music, I heard somewhere that the director Richard Stanley used to direct music videos, so maybe that explains a few reasons as to why this movie is the way it is. The red filter used through at least 50% of the movie can become highly annoying and get in the way of viewing some potentially good, violent scenes. Also the scenes which slowly push the plots progression could have done without the distraction.

Luckily enough, when the movie really gets going (it takes almost an hour!) its quite a fun ride of just extremely painful death scenes as the clunky robot Mark-13 chases down all humans in his way.

I've never really understood what some people see in 'Hardware'. I thought it was mediocre when I first watched it a couple of years after it was released, and a second viewing more recently did nothing to make me rate it higher. The movie's special effects and overall visual look are quite impressive for such a low budget movie, and that is just about the only positive thing I can say about it. The script is lousy - a seen-it-all-before rehash of second hand ideas (most notably 'Stalker', 'Mad Max 2' and 'The Terminator') that goes nowhere... slowly. Dylan McDermott is now much better known due to his TV success, but it still doesn't mean he's a very dull leading man. Stacey Travis ('Ghost World') is also pretty forgettable. John Lynch ('In The Name Of The Father') and William Hootkins ('American Gothic') are much more interesting performers, but they weren't enough to salvage this one. And the less said about the completely pointless cameo from rock legend Lemmy (Motorhead) the better. 'Hardware' is difficult to recommend. I say stick with the much more entertaining killer robot thrillers 'Saturn 3' and 'The Terminator'. However I wouldn't let this movie put you off Richard Stanley's later movie 'Dust Devil'. It isn't without some faults but it's ten times more interesting than 'Hardware', and definitely worth a look.