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You can't help but like Crowe's gleeful portrayal of a schizophrenic nano-bot serial killer in this ridiculous film, and with futuristic fascists, pervey programmers and a bucket loads of virtual reality cyber nonsense, this should really be a winner in the style of The Demolition Man or the Robocop series. But where other films in the genre have used such tools as wit and plot to keep the more intelligent of the viewers amused, this film, um, hasn't.

The script is terrible. The acting (excluding Crowe, who only gets away with it thanks to a camp smile and some fortunate direction) is wooden. And the plot is illogical and frustrating.

In the near future, Parker Barnes (Denzel Washington) is an ex-cop who has been sent to prison for murder. The circumstances surrounding his crime are disheartening and elicit empathy. Now, he is offered a chance at freedom from prison. Parker must hunt down and destroy a murderous cyborg, SID 6.7 (Russell Crowe), who is menacing the general public after jumping out of a virtual reality program. The chase takes on many twists and turns as SID terrorizes, shoots and kidnaps victims in his path. Can SID be stopped?

It may not be a science fiction masterpiece, but this film is worthwhile and intriguing. A second viewing may be required to truly understand and appreciate its complex plot. Then, too, the marvelous special effects enhance the look and feel of the film. It is not Denzel Washington's finest hour (he is adequate); however, Russell Crowe is positively gleeful in his portrayal of the ultimately designed killing machine. There are some humorous moments, somewhat lessening the overall dark and somber tone. On the down side, the ending may be a little too pat and leave a few loose ends untied. Recommended for science fiction and action movie fans who are on the lookout for lesser known films that may satisfy them for an evening.

Virtual Reality gets a look, following in the footsteps of "The Lawnmower Man." If you saw "The Matrix"(99) and were wondering where you glimpsed the VR scenery years earlier, it may have been in this pic. Here, Denzel gets to briefly run around inside a VR world, chasing after virtual killer Russell Crowe, known as Sid 6.7 (very close to 6.66, isn't it?). Sid 6.7 is the latest computer program, a conglomeration of about 200 serial killers & mass murderers, and so advanced it's virtually self-aware. The bulk of the picture takes place in the real world, to which Sid 6.7 manages to escape to with the help of very advanced nanotechnology. I believe this was supposed to take place slightly in the future (1999), but from our perspective, it's old hat and square. Everything looks outmoded and just old, except the strangely hi-tech VR and nanites.

It's also interesting, from the modern perspective, to view an early role of Crowe's, before he hit the A-List. He doesn't have much to play with here. His character doesn't have the luxury of falling back on deep psychological reasons for his murderous ways, because he's inhuman. He's simply the latest software given locomotion in the semblance of a human body. He's programmed to be the way he is - there's no choice involved on his part. There's a brief mention of his program evolving once in the real world, but there's no actual evidence of that. Once in the real world, it's a simplistic chase & destroy mission, with Denzel the only one in the city trained to stop him. Denzel, just getting on the A-List a couple of years earlier, is standard action hero here, driven by a brutal tragedy from before the film begins. The motivations for a couple of key supporting characters are suspect; the designer of Sid 6.7, for example, turns out to be almost as psychotic, but it's hard to believe no one noticed this before (was he influenced by the software?). Fichtner, as a government aide, has the most thankless role, as an idiotic bureaucrat. The child actress playing the daughter of Lynch's character went on to teenage bombshell roles in TV series, the latest being "Charmed."

This film is just plain silly. It catches Denzel Washington in one of his rare ultra-violence impulses (like Training Day). Newsflash: Washington is a premier actor wasted on a simple-mined character that just about second-rate actor in Hollywood could have played.

However, the hilarious, over the top performance of Russell Crowe as a cyborg gone berserk is a combination of Max Headroom and the rogue robot in Blade Runner. He steals the film, but cannot rescue the lame script and corny dialogue. Of course, being 30 years old, the film is a bit dated from a scientific standpoint, so we must accept the science that was available in 1995. Entertaining at times.

The first great film for Russell Crowe, and a very interesting film to say the least. Cyber culture is rarely ever depicted in movies, but this was one of those films which brought some of these underground tendencies to light. What was even more interesting was how evil Sid 6.7 was. Crowe did an excellent job of portraying the demented cyber villain. I especially liked Denzel Washington, who always manages to be believable in his role when he doesn't try to be a ‘soul brotha.' Granted, the cinematography was pretty average as well as the music, but then again, the performance of the two main stars really made this film a winner.