Eyeborgs (2009)

I am giving this 10 out of 10 because it is a surprisingly good science fiction film that should have a much wider viewing than it is getting. If you know your science fiction you will easily see this film's pedigree. If you don't know your science fiction, you should do everyone a favor and stick to reviewing what you know and enjoy.In Eyeborgs, we are treated to a near future surveillance and mechanized police state society gone to its logical extreme. It is done in a campy but satisfying way not unlike the Robocop movies. Many other movies have dealt with this subject matter but often they are not nearly this much fun. If you like science fiction get your Jiffy Pop ready and spin this one up on your little DVD player or patch into your high speed internet and let the electrons and photons begin to stream.

When I saw this I thought it was going to be a cheesy, low budget, poor acting movie. After all it had Adrian Paul in it so what else could it be. Well it is what I thought. BUT somewhere along the line it developed some interesting subplots and some greater social conscience. The movie wasn't able to maximize its potential but it still makes you think. So let's break movie down: ACTING. It's what you expect. Little or unknown actors with limited ability. But the acting is no worse than 90% of what we see on television.CONTINUITY. The movie flows OK but there's so many unexplained bits and pieces that should have been linked or explained. The singer from the band and the girlfriend are killed in the car making the President's uncle the new lead singer. No connection to the movie's plot. Why sneak explosives into the building when you've already loaded tanks of explosive material in the basement with timers on them. Why have a running gun fight when the purpose is to explode the building? Just do it. How did the plot with guitar man mesh with the explosives in the basement? It's like two plots to kill the President. And why would the guitar man want to kill the President as the Vice-President would take over and it's clear the latter is more the hawk of the two? Plot line. The plot line is confusing at times. We never figure out who is controlling the eyeborgs (likely the VP) or if they are acting independently (AI). Sometimes it seems like it has to be the latter but the basic plot line only seems to benefit the VP.GRAPHICS. Overall not too bad. The eyeborgs were fairly well done. The larger units looked a little too computer generated at times but other units, such as the soldier units, looked good.So why give it a 6 instead of a 2 or 3? I found the movie unsettling as it is just a slightly more extreme example of what exists today. Our survelliance cameras might not be linked but they are everywhere. I read somewhere that in large cities, if you are walking on a city street, that you will likely be captured on tape by at least 14 cameras on average. Even if that stat is wrong and it's only 2-3, that's still a lot of times to have someone record you. In the movie people could never get away from the cameras. Even low end criminals selling guns, dope or plotting to kill the President couldn't keep them out of their houses.Also found it unsettling how they relied on robots for all evidence such as film footage, blood samples and other crime scene investigations. Sort of a Magnus Robot Fighter environment. No one thinks for themselves.Finally it has the feeling and the closing that would work well as a pilot for a TV show.It's worth a rental or purchase in the low cost movie bin.

A sleeper. I really liked it for how they handled the SF elements, developing a reasonable What If scenario which they spin off from the surveillance aspect of our governmental enthusiasms for security theater. Even without that, the characterizations and action sequences would be enough to place this movie much higher than what you'd normally find by frittering away the same amount of time on, say, a SyFy channel original movie.I doubt there were many $$$ involved in this. For one thing, the only actor I recognized was Danny Trejo in a very brief role. It's good to see a SF movie which starts with a decent story and is handled with enough care to show that the makers don't think they're looking down on the audience.

Eyeborgs on Blu-ray looks very good for an Independent low-budgeted film. Not surprisingly the Director was a former DP (Director Of Photography) and the visual effects won two awards. The story parallels the real-world anxiety during the Bush Administration with it's futuristic tale. The acting is a little shaky but most of it is the supporting cast with the exception of Supporting Actor extrordinaire Danny Trejo. The Eyeborgs themselves remind me a lot of the Ed-209's in Robocop (they even sound like them) at least the miniature ones do. The bigger Eyeborgs are another robot/creature entirely. The story rings true in lots of ways about losing privacy due to technology and too much power corrupts. You can read my full review here - http://www.movie-vault.com/reviews/eyeborgs-bluray/