Hardwired (2009)

Okay, so the once great Val Kilmer looks a little goofy and yeah, Cuba Gooding Jr. has won Oscars for MUCH better. But people, this is Science Fiction for God's sake! Just exactly WHEN was the last time you saw a decent Sci Fi film, hmmm...? How about the tons of drivel cranked out by the Sci Fi channel? I truly think that this movie has some very good ideas in it. The opening scenes showing all the corporate advertising ALONE give this film a strong '5' to start with. A VERY clever idea in my opinion. I absolutely frigg'n LOVED the soundtrack; now THAT is a bloody great soundtrack!!! And technically (which is usually FAR more important in Sci Fi films) I thought that they were pretty sharp with the visuals and the editing, which gave it a fairly glossy look. With probably about 1% of the budget, I actually got flashes that reminded me strongly of 'ENEMY OF THE STATE' Not a bad accomplishment, considering...Remember too, the BEST Science Fiction is based upon GOOD ideas; and the idea for this one is indeed quite intriguing. There have been several films made on this premise where in the near future corporations will own and control EVERYTHING (the introductory statement at the beginning of the movie is a nice touch) So yeah, the movie was somewhat constrained by it's budget. But, I honestly thought that they accomplished a lot with what they had and were able to create a pretty good looking film and, surprisingly, were able to keep the Cheeeeez factor fairly low. Let's not forget too that the movie DOES indeed have Val Kilmer and Cuba Gooding Jr., which is a HELL of a lot more than most low budget Science Fiction films have these days! Bottom line (and I really DO like saying 'Bottom'!) If you really appreciate a quality Science Fiction concept and you take the time to notice and enjoy all the nice visual and creative touches, you really should enjoy this film...

The premise of this film--almost certainly a failed pilot*--is very, very clever. Greedy industrialists devise the ultimate marketing device--no fast-forwarding, no trips to the kitchen--in our brains. It was the perfect place for a clever satire on the insanity of Madison Avenue. Unfortunately it promptly degenerates into a threadbare revenge saga with all the standard plot devices of such genres.A pity because it had the promise of something much, much better.Brad Kilmer looks deranged. What's with his hair? Has anyone made more bad films than Cuba Gooding? *No movie movie introduces a well-known character actor mug--Lance Henriksen--at the end of a movie unless it's the pilot of a TV series.

Here we have a movie made for TV. It's cheap, it's boring, and it's bad. Not even the good actors here can make it any good. In fact, they seem to be acting bad themselves! I actually didn't have the will to watch the whole thing in one go, and had to leave half of it for next day. I hate to be interrupted when watching a movie, so you can imagine how terrible this piece is. As for the cyberpunk part... Let's see... You know when you have these consoles full of bright lights and monitors with all kind of signs that don't tell anything? When someone seems to be just pressing random keys on the keyboard while trying to look like he's doing something serious? That's Hardwired for you. I really dislike those extra buttons added to a piece of hardware to make it look more "futuristic" or having a lot of useless, meaningless characters on someone's range of vision pretending to be very "hi-tech". There's not even atmosphere here. The music doesn't suit and it doesn't give any feeling. You know what I thought when watching this? Nirvana. It's like this film is trying to be Nirvana. I love that film. It wasn't a big budget production but it got something: atmosphere. And you felt like you were actually watching a cyberpunk film, immersed in it. Hardwired is more like a bad Twilight Zone episode. The plot could have saved some of this fiasco. However, as it happens so many times, it doesn't develop enough to make the movie worth it.

I just finished watching this movie. If you like sci-fi, you might enjoy this if you have nothing else to watch. The story line is OK, it could happen I suppose. The plot has been done so many times though. The acting is not there, even though it has some decent actors in it. Seems Cuba didn't even want to play the role, shows really no passion in the movie. The action failed real bad. After around 15 minutes or so, it turns video-gamish. The ending is left for a sequel in-which I have no clue as to why. Also, why did I give it a 5? It has it's moments & could have been a decent movie. If your a die-hard sci-fi fan, you might just like it. I try to be fair when judging all movies, because what I don't like others will & vice-versa.