Moontrap (1989)

This is bad; not "so bad it is good" , just bad. Script, plot, acting, effects, timing; all unforgivably bad. It's like a parody of the kind of movie that an actor who is already famous does, where they want to play the lead, after gaining fame being a supporting actor. Walter's agent must have hated him for letting do this turkey. Why all the pauses before lines? Was the sheer awkwardness of the script giving them pause for thought or had the director just read it in a book? This movie might come in useful if you work for the secret service of your country and you need to torture information out of a suspect. Forget about thumbscrews, electricity and water boarding; this should do the trick. I should imagine you won't even need to wait until the credits; they will tell you what you want to know much sooner than that; although subtitles will help....

Think big. Well this tidy, low-scale b-grade sci-fi outing tries to do so, but its limitations do keep its ambitious groundwork at check. Hey what would drew a lot of people to this film would be that of cult figure Bruce Campbell, as I don't really see anything else that would pluck it from total obscurity.Jason Grant and Ray Tanner are two American astronauts that discover a burnt up ancient spaceship. On board they find an alien artifact and human corpse, which they bring back to earth. Not long after returning the artifact hatches out a robot that gathers anything from electronic devices to human body parts to add onto itself, where it causes havoc before being dispatched. Jason and Ray are then sent to the moon to see if there are any more of these robots about.Even though the overstated, juvenile script leaves a lot be desired, the concepts are inventively staged and remotely interesting. You gotta give it credit. Think of a more cheaper version of the Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland film 'Virus (1999)', but slow burn, set on the moon and finding yourself on the dark side of it with no clear explanation to certain occurrences. Even with its attempts of realism, involving space footage. Still remaining are moments of silliness and flat spells. Really it's not quite as enjoyable as it would seem, but it's still a highly cheesy offering. However the special effects, while obviously minimal are surprisingly competent and presentable with the likes of the towering robots. The sets might look cheap and plastic, but there are some strikingly etched designs which help invoke some eerie imagery. The moon is a foreboding backdrop. Robert Dyke's direction is clunky with no suspense and few jolts. While the dramatic score is overcooked.The acting is quite stock-like. Lead actors Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell never convince with their rapports. Koenig is embarrassingly ripe to watch and Campbell tries to inflict fun with no avail. Leigh Lombardi plays it mostly mute and looks bemused. Lets not forget to, getting in on with Koenig.Unique, but the budget and script never really utilizes its inventive vision.

SPOILER: i loved this movie and not for a post ST Koenig or evil dead Campbell, but because it had a strange twist on what may have happened to earth in the past, they were prob the legends of Atlantis and shows us a idea of why we should not let our toys get smarter then the ones who build them. yes there are a lot of poor cheesy jokes and the plot was lame in places but over all it was a good flick if a bit gory in the reuse of humans for parts. It does have a lot in common with terminator, aliens and virus but sci-fi does have a tend to copy it self, but if you want to see a good film with some good ideas then this one is for you, it is a thrill ride if you don't think to hard

~Spoiler~I love Walter Koenig. I love Bruce Campbell. However, neither Chekov nor the Chin could save this one. It's about a mission to the moon to uncover a secret robot army that's preparing to invade the earth. It's just a bad movie. You can start to tell right at the beginning. The main downer: Bruce "The Penetrator" Campbell dies in this one. He gets a couple of one-liners but nothing too special. I've started to notice that he always seems to die in movies that start with M. We've got Maniac Cop 2, Mindwarp, Mennos Mind, and now this. It's a conspiracy I tell ya. I've also noticed that Chekov is hairy, like Robin Williams hairy. He does do a good William Shatner impression though. The 1998 Jamie Lee Curtis flick, Virus, owes a lot to this movie. Too bad it sucked too.