Customer Reviews

Eyeborgs

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I saw Eyeborgs at its premier screening in St. Pete Beach, and it is a fun "killer robot" movie wrapped around a moral/political message. If you want to pay attention, you can catch the allegories to real-life situations equally involving privacy of citizens, and trusting the media and government. However, in essence it is a fun movie about robots being used to take over society. An independent film with a very high production value and excellent special effects. The robots, especially the "Reapers" are extremely well done. Very good performance by Adrian Paul as the Department of Homeland Defense Agent. I definitely recommend this movie for sci-fi fans.

I bought the Blu-Ray, thinking I was getting a sci-fi film that I hadn't heard any buzz about. It IS a sci-fi movie, but what you need to know, in order to know if you would like it is that it's really a political commentary. If you took Oliver Stone, Roger Moore, the movie Hardware and Terminator: Rise of the Machines, and mixed them all together, you might get this film.

It's sometime in the unspecified future and Homeland Security has expanded. Dramatically. All surveillance cameras (public and private) have been linked together into a single "anti-terrorist" surveillance system under the "Freedom of Observation" Act, a follow-up to the Patriot Act. This surveillance has been greatly enhanced by the creation of mobile observation bots (the eyeborgs), which are ubiquitous. They aren't SUPPOSED to enter private property without a search warrant--but for law enforcement and Homeland Security officials, getting a search warrant is as automated, and takes about as long, as it takes you to make a small-item purchase by swiping your credit card. These eyeborg surveillance bots come in a variety of sizes, shapes (and functionalities). In this environment the story line is told via a purple-haired heavy-metal rocker who happens to be the nephew of the President, some DHS agents, a female newscaster for the major TV network, and some lesser characters. The eyeborgs are out of control. They don't just survey, they have weapons, too. (Why haven't people noticed this yet?) There seems to be some kind of plot-to blow up the President? And who is controlling these out of control eyeborgs? Is it the President? The Vice-President? Someone unidentified in the vast security network that's been created? Some anti-technology, anti-surveillance underground movement? Foreign terrorists? The machines themselves? (like Skynet?)

The movie starts out kinda funny, and then it gradually gets scarier (more reminiscent of the Terminator films) as we follow this cast of characters trying to figure out what is going on and who'se behind it. This movie takes all kinds of modern-day trends and just extrapolates them: CNN (I swear one newscaster sounds somewhat like Rick Sanchez). Homeland Security. Patriot Act. Gulf Wars. War against terrorism. Total Information Awareness. 9/11. Loss of constitutional freedoms. Distrust of big government. Stolen elections. And whether technology is a tool, or whether it is controlling our lives as much as we are controlling it. Who will guard the guardians? And more. The movie's central (political) thesis might best be summed up by a quote from Ben Franklin, delivered partway through, something like, "Those who value security more than freedom are deserving of neither one." By the way "eyeborg" being the play on the word "cyborg" that it is, I thought the whole title was a misnomer since these are purely machines with no biological components--until I thought about this concept that technology is developing us (as a society) just as much as we are developing it--perhaps this is a notion the scriptwriter had in mind with the title-that our whole society is coming to resemble something like a cybernetic organism.

The acting is not great but it's OK. The CG machines are decent enough. The action is OK, but nothing compelling. The music is not my kind of taste: too much on the heavy-metal side for me. All-in-all, this is like the 2010 film update to the old classic "1984"--asking us just where we are headed as a civilization--off the cliff? Can we stop? The only thing that kept me interested all the way through was this underlying social commentary. I personally wouldn't find it all that interesting as a plain sci-fi or action film. I hope this allows you to decide if you want to see it or not, without giving away too many plot spoilers.

I too saw this movie at a premier. I also got a chance to talk with the director and his wife who wrote the screenplay. I'm not a really big fan of action movies, and this definately had a lot of action, but it was really the dialog that I felt sold the movie. It's witty, fast-paced and more importantly contained a pertinent message. The cast for the most part were great, especially Adrian Paul. He really made the movie. The special effects were good, the robots were believable. The only thing I didn't care for was the jumpy filming at the very beginning of the movie. It was intentional but I didn't think it was necessary. Either way, it didn't last long and so didn't distract from what was a very good movie. Well worth purchasing, especially if you are a fan of Adrian Paul.

Fun action movie with a good story. Some of the acting & dialog is a little awkward, and some scenes seemed rushed, but overall it was a good adventure. The CG is great; I'm pretty impressed with the way the actors and eyeborgs interacted. I'm looking forward to Eyeborgs II.

OK, I'll admit it: I bought this primarily because much or most of the action was filmed in my home town and inside my office building. But it's actually not a bad storyline and the acting ranges from OK to good. Trust me when I say it's MUCH better than the fahrbot dren movies SyFy throws together for Saturday retch-fests.

I rented this movie with no expectations. It was in the new release section with only 3 copies available. I was impressed with this film, because the acting was good, special effects were good, and it had a nice story-line. During most movies you can pause it at any point, and pretty much guess what is going to happen next. Hollywood seems to use the same formula to write most movies. This one was different, and it was a very nice change. This story-line surprised me more than once. I think it makes a great rental, but I don't think it has much replay value, which is pretty much my point of view on most movies with a lot of suspense.

I love robotics, and this had some cool stuff. But it was so full of bad acting and errors it was impossible to enjoy. The "surprise ending" was totally predictable. It was also silly they shot the last scene to leave it open for a sequel.

Sci-fi "B" movie fans are used to taking their passion with a grain of salt-- bad dialogue, cheesy effects and low budgets are all par for the course. "Eyeborgs" is occasionally guilty of all these things, but more often than not it is tense, believable, and clever. Very clever. If you were willing to even glance at this review, you should be buying or renting "Eyeborgs" right now.

The makers of EYEBORGS have to be congratulated that they make no attempts to hide that they are presenting a B-Movie. It's a very typical killer robots story. Adrian Paul turns in the best performance possible under B-Movie restrictions of a less than edge-of-your-seat script. The cheese factor is pretty high.

I am not saying to avoid watching it.
But this is made for TV, low budget quality, with an idiotic plot.
At least it is free on Prime.