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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Perfect man - too bad there's only one, July 18, 2002
This review is from: Last Man on Planet Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)
In order to end a devastating war, the Y bomb was created, so called because it carries a virus that kills only men. The point was to kill soldiers and not civilians, however there are unexpected repercussions. The end result is that, at the time the story takes place, the only men remaining are very few and aging. They are the small percentage that had a natural immunity and live in a militant group that dreams of taking back their world. Society is made up entirely of women. This makes cloning necessary as a form of reproduction. Men are reviled as uncontrollably violent and dangerous. However, some of the female characters belie the stereo-type that only men are capable of such behavior. A young female scientist creates a man with no violent tendencies in the lab. When he escapes, he becomes hunted even though he has harmed no one. Personally, I liked this movie. It is a sci-fi flick, so expect a reality different than the one you know. I'm sure many people think the world would be less violent and war prone if it were run by women. This movie gives one opinion on what a society where women held all the power would be like. Does power corrupt everyone?
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
vapid made-for-cable TV movie, with poor acting, December 22, 2006
This review is from: Last Man on Planet Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is obviously a made-for-TV film. You can tell by the fade-outs every 15 minutes or so, so you can go to a commercial break. I'm guessing this was made for The Sci-Fi Channel, partally because of the content, but also because it's a Paramount film, and Paramount was a 50% owner of The Sci-Fi Channel with Universal when this film was made.
The new Outer Limits had better production values (and that's a pretty low bar). Story's supposed to be set in D.C., but it's obviously Los Angeles. As is typical in almost all films, there are curiously few cars on the streets during a car chase.
I won't rehash the plot; other reviewers have done it well enough. This film is slight on plot anyway, and it's remarkably easy to guess what will happen next. I was about 15 minutes ahead of every plot development.
This film has the requisite cute observations that we've seen ad infinitum in the "all female world" subgenre (which, in modern times, goes back at least to the 1930s SHE). There are the "closet heteros." Naturally, the most vocally anti-male woman turns out to have secret sexual desires for men. There are also some bad men to balance things out.
The best scene in this film was the red light district, werein yuppie women troll for hookers dressed as men. Kinda cute, that female hooker dressed as singer Michael Jackson. I also liked the mindless teen slang, using such words a "frozen" and "burnt" to signify cool, and "vacant" to mean stupid.
The acting in this film is awful, just awful, with few exceptions. Julie Bowen is okay, but despite her talent, she can't do much with the material. Her best film is JOE SOMEBODY, in which Bowen demonstrates a strong flair for romantic comedy. She is a gifted comedien. However, she has little opportunity to demonstrate that flair here, playing a geneticist who creates a man.
An overall vapid film, with poor acting, cheap production values, and a predictable plot.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thought provoking SCI-FI, not guideline for world policy, November 17, 2005
This review is from: Last Man on Planet Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This film demonstrates that the positive and negative in all of us can at best be balanced, but not eradicated. All things in moderation, including non-violence AND brutality.
The point is missed by those who automatically dismiss it as crap because the women have decided to criminalize male reproduction due to genetic tendencies toward violence, yet can be violent themselves. Whichever of the differing versions of who wiped out the men presented in this film you believe, what is key is that this society, for all its semi-peaceful advantages and appeal, is not perfect. For those easily offended, you must remember that this IS sci-fi, which means we CAN explore a world without men just like a world where dinosaurs rule an island. That's why the "fi" part is short for fiction.
The "good" man who was created was done so completely without the genes for violence and aggression, which seemed to be a good thing, except he couldn't even raise a hand to defend himself! That's helpful. That situation still worked for most of the film but in the end he shot and killed a man to save his female creator. And yes, the female society still had cops who carried guns, a crime rate, prostitution, and any other supposed social evil you could come up with. The only thing it didn't have was men.
And that's the crux folks! Even without the so called violence genes, women were still cruel if only out of one of our most primal emotions- fear. Upwards of 97% of men were gone, but many survivors successfully proved the point of the lesbians daily by feeding their hatred and collecting guns, etc. in order to overthrow the world and "put the women back in their place". Even though he repeated showed that he could not be aggressive out of fear or anger, the "good" man STILL eventually succumbed to violence out of another primal emotion- love.
The moral of this story ladies and gentlemen? Whether you believe we were originally made perfect or not, in this day and age, we're not even close. More important, we never will be. Get rid of men or women, or make everyone's skin color the same and eliminate dangerous patriotism by reforming Pangea, it doesn't matter. We don't have it in us. All we can do is try to balance the good with the bad, accept that we're going to err at times, and ponder all the things we could try to get to that perfect world anyway....
Then make movies about them.
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