53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good, December 28, 2003
Quick -- name a motion picture based on a short story by Philip K. Dick and starring a tough guy who played a killer cyborg in a previous hit movie.
If you guessed _Total Recall_, you're correct, but it's not the one I had in mind.
This one is nothing like _Total Recall_ (which was an excellent movie but wandered far -- or did it? think twice -- from Dick's 'We Can Remember It For You Wholesale'). The story here is straightforward and doesn't involve any questioning of the nature of reality -- though it does, at least obliquely, question the nature of the relationship between humans and machines.
Peter Weller (_Robocop_) is the big cahuna here, and he does an excellent job as the morose, taciturn, tough-as-nails, just barely likeable 'hero' of the piece. The situation: there's some sort of corporate war on, and there's a mining colony, and there's some disinformation, and there's a possibility none of the fine folks that work the mines will ever get home again. (The film is based loosely on Dick's 'Second Variety' but doesn't follow it in detail; for one thing, the story was set on Earth.)
And there are the Screamers.
I can't tell you much about them without spoiling the movie for you. I guess I can let you know that they are machines and that they are evolving. Beyond that . . . well, watch and see.
This is a gritty, taut movie, and it's mostly well executed. The cast do a fine job -- especially Roy Dupuis but also that kid who used to rollerblade around on _Caroline In The City_. Some of the tension is artificial but the plot keeps on developing to the very last moment of the film.
It's not great, but it's good. And in its way it's a faithful adaptation of the spirit of Dick's story, despite its major liberties with the details. That spirit has to do with the evolution of machines to the point that they're willing and able to kill one another, just like _real_ humans do. In that respect, the film is dark, pessimistic, and 'Dickian', and it bears up well under repeated viewings.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A nifty adaptation from the master of science fiction paranoia, Phillip K. Dick., July 18, 2006
Screamers - Wow. If slightly derivative, this is a beauty; an overlooked gem of the just-above 'B' level sci-fi/horror genre.
Peter Weller (in the twilight of his 'A' list career) stars as Col. Hendricksson, a disenfranchised career soldier for the Alliance, stuck on a decimated mining planet ravaged by a decade of never-ending warfare, who sets out into no-man's land to negotiate peace with the enemy forces of the New Economic Bloc. Think a futuristic version of the Hatfield's vs. the McCoys, with radiation poisoning and advanced weaponry, as manipulated by an unseen, off-world government, and you've got the general idea.
Eventually Col. Hendricksson realizes that he's been scammed and stranded, stuck fighting a hopeless battle void of any importance, and he and his rag-tag band of Alliance survivors are the last handful of humanity left on the planet. As the shock sinks in, Hendricksson and his small group suddenly become the hunted, chillingly, by weapons that they helped to create -- the burrowing, semi-intelligent, buzz-saw like creatures of the title.
To say too much here would give away the surprise waaay too soon - although if you've seen more than a couple movies, you'll catch the Big Twist well before you're supposed to. Let it be said though, that Screamers is one of those surprises, one that's earned a place in this jaded video hound's heart.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable Film, August 15, 2006
Several reviewers have been a bit brutal to this film, and I suppose they have a right to be. They are entitled to their opinions. As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. Unapologetically, no excuses, no reservations. 5 stars.
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