Screamers impressed the heck out of me. Reviews I'd read of it called it a "slasher" movie and said that it was highly derivative of other movies, such as Aliens and Blade Runner.
In fact, I found it to be highly imaginative and original, very much in the spirit of the Philip K. Dick story that inspired it, pondering the ultimate meanings of humanity, war and technology. The scenery and story surrounding the film were both intriguing: despite the film's low budget, the director did an excellent job of constructing the devastated planet. Peter Weller and Jennifer Rubin turned in excellent performances, and the supporting cast was also quite good. Finally, every scene is shot with a real urgency to it; particularly well done are the nightmarish confrontation 2/3 of the way through the movie and the poignant and shattering ending. In short, this is a very very good movie and well worth renting. It will stay with you for quite a while.
Before signing off, I should say something about construing one science fiction movie as a ripoff of others. Screamers had elements of its plot which can be found in other films (ie men and machines, monsters) but it blends them seamlessly into its own original story. The mere presence of identifiable elements from other films has given people ground to criticize this movie as unoriginal. By their standards, I don't think it would be possible at all to make new movies or novels or anything. These surface similarities will always be there. One can argue that the Matrix is merely an update of Socrates' cave allegory. In conclusion: ignore the critics and see Screamers!!
In fact, I found it to be highly imaginative and original, very much in the spirit of the Philip K. Dick story that inspired it, pondering the ultimate meanings of humanity, war and technology. The scenery and story surrounding the film were both intriguing: despite the film's low budget, the director did an excellent job of constructing the devastated planet. Peter Weller and Jennifer Rubin turned in excellent performances, and the supporting cast was also quite good. Finally, every scene is shot with a real urgency to it; particularly well done are the nightmarish confrontation 2/3 of the way through the movie and the poignant and shattering ending. In short, this is a very very good movie and well worth renting. It will stay with you for quite a while.
Before signing off, I should say something about construing one science fiction movie as a ripoff of others. Screamers had elements of its plot which can be found in other films (ie men and machines, monsters) but it blends them seamlessly into its own original story. The mere presence of identifiable elements from other films has given people ground to criticize this movie as unoriginal. By their standards, I don't think it would be possible at all to make new movies or novels or anything. These surface similarities will always be there. One can argue that the Matrix is merely an update of Socrates' cave allegory. In conclusion: ignore the critics and see Screamers!!