Android Apocalypse (2006 TV Movie) User Reviews

Not as bad as I expected until the last 20 minutes

[mbowman2 · 5/10 · 25 June 2006]

I went into this expecting the same incredibly bad movie as the rest of the Sci Fi channel's attempts. Now, I not by any means saying this was a great movie but it was far above the rest of the crop.

Sure it is a ripoff of "The Terminator" and "The Defiant Ones" (thanks ted1244, I couldn't remember the name of that movie) but what movie isn't in some sense.

There was conflict in several characters that gave them some dimension. I especially liked the androids coming to terms with his "humanity" and was pleasantly surprised to find the human character in which I initially found nothing redeeming actually grow and display more depth than I have ever found in any SciFi channel movie.

** possible spoiler ***

The movie did fall apart in the final 20 minutes when the evil android master finally found the last key to perfecting his creations. I normally don't have much trouble with techno-babble as long as it is obscure enough or has just enough science to make it remotely possible but but here it was just silly. We're supposed to believe that what stands between man and machine is the constituents of the fluid that surrounds our brain? Give me a break, I never took much biology but even I know that the function of this fluid is more to create a safe environment for the brain and does not contribute anything to our thinking or humanity. I'm sure if they just consulted with the set nurse they could have come up with something more convincing than that.

Then we're supposed to believe that a couple of humans and one android were able to overcome an army of invincible attack droids and resolve all the conflict and suspicion between man and android in one fell swoop.

Despite this I give SciFi channel a mild round of applause. There may be hope for them yet.

Not great, but much less painful than I was expecting

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 19 July 2012]

I was expecting little, seeing as how awful a lot of SyFy original movies are. Actually while not great, Android Apocalypse is not that bad. It does have a lot of flaws, which I sensed were going to be there. The CGI has been worse before and since but definitely could've done with more clarity and believability, they did look flat and fake-looking. I do agree also about the set design, they don't look bad and are decently lit but they are never authentic, when you should see a prison, then one you should see, not what looks like a factory. The writing is rather shallow and cheesy, and again never feels natural in how it flows, while the story is structurally thin with a lot of the action unexciting and the final twenty minutes were far too overly-silly for my tastes. However, the editing is less haphazard than it often is with SyFy, and the music less generic, actually having a haunting tone. But the real improvements were with the characters and the acting. Instead of the underdeveloped, stereotypical characters we usually see, there is a noble and mostly successful attempt to give the characters some humanity and depth. The acting is often bland, overdone or non-existent, I also didn't find that to be the case here, the leads are especially likable. So all in all, definitely one of Syfy's more tolerable movies though it was still lacking. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A James Cameron Start with a George Lucas Ending

[IBstars · 5/10 · 1 July 2006]

Not a Terminator "rip off," but a story that borrows slightly from James Cameron's human vs. machine battle imagery. The film also evokes THX 1138 for some of its prison guard aesthetic and models its CGI drilling-machines-gone-bad directly on the Matrix Sentinels.

Joseph Lawrence's DeeCee android character is a true highlight, and much of the film's first quarter suggests a well-imagined and entertaining story complete with social commentary on the hubris of humanity, android labor politics, the darker side of technology, and environmental irresponsibility.

The final third of the film, however, becomes hijacked by some George Lucas logic of rushing to tell the rest of the story without regard for thematic consistency or much concern for the story and characters themselves.

Despite the "phantom menace" of the end, I appreciate the filmmakers and actors for the inventive, entertaining narrative. That said, the studio responsible for the severely limited budget should be reprimanded and folks at SciFi Channel should be ashamed of themselves for these kinds of oversights.

It's hard to imagine that Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov were once on the cable channel's advisory board.

Shut down

[Enchorde · 4/10 · 17 May 2008]

Recap: A (mad?) scientist that apparently works to construct androids to save mankind in a post apocalypse world secretly turns himself into one. And secretly he intends to construct more advanced androids and overthrow the human reign on Earth. However, one android develops feelings and conscience and with the help of one human that happens to find himself in the crossfire the challenge the scientist and his army.

Comments: I had some hope for this, but got disappointed. This was too simple. In essence, it was a row of fistfights, nothing more, nothing less. The story and characters were thin and shallow and when the movie pretty soon became repetitive it also became boring. Once there it never redeemed itself and I pretty much shut down. Like an android.

4/10

Android Apocalypse... It's the end of the movie and I feel fine

[juliankennedy23 · 4/10 · 6 October 2009]

Android Apocalypse: 4 out of 10: Well it did not make me want to poke my eyes out with a dull fork... so it has that going in its favor.

Dateline the future... Phoenix is a domed city surrounded by a horrifying wasteland. (Kind of like now) Humans are in short supply so androids that look exactly like humans do most of the work. Our mullet wearing racist (androidist?) hero loses his shoveling things job to an android. A few eighties flashback fistfights later and he finds himself on the run through the wasteland handcuffed to an android. (Joey Lawrence of Blossom of all people.) The leads are actually quite good and it is unusual for white trash to be a hero in these (or any) type of films. That is a nice change of pace. The story on the other hand is pretty awful. For example the ending is so truncated they either ran out of money or forgot the whole apocalypse promise of the title.

While Lawrence does his best data impersonation, the other androids are all over the map. Many of them emote more than their human counterparts, while others are clearly the same five grips wearing facemasks.

Set design also needs work. The prison is clearly a factory. The humans headquarters is a glorified office park complete with fernage. (I was having Overdrawn at the Memory Bank flashbacks) In addition, items such as blankets with do not remove tags and Jeep Cherokees litter the film.

Overall a decent if slow Sci-fi time waster. Just do not get you hopes up for an apocalypse.

The usual nonsense

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 10 September 2013]

ANDROID APOCALYPSE, a film set in some kind of dodgy post-apocalyptic world where android helpers are now the norm, is the usual kind of cheapo sci-fi made-for-TV movie trash. The central story, about an unlikely relationship between a human and an android wandering through an unfamiliar wilderness, is copied from ENEMY MINE, with the alien replaced by an android.

That's the only interesting part of the story, but sadly the script isn't really up to much and the characterisation is virtually zilch. Scott Bairstow does his best to deliver an edgy performance but Joseph Lawrence mistakes being wooden for being robotic and never comes across as believable in his crucial role. The other androids are even less authentic and the evil-government-corporation stuff is so hackneyed as to be totally passe.

I'm guessing this is a 'SyFy channel' movie because the production values are cheap and cheesy and the special effects are equally cheap and cheesy, and although a little bit fun to go with it. But overall, despite the title promising something explosive and action-packed, ANDROID APOCALYPSE is as defunct as a malfunctioning android and a film whose sole entertainment value comes from watching WWF star Chris Jericho getting beaten up as a robot wrestler.

Go back to sleep or click to LMN

[pettyfog · 2/10 · 23 January 2010]

Read the other reviews. They were optimistic. From the same channel that brings you ECW rasslin and Ghost Hunters finding weird stuff going on in creepy places, we get this crap.

Add 'Enemy Mine' to the plot sources.

I would guess 90% of the budget was spent on the flying robot bugs. In the apocalyptic future, the vehicles of choice are Jeep Wranglers and Studio prop trucks. And computers will be Acer Laptops. The GOOD thing is that we were spared the ubiquitous huge slow turning fan blades. Perhaps they were already rented.

As I write this, SKyFIE is showing a Tales from the Crypt episode. For those who think the actors in A-A did okay.. they should compare to the nobodies in 'Tales' The GOOD thing is that in ten years high school kids will be able to make better, more believable, action adventures.. or as good, anyway. Because we all played those roles before we were ten.

Skiffy Goodness

[JoeB131 · 1/10 · 19 September 2010]

I think this had an interesting plot idea, kind of a mash-up of "The Defiant Ones" and "Terminator", but it had a lot of problems.

First, the action was ridiculously slow. The CGI was cheap. The acting was horrible and the writing made not a lick of sense.

The notion is that some kind of disaster has devastated the Earth, and the few humans live in domed cities where the androids do all the work. Except the Androids are slowly taking over, and a human is hooked up to an android

Most inconstant part of the film, how the androids are portrayed. Some are pretty normal, others are badly channeling Brent Spiner from Star Trek:The Next Generation. None of them are terribly interesting.

Like the prologue to Matrix

[sarastro7 · 6/10 · 17 November 2008]

Machines have taken over, but left humans thinking that they are still the ones in charge. The machine people (androids) need humans because of the human brain fluid; without it the android brains can't work. Until the mad scientist (who was once a human but has replaced all his parts with android parts) finds out how to make this brain fluid artificially. Now the androids no longer need the humans.

Just as this scheme is running its course and the humans are about to be wiped out, one renegade android who was an experimental specimen that turned out to be a bit too human, thwarts the entire scheme, aided by the human man who befriended him and made him see things the human way.

It's not bad. There are built-in references to a lot of classic sci-fi tropes (and movies), and both the two main characters, Scott Bairstow and Joseph Lawrence, are surprisingly likable and act very well. Too bad the budget was the pits (sand pits, to be precise), and the story - especially its resolution - didn't have much depth, but at least the characters felt real, and that's more than I was expecting. I'm going to seek out more work by these actors.

So, a fairly entertaining sci-fi movie. I kinda liked it.

6 out of 10.

High brow concepts on a low brow budget

[McQualude · 6/10 · 3 October 2009]

Honestly I expected to hate this and the first ten minutes didn't dissuade me but quickly after that I became enthralled by the story and watched it through. Ultimately the concept is what makes us human ... our biology or our actions and here the answer is unambiguously 'yes'. ;) Scot Barstow plays Jute, a self respecting human for whom androids have no place in society. Jute loses his job to an android and while drinking off his problems ends up fighting and killing one of the robots. When the android cops come to arrest him, his wife accidentally knocks one down an elevator shaft and is also arrested and convicted. On the way to prison, Jute is handcuffed to a special android, DC, that has developed emotions. During transit the transport is attacked and both Jute and DC escape.

Occasionally the film drags as some secondary character carries on in dialog and the ending is less than inspired but overall the film is directed well, acted well, written well and well worth your time if you have a care for B movies.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

[richard_r_strauss · 1/10 · 11 March 2014]

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Best approached with low expectations.

The actress playing Bairstow's character's wife was so wooden, when we met her I had trouble determining if she was meant to be a human being or some kind of android concubine. I wish she had been the latter, as that would have made his hostility to androids actually interesting. But this is not the sort of movie in which a flawed, believable, possibly self-loathing character confronts his inner demons, and in doing so illuminates some facet of the human condition for us.

This is about a mixed ensemble of fair to mediocre actors doing their best to stumble through an awful script, delivering their clunky lines against a backdrop that is at once expensive-looking and yet full of inconsistencies. There is a key action sequence where androids saddle up in shiny new Jeep Renegades from the 1990s to battle each other (and some knife-shooting, levitating drone robots)in a hectic car chase. The use of lighting is "hey look we can do THIS effect too!" more than it is genuinely atmospheric. Overall look is one of daytime television at its worst.

Meanwhile, a Nazi-themed evil genius villain stalks around his neon green illuminated lair, wearing his Count Dracula coat, and shooting the camera a series of laughable looks to make sure we get that he's bad and he's almost ready to hatch his evil plans.

I felt the central relationship between Scott Bairstow's tough guy and Joseph Lawrence's android developing his own humanity was well played, and was pretty much the only good thing about this film. I wish those two gentlemen well in their future endeavours, hopefully they will leave this sort of thing well behind them.

Pretty bad ......

[mgulev · 3/10 · 3 July 2015]

After the first five minutes, I could tell this movie was going to be bad. The acting was poor, the writing was poor, the musical score was terrible and the special effects were poor. But to give it a fair review, I had to watch the whole thing. It didn't get much better, although the three main characters were somewhat believable.

Set in the future, where mankind is living in a shielded city, (SPOILERS) a man loses his job to an android and later "kills" an android. He has to set aside his hatred when he is shackled to another android and they escape a prison transport. To make it across the desert, they have to work together. The plot advances without surprises....

Give this movie a miss, unless you really have a thing for unknown actors trying to act like androids.

Enjoyable 'breaking down the barriers and forming a seemingly unlikely friendship' type of film.

[jaywulff · 7/10 · 16 July 2014]

In my opinion, those that have rated & reviewed this film as poor must have no heart! If you have seen Enemy Mine and loved that as I have, you'll understand and appreciate Android Apocalypse as I did. It's not quite up to the standard of Enemy Mine, but is written and created with a similar heart. In many ways it is a similar story.

Bear in mind that this was not a big Hollywood movie, judge it in this context, watch it through the wonder-filled eyes of a child, immerse yourself into the lead characters and the relationship between beings from opposite sides of a divide, and you'll find this is an enjoyable film.

A quick word on the soundtrack by Todd Bryanton. Tron-esque. That's a good thing!

Good effort for a TV movie.

[RatedVforVinny · 6/10 · 8 October 2019]

A fairly decent sci-fi caper, along the same lines as 'terminator' but with a well trodden plot of a replicant android who starts to develop human feelings. Some exciting action sequences keep it rolling along just fine.

almost good

[laportama-107-480547 · 7/10 · 3 March 2019]

Good enough to want to see how they ended it, and to appreciate creative low budgetry.

Finally! Something that doesn't suck!

[Angeeel · 6/10 · 19 September 2011]

I've seen a lot of SyFy channel produced crap and by "a lot", I mean.. A LOT!I know how bad they can get, I've seen the worst SyFy could do and you know what... "Android Apocalypse" may be the best they can do.

We all know that when the SyFy channel makes a movie, it's either so bad it ends up being hilarious or it's so bad it makes you want to gouge your own eyes out with the TV remote.

This movie, on the other hand, managed to be interesting, funny because it was supposed to be funny, have good acting, have overall good CGI and just be entertaining!

There are the unavoidable flaws that every SyFy-movie has: 1) The crappy CGI. (As good as the overall CGI was, some parts... were really bad!) 2) The originality. (We've all seen this robots-revolting-against-humanity type of movie before)

On the other hand, the acting! There is no other SyFy-movie that has actors that are this good! I'm not saying that ALL of them are perfect, but compared to "Annihilation Earth" they pretty much deserve an Oscar each and every one of them.

My point is: Yes, it's not a great movie. But unlike about 98% of the SyFy-movies, this one will not make you feel like you've just wasted an hour and a half of your life. If you feel like you're the type of person that can appreciate or even enjoy a B-movie, then I definitely think that you should see it!