Robotropolis (2011)

A group of reporters are covering the unveiling of a new facility that is completely maintained by robot prototypes. When one of the robots goes haywire, the reporters find themselves not ... See full summary »

Director:

Christopher Hatton

Writer:

Christopher Hatton

Stars:

Zoe Naylor, Graham Sibley, Edward Foy

Cast

Credited cast:
Zoe Naylor	...	Christiane Nouveau
Graham Sibley	...	Danny Ross
Edward Foy	...	Jason Brooks
Lani John Tupu	...	Gordon Standish (as Lani Tupu)
Jourdan Lee	...	Harlan (as Jourdan Lee Khoo)
Karina Sindicich	...	Lisa
Peer Metze	...	Luther Kobler
Tonya Cornelisse	...	Sky Bennett
Bjorn Turmann	...	Tobin
Remesh Panicker	...	Dr. Roshan Manik
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nelson Chia	...	Robotics Lab Programmer
Reese Chia	...	School Kids
Renee Chia	...	School Kids
Madduma Patabendige Chrishan	...	Man in Jungle
Tim Cooper	...	Voice of Burt

Storyline

A group of reporters are covering the unveiling of a new facility that is completely maintained by robot prototypes. When one of the robots goes haywire, the reporters find themselves not just reporting on the malfunction, but fighting for their lives.

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Plot Keywords:

robot | malfunction | haywire | prototype | facility | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

Singapore USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 September 2011 (UK)

Also Known As:

Восстание машин

Filming Locations:

Singapore

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boku Films,Compound B

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In one scene the reporter and her cameraman rescue a little girl hiding behind some shipping pallets, in the next scene the little girl has disappeared without explanation and she plays no further part in the film.

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Connections

References Mars Attacks! (1996)

User Reviews

Robot Plop

This is billed as some sort of war zone robot versus human in a desperate fight to the death; a sort of 'Terminator' meets 'I Robot', the reality is so far removed. So where does it go wrong? Well the synopsis is that a group of investigative reporters are dispatched to do a piece from 'New Town', this is an oil mining facility somewhere in the South China Seas. It is owned and run by forward thinking Mega National Industries.

Once there the CEO tells them that this is basically 'the future' in that robots are now fully integrated. They do all the jobs we can't be arsed with, like routine maintenance, security and taking the kids to school. They are all alike except for some security markings and look like a poor version of the Storm troopers from Star Wars - only poorly done in CGI. Whilst the 'reporters' are doing a piece to camera, of an innocent game of 'soccer. One robot "catastrophically malfunctions"! Well it shoots one of the other players and this is live on the news feed. This then becomes a 'Killbot!!' and as the news is fed all around the less than interested world, the fortunes of Mega Naffall Industries start to wane.

What happens next is an exercise in how to save production costs. I once saw a film producer say that the best invention for film ever, was the telephone. He demonstrated by picking up his phone and screaming 'what you mean Godzilla has eaten New York!?!' This would apparently save three million dollars. Well director Christopher Hatton has come up with a newish way, he has the anchor man in the news room have the reporter tell him what is going on in New Town as the camera has been eaten by a killbot ; so we are told that thousands have died and even more are on the streets fighting the robots. The only news reel we can see shows six lack lustre fifth rate 'actors' doing a ropey pretence of running away from some killbots who are armed with everything from electric carving knives, to flame throwers. The anchor man says at one point 'for those of you that pray, this would be a good time'; well I started praying to the gods of decent acting, good continuity, plot development and production values - alas my prayers were left unanswered.

This third rate, badly acted guff continued for a bowel shatteringly, boring 81 minutes, it would have made a better comedy but in the end it is a big idea versus a small budget and I guess the budget just won. The ending is seen lumbering before it is even over the horizon and by the time it happens you will be looking forward to watching a local news bulletin rather than endure any more of this unctuous tripe. I tried to like it and even laughed at one point, but it was for all the wrong reasons - this will appeal to no -one do yourself a favour even if you are tempted, just watch a community cable channel it will be time better spent.