Android

One of my favourites! The film has a haunting quirkiness about it. Klaus Kinski is the perfect mad scientist. The MAX404 android really projects his confusion about and desire to understand his emotions. Loved the soundtrack. This movie is not for those who only like those big Hollywood "sci-fi" films. It will appeal to those who enjoy REAL sci-fi though.

Craggy old Klaus Kinski lives with his awkward assistant Max on a space station, developing a female android. Max spends his time playing old arcade games and researching the human condition - (I heard somewhere that the external shots of the space station were done by creating a model station from a display case which used to house watches or jewelry!) Into this scenario comes band of escaped convicts on a space ship badly damaged during their escape ...

There is humour in this film but it is of a very dark shade. The LACK of special effects ADDS to the "reality" of the film.

A couple of really unexpected plot twists along the way - I rate it a "9" which is the highest I have ever given a film on the IMDb

1st watched 12/20/2009 - 6 out of 10(Dir-Aaron Lipstadt): Surprisingly interesting yet cheaply made early 80's sci-fi film. This is far from being a perfect film and I still can't believe I ended up liking it, but it appealed to me by the time the movie ended. The story is about an android project in the near future being done in space and being terminated due to a funds issue and the failure of a similar project on Earth that turned into a disaster. The scientist played by Klaus Kinski receives the news but is overheard by his creation Max 404(which the movie never reveals who acts this part--which is definitely strange). Some wanted space criminals then arrive on the scene and Max lets them board the ship and then plans to escape with them back to Earth to avoid his termination. Things don't work out the way he expects them to and I won't give away the ending but it's definitely surprising. Max's replacement is suppose to be a female Android named Claudia, since the scientist really doesn't want the project ending either -- he just wants a different android to play with. The androids in this movie have obvious human feelings that get in the way very often which makes the movie interesting and sways their decisions consistently. There is some titillation added to the movie which doesn't really fit, especially in a PG-rated movie(how it got this rating I'll never know) and it's obviously a low-budget film and for these reasons this is definitely one of my few guilty pleasures. By the end of the movie, I was hoping for a sequel -- which hasn't happened and probably wont but that's how it affected me. So, despite the many reasons I shouldn't like this movie, I did --- I guess you never know, huh?

At extremely low budget, this film surprised me pretty enough.

I mean, you got an scientific space station, inside we got an archetype of mad scientist (Kinski), well to call Kinski a mad scientist is somewhat a compliment... Because he was a real genius actor, a mad actor, heavy for corporation. OK, mad scientist and his own creation Max 404.

The story gives you that... Well deja vu. An android with emotions. Honestly... An android with emotions works better than android who kills stupid teenagers. And there are no stupid teenagers here.

Circumstances brought a three people gang on a station, with them is a lovely young woman Maggie (Brie Howard), and because of her Max started to develop emotions - Love! (Max has a room with a big information computer available to him, to learn. That was the most coolest thing in the film. You can easily say that Max is using a computer like we use internet today. Google for instance, to get information). Now, you just need to watch the film to see what will happen with Maggie and Max..

Actors did a great job, especially Kinski and Don Keith Opper (Max), it is also good to see young Norbert Weisser in the film. The plot gives you a specific humor and to say that Max is actually one of the most lively, human like nature android ever to appear on screen on the beginning of the 80s. Well, like I said... Low budget... But the story and character are compensating the budget. Watch this film and enjoy it.

I love eighties films, and I love science fiction. This film is a good example of both, but I have to say it was a bit 'darker' than it felt like it should have been.

The music is classic analog synthesized fun, and the setting is very cool-looking, typical of any early eighties sci-fi movie but with a certain complexity and detail that makes it seem solid and believable.

The acting is absolutely phenomenal. I generally complain a lot about bad, hard-to-believe acting in movies but in this case I have no complaints; there was nothing to distract me from the story. I half-believed that Max was played by a real android (he is credited as "Himself". lol)! The acting was overall believable and appropriately restrained.

The story could have used some work... it was a bit slow-moving and somewhat uninteresting, and the resolution wasn't entirely satisfying due to certain characters who were insufficiently developed. Also I felt that there should have been some slight comic relief, and I think the drama of the situations was not emphasized enough. But, to the story's credit, it did have a couple of nice twists and I think I like the ending.

Overall I think it was worth seeing: much better than most of the junk that comes on at 2 AM!