Palaest recommended

Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

bmoviep As a huge fan of the works of Philip K. Dick, I was excited to find out that a film adaptation of his story "Second Variety" had been made. I wasn't expecting a completely faithful adaptation to the original story. I had already seen "Blade Runner" which was very different from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", yet it still ended up being a fantastic film. Unfortunately, Screamers plays out like a standard Sci Fi action flick. Doing very little to establish an identity of its own. A group of humans attempt to survive against some kind of hostile, non human force. In this case, the non human force consisted of war machines, which use their built in blades to chop up enemies without mercy. Originally created by the military, these "Screamers", named for a screaming noise they make before attacking, went rogue and began attacking indiscriminately. We soon find out that the Screamers come in various forms. Some of which look like humans. It also turns out that a mysterious third variety of Screamers exist, but the humans can't identify it due to lack of data. This leads to mistrust between the group as they begin accusing each other of being Screamers. From that point on, most of the characters die, either from killing each other or from being killed by the Screamers themselves. It turns out that one of the group members actually was a Screamer the whole time, but by the time we learn who was, it really doesn't matter. The big reveal only serves to create a final conflict before the movie ends and there really wasn't much evidence to suggest that this character was a Screamer It really could have been anyone and not made a difference to the plot. "Screamers" is by no means a bad film. The action and violence is fun and impressive consider the low budget that this movie had to work with. However, there really isn't much that this movie has to offer that you wouldn't find in any other Sci Fi action film. It's not a waste of time, but it's also not the best way to be spending your time either.

Leofwine_draca A sub-par science fiction tale dealing with intelligent robot life, this has been done too many times to be constantly entertaining, although there are a few choice moments. Frankly I'm pretty sick of the gloomy, grungy, depressing tone of a lot of modern thrillers like SEVEN and HARDWARE, and obviously that kind of atmosphere has rubbed off on the makers of this film who do their best to make their world look as dull and horrible as possible.The story itself - based on Philip K. Dick's novel - is not too bad, dealing with A.I. and an interesting race of self-replicating robots. Unfortunately the film should have concentrated on these robots as they are the most interesting thing about the film, but instead human relationships are the main focal point, and they're really not that interesting.On another note, if you're expected good special effects, then look elsewhere. The original flying spheres (like something out of PHANTASM) are shown only briefly a couple of times, and then gone for the rest of the film. The only time we see them is when they're underground like the worms in TREMORS. The use of children as merciless killers is a clever idea - see the original VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED for another menacing example - and this film has one excellent moment, where Weller and his friends desperately fight a never-ending stream of robotic killers issuing from an army base. It's this kind of visual theme which makes SCREAMERS stand out a bit from the rest.The cast itself is okay, yet nothing special. Peter Weller is rather good as the charismatic, ageing hero, and proves himself well in the action sequences. It's good to see him in another film. However, everybody else is merely middling. The action scenes are well staged, especially the ending, but are frequently at the expense of the plot. Still, for a science fiction film you could do a lot worse; just try watching TERMINAL FORCE.

DogFilmCritic Screamers is a well placed B-movie but it could have been more than what made it onto the screen,The movie itself is based on a short story by prolific sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick, who has been responsible for some inspired sci-fi movie adaptations including "Blade Runner" and "Total Recall",As a sci-fi film "Screamers" is flawed in many ways specially in the end of the film, but it doesn't mean is all bad Peter Weller dose great in this film and honestly is is a very underrated actor.A lot of the flaws in this movie could sum up to the Budget, other Philip K. Dick stories that were adapted to film ad an enormous Budget compare to this, there are no big spectacular action sequences, in my opinion "Screamers" could have been a lot better than it is.If you are curious check it out, it wont disappoint on being entertaining

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com It's hard for filmmakers to adapt stories to the screen, especially when they resemble stories that have been previously told. Turns out though director Christian Duguay evens out the story and though it still recalls other movies before its time, it still has elements in it that make it have a quality worth watching.The story of Screamers is loosely based off of Second Variety, a short story written by Philip K. Dick, the novelist of Blade Runner (1982) and Total Recall (1990). Dick is a very prestigious science fiction writer. His work has multiple twists and it always was a pleasant read. I also read Second Variety and much of it was fairly close to this movie. I actually enjoyed the film adaptation more than the story itself.Peter Weller is Joseph A. Hendricksson, an eccentric commander of an alliance bunker located on a planet known as Sirius 6B. Years before on Earth, there was nuclear fallout between two major groups; the N.E.B. (New Economic Block) and alliance workers over a special mineral that could change energy usage for transportation. So the fighting was moved to Sirius 6B where there has been a "Cold War" ever since. For the alliance to defend themselves, they created the Autonomous Mobile Sword or better known as, the screamer. The screamer is a mechanical life form that was equipped with a razor sharp blade so it could kill its enemy. But like all man made robots, they become self-aware and are now deciding for themselves who they should kill. Strangely enough, they are always updating their software, even making screamers that look like humans. So from there, audiences might make the connection of these traits between Skynet from The Terminator (1984), and characters not knowing who's real and who isn't from the novel Who Goes There, by John W. Campbell Jr.But for those few relations, Screamers can hold it's own as an entertaining sci-fi horror movie. It does not contain a lot of blood but it can be very suspenseful. Weller's performances are always a welcome to the screen. His ability to make his character sarcastic as is serious is a great touch. Andrew Lauer plays a innocent rookie named Ace Jefferson who tags along Hendricksson to meet with the N.E.B. command. The N.E.B. group these two visit is lead by the lovely Jennifer Ruben as Jessica Hanson. And with her is Roy Dupuis, who looks like Matthew McConaughey's distant cousin, who likes bugging another soldier who has some serious patience issues. The special effects are definitely dated. And it's really obvious when the camera is focused on the screamer itself but hey, the creature looks cool enough to look at. I think the most baffling part is how the machine keep upgrading their models. It makes you wonder, "What's going on down there". The set design is also something to see. A lot of does have the same color like from the movie Soldier (1998) but it at least looks real. The backgrounds actually resemble Chernobyl; which is eerie. Normand Corbeil composed the soundtrack and it also another strong point. When Hedricksson runs into a homeless child, the music makes the scene so heartbreaking. It's emotional and soft on the ears.The film variation of Second Variety does borough ideas from previous movies, but it's put together in such a way that it won't matter to the audience. The music is good and so is Weller's performance as a tired out war veteran.