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108 comments in total

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29 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Undeserving of its bad reviews... fun film!, 20 February 2000
Author: Piotr Dubiel (Piotr-9) from Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA

After all the horrible things I heard about this movie, I wasn't expecting much when I found it for $3 in a pawn shop... and, after watching it a couple of times, I don't know what the hell people who say this is "the worst movie in the world" were smoking... because this is one of the best low-budget sci-fi flicks I have ever come across.

Though it is by no means a sublime piece of art, I find the fact that the plot concerns one woman and her boyfriend fighting off this robot in her apartment, with the collapsing world as a backdrop around them to be somewhat refreshing in an age of sci-fi films trying to be epic and ending up trite. Though clumsily written at times and with the robot looking almost ridiculous at points, we get a nicely shot, stylishly lit sci-fi thriller that takes place on a human scale and whose premise has enough depth, symbolism and irony to make it all worthwhile. Best film I have ever seen? Hardly. But the best deal I've had for $3 in a very, very long time.

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25 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
Hollywood did not destroy this movie, 18 September 2000
Author: jwolter from Minneapolis, MN

I saw this movie in the theater the week it opened way back when. It was a very, very late showing, and there were approximately five other people in the theater. Two walked out during the film. As the film credits rolled, the two women sitting next to us said, "My god! That was the worst film I have ever seen!" My only thoughts were, "They have not seen Starcrash!"

Both my friend and I loved Hardware. I introduced my SO to it this weekend, and he loved it. I think what I like about it is that it's a small movie that manages to execute its space perfectly. The universe of Hardware is dark, dirty, claustrophobic (without being small). The narrative is pure dystopia, which fits very well with the droid gone wild theme. The droid is so unrelenting, as is the dreariness of existence in this post apocalyptic space. I like how tight the movie is. I also like how clean the narrative is. There isn't any extraneous fluff.

I think this movie will appeal to the slightly more sophisticated film lover. It doesn't have big movie pretensions. Hollywood did not destroy this movie. The symbolism is far more subtle than in big productions. The pacing is also different. I loved the slow buildup.

This movie worked, but it's not an easy movie. If you're willing to work a little with a movie that doesn't have the big movie facade of Terminator II or Independence Day, and you enjoy dystopic science fiction, I think you will like this one.

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29 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
The Richard Stanley show, 25 June 2005

Author: jbarnett76 from United Kingdom

I must admit I am a huge fan of this under-estimated, enigmatic South African director.

Like his magnificent masterpiece, Dust Devil, Hardware deals with similar themes - the desert, the Old Testament, and sexual violence.

I first saw this movie many years ago when still basically a kid before I went to film school and certain sequences have stayed with me forever.

Watching it again in 2005 the movie seems a little dated or rather post-rock video in places, but when it was made in 1990, this was all cutting-edge stuff. I am not giving anything away by saying that the plot is in many ways a re-working of The Terminator or Alien, when Dylan McDermott gives his girlfriend Jill (played by Stacey Travis)what he thinks is a load of unusual scrap metal salvaged from the desert. She is an artist and welds these robot parts to a sculpture she is making...

This is an extremely visceral movie, laced with religious iconography (mark-13 often adopts crucifixion poses and in the shower scene at the end, appears to be in a prayer position) and boosted by an extremely eclectic and unusual cast. Motorhead singer Lemmy crops up playing a sort of ferryman, Iggy Pop plays DJ Angry Bob, and John Lynch is excellent as my favourite character from this film, Shades.

The narrative is essentially straight-forward but what makes this movie different and memorable is Stanley's vision. The mise-en-scene is bleached red (post-appocalypse), the use of montage is often extremely effective and nightmarish and I was frequently reminded when watching it of Renaissence paintings, just in glimpses here and there (hell, maybe that's just me..!) There is also some American comment in this movie; mark-13 is adorned with a stars-and-stripes, and the deadly toxin it employs is described as 'smelling like apple pie'. This of course is akin to Dust Devil, where the demon is simply called 'Texas' by Wendy.

So, to conclude, if you haven't seen this movie or heard of this director before I urge you to seek him out. Anyone with a love for avant-garde and challenging cinema (like me) should have heard of this guy (proper auteur by the way) and his thematically-consistent visions.

This is still a fine film but probably hasn't aged as well as it might have done - it's strength is that it is far more complex than it first appears to be.

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17 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
This movie is not as bad as it sounds, 21 March 2000

Author: eraceheadd from USA

This is a very cool little sci-fi flick. OK, it's no Aliens, but it has a lot of really interesting things happening. First off it has a slick look, filmed very well by first time director/writer Richard Stanley, a lot of strobes and brilliant colour give it a perfect setting for the `robot goes crazy' plot. I also liked the post-apocalyptic landscape, which I think worked well along with Iggy Pop's narration as `Angry Bob'. It takes a little while to build, but the ending packs a decent punch, along with just enough gratuitous violence to keep me happy. There are also plenty of religious references and imagery to look for, all centering around the `MARK 13 Cyborg.' So, if you like sci-fi, I think you should give this movie a try, it's a pretty cool ride with some very cool imagery.

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13 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
It's a good movie to analyze, but not always great to watch, 26 July 2005

Author: databeast from Denver, United States

First off, let's get my bias out the way, I'm a die-hard fan of this movie, and this review is definitely intended to get the reader to give it a chance.

The film is riddled with industrial (music) culture references and cameos, and if you're into that scene, there's a certain sick thrill about seeing Carl McCoy as the zone trooper, and seeing footage of proto-industrial performance artist Monte Cazazza in this. The general tone and ambiance of the whole piece of wonderfully clichéd cyberpunk.

And that's really the interesting thing about this film. While there are a plethora of terrible sci-fi slasher flicks out there desperately claiming the 'cyberpunk' moniker, here is a film that claims to be nothing more than a sci-fi slasher flick, and manages to be somewhat of a pulp-cyberpunk classic instead.

The whole movie is a mood piece, designed more for its ambiance and the feel of its world, than particularly flashy action sequences or on-screen 'wow' factor. It's meant to be a genre movie, but it manages to feel like a 'serious' film under the influence of some heavy drugs. Not a bad thing really, but your tastes may disagree. Personally I've always liked that sunset-filtered-through pollution look that Bladerunner was infamous for, and hardware utilizes the same rather well.

Genre movie it may be, but it shows far less cheese coating and terrible acting than any of the current glut of genre movies being produced for the Sci-Fi channel. In fact the whole movie feels more like a good pulpy cyberpunk novella than a genre movie by far. Calling the movie 'mood music for rivetheads' isn't really an insult to it.

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14 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Another of my fave movies, 28 February 2001

Author: Michael Barksdale (krowboy80@hotmail.com) from Danville, VA

I remember first seeing Hardware late on night on cinemax and thinking it was gonna be some really lousy mess. Well that was probably about 6 years ago and still today it's one of my fave movies. Granted it's cheesy at times but it's also pretty intense and very artsy. Richard Stanley will always be one of my favorite directors just because of this movie, from what I've heard he was a music video director before this movie which explains why it's so cool looking (regardless of what some say I love when music video directors get a chance to direct movies). The acting ranges from good to o.k. (William Hootkins who played in the similar Death Machine goes from being the nastiest talking pervert to singing a really goofy song...which is the movies lowest point). The movie was very low budget but looks awesome, the production design is very good as are the effects. It looks like Blade Runner or maybe The Crow with a red/orange filter used to film every scene which gives it a gritty, bleak feel. The cyborg effects are pretty good also, it's filmed in a way that is similar to Alien, quick cuts and covered in darkness which can make the effects look better but also make the cyborg more menacing. And if you're looking for gore u found it here. I had a field day with all the blood effects...people get cut in half, eyes get squished, people are drilled, and there's a really trippy death scene at the end which is gory and poetic at the same time...oh and the cyborg goes to town on one guy's dead body with a chainsaw appendage that it has. Some reviews bitched about style over substance and lack of substance but Hardware is what it is....a really good horror/sci-fi movie. I read an interview in fangoria with Richard Stanley a few years back when he was unfairly fired from Island of Dr. Moreau and he said he was gonna have to do whatever he could to make a name for himself again after that incident and if all's true he did some kids movies last year and all but now he's supposed to come back with a sci-fi movie called A Season Of Soft Rains...hopefully more people will see what a truly gifted and talented director he really is. Now only if we can get an uncut version of Hardware on DVD.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Future kill..., 17 March 2008

Author: Frank Markland from United States

Dylan McDermott stars as a scavenger who gives his girlfriend a robot head, his girlfriend an artist who smokes Mary Jane (Stacey Travis) and paints an American flag on such, doesn't realize that said robot has been built to destroy humans and so said robot reassembles itself and McDermott and Travis must stop it. Hardware is a movie that is often in its own way, quite brilliant. The movie has a fascination with the atmosphere and right away we want to learn more on how the future got to be like this. Also the reason for why the robot is made is never explained. The movie does works in the vein of Blade Runner, in that the less known about the film, the stronger it is. It's a movie that invites you to ponder the details, and with many experimental camera angles, suspenseful stalking sequences, well sketched characters and energetically staged action, Hardware works as one of the better in the genre of robots run amok. Indeed it's more in the science fiction approach with mood,atmosphere and style, and in my opinion is how they should've done Lawnmower Man and Johnny Mnemonic. Indeed director Richard Stanley would've made those movies great. Iggy Pop provides excellent comic relief with the opening and closing sequences.

* * * out of 4-(Good)

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A pretty good, but derivative bleakly futuristic sci-fi flick, 26 February 2006

Author: Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

By the early 21st century things have really gone miserably down the tubes: mass unemployment, never-ending ongoing wars, no rainfall in many a moon, the government sponsors mass sterilization, a dense cloud of radiation hangs heavily in the air, hard drugs have become legalized, that sort of hopeless, bummed-out stuff. Rugged mercenary Moses "Hard Mo" Baxter (toughly interpreted by Dylan McDermott) and his wastoid pal Shades (a marvelously manic, motor-mouthed dope-head turn by John Lynch) purchase some "junk" from a laconic, enigmatic "zone tripper" nomad (a creepy cameo by Carl McCoy, the vocalist for the British punk band Nephilim) to give to Moses' withdrawn, introverted recluse sculptress girlfriend Jill (superbly played with admirable spark and passion by the ravishing, flame-haired Stacey Travis) as a Christmas present. Said trash turns out to be a lethal, almost unstoppable android called Mark 13, a relentless killing machine specifically designed to curtail the teeming population. Mark-13 gets reactivated and goes on the expected grisly murdering binge. It's up to Jill to come out of her protective shell and fight back in order to defeat it.

Despite being met with an avalanche of extremely negative reviews by the mainstream press, I nonetheless actually ventured to a theater to catch "Hardware" during its fleeting theatrical run and found it to be pretty good. Yeah, the story is slavishly derivative and hackneyed, blatantly cribbing bits and pieces from "The Terminator," "ALIEN," "Predator," "Blade Runner," and practically every other post-nuke sci-fi/action picture made in the 80's, the pace tends to drag in spots, and it does indeed get very heavy-handed at times, with the labored use of slow motion proving to be especially clumsy and disruptive. However, the film's unflinchingly bleak, nihilistic tone, Simon Boswell's twangy, harmonic score, a wonderfully repulsive performance by the late, great William Hootkins as a vile, obese slimeball voyeur (in a nice touch of irony Mark-13 gouges his eyes out when it gruesomely kills him), the admirably frank depiction of the emotionally unstable relationship between Mo and Jill, the generously bloody and excessive gore set pieces (one luckless fellow gets messily bisected by a malfunctioning mechanical door), nifty bits by Motorhead's Lemmy as a coarse, crusty cab driver and the almighty Iggy Pop as the voice of profane, sarcastic disc jockey Angry Bob ("the man with the industrial d**k!"), Steven Chivers' bleached, smoke-streaked, dusky reddish-hued cinematography, the incredibly vivid and expansive set design, and director/co-screenwriter Richard Stanley's flashy, hyper-kinetic, raw-edged style, with a noted emphasis on bravura, Dario Argentoesque visual pyrotechnics (Stanley previously helmed a few music videos before making his directorial feature film debut with this movie), are all so expertly done that they almost manage to fully compensate for the crippling dearth of originality. Still, there's more hopped-up style than actual substance on display, so "Hardcare" doesn't completely cut it as a total winner. Nevertheless, said style is just dazzling and arresting enough to make this not half bad try a fair degree better than its largely crappy critical reception would suggest.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Some nice touches, especially with the Mark 13 derivative., 3 June 2006

Author: Crazyfarts from Australia

The 21st century world is a radioactive wasteland as a result of a nuclear war. A traveling scavenger comes across the remains of a cyborg named Mark 13 in the desert; He salvages pieces of it. The cyborg head ends up with a metal sculptress, who is unaware of the cyborg's infamy as a governmental killing machine project that was scrapped due to its defects. Mark 13 reconstructs itself utilizing household appliances and metal parts, and goes amok.

Hardware is a movie that relies on its post-modernistic stylings to bring out its flavor but most of the time it falls flat. It's full of oddly placed music, I heard somewhere that the director Richard Stanley used to direct music videos, so maybe that explains a few reasons as to why this movie is the way it is. The red filter used through at least 50% of the movie can become highly annoying and get in the way of viewing some potentially good, violent scenes. Also the scenes which slowly push the plots progression could have done without the distraction.

Luckily enough, when the movie really gets going (it takes almost an hour!) its quite a fun ride of just extremely painful death scenes as the clunky robot Mark-13 chases down all humans in his way.

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8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Still one of my favorites., 10 January 2001

Author: Skin70-3 from US

This movie is one of the best looks at a bleak future that I've seen. It's effective in every way, except one. I've never been a big fan of self-regeneration, and it seems like a less-than-subtle way to bring our "killer robot" into play. If you look past that, and write it off as Richard Stanley's only conceivable way to bring the robot into existence, you have a masterpiece of modern sci-fi. From the sick, obsessive neighbor, to the radio-active environment, to the incredible pieces of "cyber-punk" music (PIL, Ministry), to the casual look at substance abuse,...this movie will leave you dreading what the future might hold for the computer obsessed masses. It's not a movie about a killer robot, it's a movie about the future that we are making for ourselves.

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