I have always loved robots. My fascination with them started at a young age with a cartoon that for everyone that grew up in the 80’s should be very familiar: The Transformers. It was awesome and the toy of my childhood. I don’t even remember the number of Transformers toys I eventually ended up with, but I would not be surprised if they were more than a hundred. As I grew up, I discovered other metal monstrosities that I loved even more. By watching movies such as The Terminator, and anime shows that featured even more exotic variations, my love for walking (and sometimes even talking) metal only grew more and more. Anytime a movie or tv show appears that features robots in some way, I just have to check it out. Early this year I came across a pretty gripping trailer for a movie that I knew nothing about. But I was determined to see it because it featured, yes you guessed it: robots! Welcome people, to part 1 of Countdown to the Last Jedi.
Kill Command is set in the near future, but where technology has certainly made some big leaps. The Harbinger Corporation is developing military hardware in the form of sophisticated robots and A.I. systems to maybe replace soldiers on the battlefield. The cyborg Katherine Mills is an employee of this corporation, and accompanies a group of soldiers to a training island for a two day training mission. Captain Damien Bukes is the leader of the group and upon arrival issues his orders to his squad. At first everything seems to be going according to plan, and the excersise is progressing nicely. But when the first of his men dies, Damien soon realises that something is horribly wrong. Does Katherine know more about what is going on, or is she just an innocent bystander? Whatever the case, the soldiers are in for the fight of their lives. Because the robots they are up against are incredibly strong and are able to outsmart them at every corner. What began as a training excersise has now turned into a deadly fight for survival…..
Kill Command is a small budget movie that looks like a Hollywood blockbuster. Seriously, I have never seen special effects of this quality in a movie that has such relatively low costs. The stars of this film are the robots. All of them are realised through CGI, but if they would have told me that they build these for the film, I would have believed them. The lead unit of these advanced machines is incredibly menacing. There are a few scenes where this thing approaches through doorways, and you would think you were watching a horror movie. It really is an incredibly bad ass, but also terrifying monstrosity. Most of the scenes in this movie are filmed in a dark forrest, and on location, a fact that only enhances the experience of the film. Mixed with the special effects the fight scenes between the soldiers and the robots work incredibly well, and will have you on the edge of your seat.
The human characters however are an altogether different aspect. They are just incredibly static, and at no point do you feel any attachment to them. That is not to say that they are realised by bad actors, but it’s the lines that are given to them in the script itself that don’t really give room for great acting performances. It almost at times feels as if the humans themselves are robots too. Katherine Mills is of course one, albeit a cyborg, and she is played by actress Vanessa Kirby. She does a pretty good job in her role under the circumstances, and the character she plays is one that you never quite know what to make of. Is she good or evil? She keeps you guessing and that is a good thing. The rest of the squad, including Captain Bukes, played by Thure Lindhardt, are just your typical soldier grunts and serve mainly as cannon fodder. None of them leave a lasting impression unfortunately, which is a shame as it could have elevated the movie to an even higher level.
Usually when a movie doesn’t have a worthwhile script or interesting characters, it would be a turn off for me. But with this movie that’s somehow different. I enjoyed this film from start to finish. It’s tense, gripping and will leave you breathless at times. Yes, it’s certainly not perfect, and could have been an even better movie with a somewhat more interesting script. But despite that fact, if you love military science fiction movies, with some great special effects, and cool action sequences you had better check this one out. Down below you can find the trailer that got my interest for the film in the first place. If you want another review for this movie, you can find an awesome one over on mr. Bobinsky’s blog right here. (And while you are there I would definitely suggest you follow it, because it’s an amazing blog). That’s it for part 1 of this countdown. Next up is Star Trek II: The wrath of Khan. Hope you enjoyed this review, and as always thank you for reading!
I give Kill Command a 8 out of 10 score.
Interesting thing with robots and people is that people often feel kind of attraction to robots and at the same time beeing affraid of them.
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Yeah…could not have said it any better. But you are completely right about this 😀
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Hmm. I hadn’t heard of this Michel, but it sounds like something I’d like. Awesome review, and once again your captions under the pics had me cracking up!😁
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Thanks again for the kind comment 😊 Haha, glad you liked them. But yeah this film was just a lot of fun to watch. Always cool when a film you expect very little of turns into something very cool 😀
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I too grew up on Transformer toys and cartoons. That’s why I like robots. Maybe I should have been more of a He-Man fan and that would have motivated me to get in shape as an adult haha.
Based on the pictures and trailer the effects do look impressive for this film. I guess hiring talented animators can overcome budget restrictions.
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Lol 😂😂 So that’s what we should have done 😂😂 I never was a real fan of He-man. I watched the cartoon of course and it certainly wasn’t bad, but I never felt the urge to buy the toys.
As for this film: yeah I was absolutely stunned by the special effects. It am not exagerating when I say these are the most impressive low budget effects that I have ever seen. That alone makes this film a worthwhile watch 😀
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Awesome review! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it. Did you feel that the film was too slow at times? Also, it is exactly the case when Imdb’s low rating is not justified. This film was made with barely $1 mln and is also a debut… S. Gomez has been doing special effects quite for a while!
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Thank you 😊 Honestly, no I had no problems with the movie being slow. Actually I liked the slower parts, as there was already plenty of action 😀 But yeah so true…it’s almost impossible to believe this movie had such a relatively small budget. It was truly amazing that they managed to achieve this 😀
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Me too! The slower parts were brillliant. But I felt like for a typical robot action audience these parts may not be so appealing…
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Hmm, that might be true. But on the other hand I also think that there are quite a few people out there who also like some slower moments in their films 😀
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Yes, like Jason from experiencefilm.net 😃 P. S. Thanks for the linking! 😊
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Haha, no problem at all: you are welcome 😊
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Excellent review. Sold! Never heard of this one at all… I’ll be adding it to my watchlist, though.
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Thanks for the kind comment, always appreciate it 😀 Glad to see that you are sold on this one. It really is a fun sci fi action flick. Perfect to sit back in a comfy chair, with a large big of crisps and your favorite soda. Hope you will enjoy it when you get around to seeing it 😊
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My favorite Transformers cartoon was the one in which a human scientist built a ninja robot and then the Decepticons gave her an upgrade so she would kick Autobot butt. The ending scene was one of their funniest as well.
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I actually remember that episode (I own all Transformers cartoon, including the Japanese ones on dvd). That really was a very fun episode because it added in a really unique element. But then again I love Transformers period 😀
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I thought those 80s cartoons were at their best when they had a little fun at their own expense.
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Is CGI really so cheap now?
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Hmm, you would almost think so, looking at this movie. I think it also has a lot to do with which special effects unit is producing the effects 😀
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I remember the time when ‘Transformers’ occupied my lufe as well. This sounds pretty interesting!
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Haha, yeah I still have fond memories of those days 😀 This film really is a whole lot of fun. Hope you will enjoy it if at some point you might watch it 😀
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Will definitely watch!
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This sounds pretty good Michel!!!😎 Fantastic Review! I will have to check this title out!😉
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Thank you very much again 😀 This one is definitely worth a watch, especially for the incredible special effects. If you eventually see it, I hope you are going to enjoy the watch 😊
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I do love some good special effects!!!😉 You’re welcome Michel! I think your reviews are awesome so it’s easy to compliment!😎
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Awww..thanks so much 😊😊😊😊
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You’re welcome!🤗😘
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Ooh it’s really cool that they managed to make it look like a Hollywood blockbuster on a tight budget 😀 This sounds like a really cool action film- great review!
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Thanks again😀 Yeah, I was very surprised by this one, and how awesome the special effects were. If you like sci fi films, it’s worth checking out 😀
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You’re welcome! 😀 Brilliant!!
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Great review! This film looks awesome. The fact that it’s small budget but looks as good as that has me wanting to see it even more.
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Thanks a lot, appreciate it 😊 It really is an amazing film. I’m not lying here when I say it’s one of the best low budget movies that I have ever seen. Hope you are going to enjoy it. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it if you are going to see it 😊
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Hadn’t heard of this before today! I’ll give it a go!
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It really is quite a fun film. Especially worth watching for the incredible special effects. Hope you will enjoy it, and thank you for your comment 😀
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