Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Review of ROBOT OVERLORDS: Retro Robots and Gillian Anderson

March 31, 2015


The whole backstory of this British sci-fi family film was summarized in a few frames flashed at the very beginning. "Three years ago... the Robots invaded Earth." "The war lasted just eleven days." Then a strange robotic being with an adult female face, a little boy's body and a disembodied voice declares that they mean Earth no harm. After their study of humanity, they will leave and never come back. They only have one strict rule for the earthlings to follow during their occupation: "Stay indoors!" 

The story follows a group of teenagers led by Sean Flynn (Callan McAuliffe) who defy the robots, venturing out of the safety to his home to search for his lost father. Hot in pursuit is the ruthless Robin Smythe (a hammy Ben Kingsley), a human who had allied himself with the aliens. But Smythe is distracted by his attraction to Sean's mother Kate, (and I do not blame him as Kate was played by Gillian Anderson).

When we first saw the trailer for this film, I had no plans to watch it because it looked like a low-budget B-action flick with robots and unknown young actors. Indeed it was juvenile and very old-fashioned sci-fi, like something we could have seen on TV years back. The story could have been interesting, but the execution was not good, even cheesy. The corny title alone is a red flag that this is strictly for young teens, yet even they might find the technological aspects of this film too retro to be cool.

I only watched this film when I found out that Gillian Anderson would be in it. And yes, despite twenty years that passed since she gained me as a fan as Scully in "The X-Files," Ms. Anderson never looked better. She looked so good that it was not believable that she was the mother of McAuliffe. It was just too bad that her role here was too weak and insubstantial to merit her beauty and talent. 

I would have rated this film lower, but only because of Gillian Anderson, I will be a little bit more generous and give it a 4/10.


18 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this review ! I thought that probably it will have bit higher rating but after this need to think.

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  2. Yeah, thanks for the review I will not download the said movie online. It is not worth to watch such a flick like this.

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  3. It was that bad? And here I was thinking it wouldn't suck that much. There goes hoping for the best haha. Thanks for the review, won't waste my time with this one then! :)

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  4. I am not a big Sci Fi fan but thanks for sharing the review =)

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  5. Gillian Anderson? I love watching her drama. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. Thanks for sharing review and saving my precious time I would have spent in watching this....

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  7. The title alone doesn't have that zing. Robot movies usually need a more creative & intense plot. I wonder why Gillian Anderson agreed to do this film.

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  8. The poster look like star wars... hahah, Not going to watch this show~ but thanks for sharing...

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  9. The fact that this movie has only 4.6 on imdb proves that your 4/10 review is absolutely right fred.

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  10. Sounds like this is a spot on review - cannot say that it would appeal to me in the slightest. You are great for saving me money at the cinema! :) Sim x

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  11. I love the actors from thw x-files series. I love watching scifi films though this movie made me think twice

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  12. I always like sci fi movies as they keep on coming with new ideas about Man Vs Machine... let me see when I can watch it...

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  13. The premise is interesting and could happen to future Earth. The problem with sci-fi flicks is how they tell a believable story and how to introduce fresh concept without boring the audience.

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  14. Robot Overlords doesn't sound like something I would watch and after reading your review I am 100% sure I will skip that cheesy science fiction.

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  15. Pity to read that it was a huge disappointment. I'm not a big Sci fi fan so I'll most likely skip it.

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  16. I haven't seen or heard anything about this movie until reading about it here. I don't doubt the low score :)

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  17. ive never heard about this or heard of any of the actors/actresses before

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  18. Never heard about this movie. Hmmm.. guese this isn't showing in my country.

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