EVE OF DESTRUCTION - 1991
MGM
Rating: Finland: K-16 / Sweden: 11 / USA - R |
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Sometimes the hard part in achieving suspension of disbelief is the really bad science
in so many movies. And sometimes the hard part is buying Gregory Hines as a tough guy.
EVE OF DESTRUCTION was directed by Duncan Gibbins (A CASE FOR MURDER) and written by Mr. Gibbins and Yale Udoff (TALES
FROM THE CRYPT [TV]). It opens with a man putting on a tie in what
appears to be a motel room. A porter brings in luggage and gets stiffed
for a tip. Then tie man freezes and we see him being shut down by technicians
on the other side of the mirror. He’s an android.
In charge of the project is Dr. Eve Simmons (Renee Soutendijk: GRAVE SECRETS). A colleague warns her that the testing is not going well and the project is behind schedule.
Cut to Eve on the subway, being hit on by a none too subtle young guy, but Eve seems
strangely uncomprehending. She leaves the subway and walks to a nearby
bank, being followed the whole time by a big, beefy man in a suit. Does
he mean her harm? Eve is in line at the bank when ski-masked robbers scream
for everyone to hit the floor. Eve stares around in confusion as though
unsure how to respond. Her follower pulls a gun and kills one of the robbers
but is killed himself by another bad guy, who then points his shotgun
at Eve and orders her to the ground. When she doesn’t comply, he fires.
You saw this coming. This isn’t Dr. Eve Simmons – it’s Eve 8, a robot she built in
her own likeness. The shotgun blast activates her self defense mechanism
and she uses her more than human strength to send the bad guy through
a window. This is a field test gone wrong as Eve 8 picks up one of the
robber’s guns and heads out into the world intent on protecting herself.
And now a sharp left in the story as we cut to a SWAT team attempting what looks
like a hostage rescue in a Spanish speaking country. The team makes it
inside a ranch house and it looks like they’ll be successful when the
bad guys pull a fast one and most of the good guys are shot. All is not
what it seems, however. We quickly find out that this was an exercise
for a team being trained by super agent Jim McQuade (Gregory
Hines: WOLFEN). He yells and screams and uses the F-word three
times per sentence, but all that bluster does not a tough guy make. I
think he’s a decent actor but I never bought him in this role.
McQuade immediately receives orders to return to Washington and is put on a search and destroy
mission for Eve 8. General Curtis (Michael Greene: THE ROAD KILLERS [Now why would anyone want to kill a road?
-feo]) and NSC representative Schneider (Kurt Fuller: MIRACLE MILE, SCARY MOVIE) brief McQuade and introduce
him to Dr. Simmons, who’s there to help in the search. Eve 8 was programmed
with Dr. Simmons memories, so she may be able to predict where Eve 8 will
go. What they don’t tell McQuade is that Eve has a built in nuclear self-destruct
device able to take out a city.
Eve does have Dr. Simmons’ memories and feelings but she has none of the good doctor’s
inhibitions. This leads Eve to act out a sexual fantasy Dr. Simmons once
had about picking up a strange guy in a dive bar. This fantasy goes wrong
when the guy calls Eve a bitch, something Dr. Simmons would be quietly
angry about but Eve does a Lorena Bobbit on the poor sap.
To cleanse the palate from that nasty image, how about a
!!!SCIENCE MOMENT!!!:
None of the tech presented here is impossible, just really difficult. Humanoid robots are a very popular
sci-fi "what if" but actually building anything like this isn't
even on the horizon yet. Someday...
The next thing on Eve’s to do list is to find her estranged father. I won’t tell
you how that goes but Kevin McCarthy of INVASION
OF THE BODY SNATCHERS fame plays her father. He’s hardly in the movie
long enough to be recognized and has maybe three lines, which is their
loss since he’s perfect for these kinds of movies.
As the clock is ticking on Eve’s internal nuke the chase becomes both more desperate
and much, much dumber. In fact the last portion is “where’s the fast forward
button?” dumb. I give it two shriek girls.
This review copyright 2001 E.C.McMullen Jr.
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