The Age of Commercialism

Simply A Masterpiece

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Apparently this motion picture was a vehicle used by Marc Singer to showcase his juiced up torso and ramped up abs one last time before hanging up his jock. Beyond that sole purpose it has no other possible redeeming entertainment or creative value whatsoever.Totally impressive intriguing cover artwork is this movie's sole and finest asset. Don't waste your time viewing anything beyond it. But for those who fail heeding such profoundly wise advice be sure to give this DVD at least 20 seconds on high in the microwave before disposal.Doing so will be the only other enjoyable part of your viewing experience and guarantee sparing anyone the agony of ever having to watch such space monkey excrement again.

Cyber zone, as this DVD was sold in Oz, is about the worst B-Grade junk I have seen. Apart from a restrained deadpan act from Singer, indicating he knew how bad the movie was going to be, the other actors sway about genuine attempts at line delivery (Swanson and Quarry) or absurd imitations of classic movies scenes. Mathius Hues makes the most ham-fisted portrayal of dying since Jim Carrey's Mask. All of this with no real thread to suggest an attempt at a spoof by genre, period or any common vein is plain annoying. Don't even try to join the dots with the plot. It is Blade Runner, thinly disguised with no content, actors or scenery due to a very limited budget. "You gets what you pay for" is never more apparent. There is repeatedly annoying re-use of limited sets, with no attention to set dressing and a spew of special effects that would have hit the cutting room floor for Dr Who in 1976. The Helicopter explosion is worth a rewind to demonstrate my point. Of course there are masochists that will lap up this tripe but if you are watching this movie for a bet, make sure you get more than your pay rate. At $2 this DVD will make a cheap and interesting beer coaster.

After watching this film I experienced a new sensation. I had watched a film in which the lead actor had put in a performance that almost rivaled the legend Chevy Chase in 'Fletch'. This isn't to say that the performances are comparable, but both give practically flawless delivery of their lines. That actor is Marc Singer! Singer is Jack Ford, the 'Droid Gunner' of the title, grinding out a living collecting the bounty on androids.There are some mutants, topless pleasure droids(!), a Scandinavian smuggler, and possibly a half-hearted attempt to make a statement on class or maybe even globalization or......... well it doesn't really matter. What matters about this film is the dry manner in which Singer delivers his lines resulting in side-splitting humour! What matters about this film is that director Fred Olen Ray seems to realize that serious sci-fi very rarely works, and when your budget is skimpy it is best not to take yourself to seriously. Olen Ray has said that everyone involved in this film had great fun and this transfers onto the film.I dare you to criticize a film that allows itself to portray futuristic Earth as eternally dark and neon-lit and then ends in a 'pipes and valves' warehouse. Self parody is a very redeeming quality. To summarise, Fred Olen Ray is an ambassador for independent film making and Marc Singer the perfect B-movie lead.If only Olen Ray could draft in Tim Thomerson to the equation then we'd have a film on our hands.

Don't be misled by the phrase "rated R for nudity and strong sex scene". The scene in question is not strong (though it is a bit lengthy for no apparent reason) but does have a bit of humor at the end.Rochelle Swanson turns in a strong performance as a technician assigned to assist Marc Singer in recovering 4 "pleasure droids" which have been smuggled into Phoenix for eventual shipment to New Angeles. Have I lost you? Ok, from the top.In the future, Earth suffers a strong earthquake, which causes California and Nevada to slide into the ocean. It seems that most of America's beautiful women were in California at the time of the tragedy and so technology has created android human-lookalikes to serve Man's carnal pleasures (no, no strong sex scene here, either). There are 3 civilizations in the future: a) a cloud city where the wealthy, intelligent people live; b) the surface, where mutants and the dregs of society live; and c) New Angeles, a new community being build under the sea, which forbids sinful activities. So where are the droids being sent? Yep, New Angeles, where a crimelord is going to set up a monopoly on sex, gambling, booze, drugs, and more sex.Singer is hired to recover the stolen pleasure droids by the owner, who also assigns Swanson to tag along with Singer to make sure he doesn't blow the droids away. Swanson does a good job playing the beautiful technician and most of the humor comes during her scenes. For example, Singer has entered the throne of the surface crimelord to recover a bounty on a dead droid. The crimelord offers Singer 10,000 for Swanson. Singer looks over at her (her expression is great here), and declines the offer. After exiting the throne room, Swanson asks what that was all about, and Singer replies "Down here, your value is reduced to the worth of your body, sometimes just the value of a watch." Since Swanson knows that she is worth 10,000, she asks Singer what he's worth. "About 5,000. Too many bullet holes."The quality of the film is about average for a "B" level film. The supporting actors do a passable job, but don't look for a range of emotion from anyone. Swanson is a dead ringer for television's "Wonder Woman" Linda Carter, but no, she doesn't have any nude scenes. Singer does a good impersonation of Harrison Ford's "Blade Runner" character (though I didn't like the porkchop sideburns they stuck him with). Mathias Hues does a good job as the smuggler who becomes Singer's assistant in recovering the droids when the New Angele crimelord double crosses him. And look for Brinke Stevens as a mutant strip dancer (took me a second to recognize her - I never forget a pair of, ah, er, arms).See this film for Swanson's performance. The rest is just the stuff needed to give the film a plot.