The first 25 or so minutes of the movie is a slog. The art direction is not quite "there", the plot drags, the performances don't mesh and the dialog doesn't quite click.
However, once the screenplay stops being about future dystopian corporations, and starts being about people being eviscerated by an Alien/Terminator hybrid in a sealed skyscraper, things pick up. IMO, this happens about the time that the remaining "raiders" reveal that they are actually good guys and the "Warbeast" rips into the bottom of the elevator everyone is riding. A big jolt of energy enlivens the proceedings, and I had a pretty good time for the remainder of the movie.
Most of the humorous touches work pretty well (some better than others) and it seemed to me that as the movie progressed, the actors were more comfortable in their roles and worked better together. (I could be wrong, of course).
Brad Dourif does his usual barely-in-control lunatic routine here, and it's a bit cliche - as if he's reading straight out of "The Little Golden Book Of Psychopath Acting" - but he doesn't hold back, and he's fun to watch.
Worth watching if you liked "Aliens", "Terminator", "RoboCop" and don't mind a lot of callbacks, pastiche, in jokes, and small budget approximations of big budget/major talent Sci-Fi.
However, once the screenplay stops being about future dystopian corporations, and starts being about people being eviscerated by an Alien/Terminator hybrid in a sealed skyscraper, things pick up. IMO, this happens about the time that the remaining "raiders" reveal that they are actually good guys and the "Warbeast" rips into the bottom of the elevator everyone is riding. A big jolt of energy enlivens the proceedings, and I had a pretty good time for the remainder of the movie.
Most of the humorous touches work pretty well (some better than others) and it seemed to me that as the movie progressed, the actors were more comfortable in their roles and worked better together. (I could be wrong, of course).
Brad Dourif does his usual barely-in-control lunatic routine here, and it's a bit cliche - as if he's reading straight out of "The Little Golden Book Of Psychopath Acting" - but he doesn't hold back, and he's fun to watch.
Worth watching if you liked "Aliens", "Terminator", "RoboCop" and don't mind a lot of callbacks, pastiche, in jokes, and small budget approximations of big budget/major talent Sci-Fi.