Overview: First let me give a great big THANK YOU to Puzzlehead Director, James Bai, who gave me a copy of this movie to review, even though it has not yet been released for general distribution (Indie filmmakers - take note! Feel free to send me your cyberpunk films to review prior to release! ). In looking at the movie poster and in hearing from others, I just HAD to get a copy of this to watch. Puzzlehead is about as far as you can get from a Hollywood production. You won’t see fast-paced action sequences here (quite the contrary – the movie is very slow paced), nor will you get futuristic scenery, or high-end FX. But make no mistake – even though the cyberpunk visuals are sparse, this is DEFINITELY a cyberpunk movie. The themes introduced and the fractured sense of humanity are fully cyberpunk.

The Setting: Puzzlehead takes place in a futuristic dystopia, where all modern technology has been destroyed. Government still exists, but has devoted all resources for medical services. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t give us enough intro as to why this occurs – the introductory narrative does mention that anti-federalists and the luddites forced the closure of all biomechanical laboratories (apparently they got rid of all “regular” technology in the cities as well), and that now, most resources are devoted to repopulation of the species. We can infer that the significant lack of people and an extreme reaction against technology coupled with at least a semblance of government might be due to some sort of genetic experiment gone awry.

The majority of the movie takes place in a Victorian style townhouse, completely devoid of modern technology. Other sets include a decrepit, failing local grocery story, and a run-down apartment. Most external settings are comprised of run-down industrial areas. While the movie itself takes place in the future, aside for a few technology shots, the audience has to rely on the narrative and suspension of disbelief for this to work.

The Story: Humanity, it seems, is a shadow of its former self – random violence amongst is the norm, and virtually everyone we see in Puzzlehead is emotionally fractured. What little remains of the beleaguered populace is either making their way by becoming completely self-sufficient or by leaching off of others. It is in this setting that we focus on Walter – an emotionally fractured scientist who has trouble even walking out his front door. Unfortunately for Walter, he is in love with the very reclusive, local grocery store attendant, Julia (wonderfully played by Robbie Shapiro), but has never gained the courage to even attempt talking with her.

Walter (played by Stephen Galaida) decides to create an android named Puzzlehead (also played by Stephen Galaida) completely in his own image, apparently to serve as his external persona to interact in a world he prefers to avoid, and also to hopefully prompt interaction with Julia. After creating Puzzlehead, Walter spends significant time instructing Puzzlehead how to act. Walter is very derogatory controlling in his training of Puzzlehead. While Walter creates Puzzlehead with sentience, he severely restricts Puzzlehead’s behaviors. Over time, it becomes apparent to Puzzlehead that Walter has created and is using Puzzlehead for his own selfish purposes. In effect, Puzzlehead realizes that Walter sees him as nothing more than property. After Walter allows Puzzlehead to start venturing forth into society, he eventually comes into contact with Julia. Things get interesting when Walter follows up on Puzzlehead’s initial encounter with Julia.

Puzzlehead Works Better on Second Viewing: Puzzlehead is told in narration format by the android, Puzzlehead, long after these events have taken place. In total, this approach works pretty well. Although, it does have the added side-effect of making the movie work better upon second viewing. There are a number of apparently throw-away comments that the narrator (Puzzlehead) gives that the audience simply can’t process until they’ve seen the story. However, upon second viewing, this adds a context to the movie that is missing the first time through.

The Cinematography: Because the pacing in Puzzlehead is very slow, it runs the risk of inducing audience boredom. Luckily, this is largely overcome by the continually excellent shot selections throughout. It’s clear that significant thought went in to camera angles and interesting lighting approaches. Continually, we are treated to shots with extreme close-up foreground elements with action and movement occurring in the background. This approach, along with many low angle shots contributes to the sense of alienation the narrative provides.

How does an Android Develop “true” Freewill? Puzzlehead provides us with a very interesting take on the development of android sentience and self-awareness. Puzzlehead is created using a neuron-scan from his creator’s brain (Walter), and thus, has all of his memories (yet, most are rendered meaningless without the context) – unfortunately, this scan has also left Puzzlehead riddled with Walter’s flaws. Puzzlehead’s biomechanical brain, like a human’s brain, is structured and controlled by belief structures and associative memories. Emotions, which are already troubling and confusing for Puzzlehead, develop into uncontrollable deviant behaviors.

As Puzzlehead begins to develop self-awareness and freewill, he notices these tendencies that control him. These behaviors impact Puzzlehead’s ability to act the way the “real” him wants to act. His android brain, a combination of (undefined) biomechanical parts, is similar to a human’s in that he can recognize when he is doing deviant behavior, but cannot change his actions. But unlike humans, because Puzzlehead is an android, he can consider options for reprogramming his initial operating conditions. One question Puzzlehead ultimately poses is this – do androids have the possibility of becoming “exactly” the type of sentient being they want to become?

This potential ability to be “perfect” in the sense of transforming into exactly what Puzzlehead wants to become serves to reinforce Asimov’s notion that sentient robots would consider themselves superior to humans. In Puzzlehead, we get a realistic glimpse of how this might look.

Puzzlehead is an Intensely Personal Film: In judging this movie strictly on what I could learn from watching it I give it 7 stars (I would give it 7.5 if I had half stars – something I’m still working on). As a bonus, in talking with the film maker, it turns out that the film itself is an intensely personal metaphor of James Bai’s – one that you would never guess but makes perfect sense once you are told of it. Watching it with this knowledge, the complexity of the movie itself ramps up significantly, as does its accomplishment as a film – so much so that I’m strongly inclined to add another star to the review. I won’t give this part away, but instead offer Mr. Bai the opportunity to comment here if he would like to describe Puzzlehead’s personal nature in his own words.

The Bottom Line: James Bai has created a very low-budget flick that’s definitely worth a watch. While I had some problems with the acting in some of the early scenes (Galaida as Puzzlehead acts way too human at the beginning, but eventually settles into the role), and a few of the visuals which seemed too 70s looking, these are diminished as the movie progresses. Bai poses some interesting thoughts on android development – some of which are unique to movies. If you can stand a very slow-paced, intellectual cyberpunk flick without a lot of cyberpunk visuals (although I LOVE the bathroom and broken arm scenes), Puzzlehead is definitely worth a watch.

Overview: Some movies are just absolute absurd fun – so fun that you end up watching it endlessly. The Fifth Element is that way for me, and is a movie I’ve seen around 20 times or so. The tone of the movie is too light-hearted to be considered a real cyberpunk movie, but like Tank Girl, we can consider this a cyberpunk comedy. The characters are all a hoot, and the movie never takes itself seriously – in fact it’s almost always over the top. Many of the cyberpunk themes still exist in Fifth Element, although, again, they are enacted in a light-hearted way. It’s the visuals that really bring Fifth Element into the cyberpunk subgenre.

The Story: 217 years into the future, ultimate evil is again coming to destroy the earth. Ultimate evil takes the form of an absolutely massive malevolent ball of blackness that is on a course to destroy earth. Every attack the Federated Territories try only makes it larger. It turns out that a group of priests has been keeping the ancient technology necessary to destroy ultimate evil – four stones representing the 4 elements, which surround a fifth element. In this case, the fifth element is s beautiful girl (Milla Jovovich), reconstructed from the remains of a small DNA sample.

Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis) is a down and out highly decorated former military commando, now turned failing cabbie, who has a beautiful girl named Leeloo (Jovovich) fall into her cab – literally! The authorities are after her, as it turns out she has escaped those who recreated her. She can’t speak English yet she figures a way to ask for help. After she asks, Korben Dallas takes her to the priest, Father Vito Cornelius, who recognizes her as the Fifth Element, and promptly kicks Korben out.

From there, things get crazy. The military approaches Korben for a secret mission to retrieve the stones necessary to stop ultimate evil. The stones are hidden with a famous Diva who is performing at the famous floating hotel, Floston Paradise. At the same time, Zorg, an evil corporate CEO (Gary Oldman) has hired a group of Mangalores (evil, ugly aliens) to retrieve the stones. Simultaneously, Father Vito Cornelius and Leeloo also find a way get to Floston Paradise to retrieve the stones. Things get even weirder when the famous radio host, Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker), an outrageous guy with a penis-head hairdo hosts the Floston Paradise experience with Korben as his guest!

The Acting: All the main characters in the Fifth Element are quirky and memorable. Bruce Willis really works as a former hero, now on his last leg. Jovovich is beautiful and otherworldly. Tucker is a riot! This movie really got him known (Rush Hour made him famous though). And Gary Oldman as Zorg is flat out awesome as a completely crazed power-hungry evil doer with a quirky sense of style and salesmanship. Truly, Besson did a great job in casting this.

The Visuals: The Fifth Element totally rocks in the cool futuristic visuals department. The colors include dark yellows with neon blues for the backgrounds, saturated blue scenes and orange clothes for the leads. But its the city-scapes, reminiscent of Lang’s Metropolis that are especially memorable. They flat out nail a far out vision of the future. Additionally, we have airports with 30 foot tall trash heaps due to a garbage worker strike, fully automated, ultra-processed McDonalds, deaf rock stars

The Editing: The editing in the Fifth Element is just terrific. The splicing of the various story strands, as crazy as they are, flow wonderfully. In discussing the missing stones, the simultaneous, intermixed dialogue between Leeloo and Father Cornelius and Zorg with the Mangalores are just one terrific example of this; the Diva opera singling intermixed with Leeloo’s fighting is another. With the amount of stuff going on here, this could have ended up a disaster. Sylvie Landra, who also edited Leon – the Professional, deserves heaps of praise for this.

The Fifth Element Cyberpunked Future: Dropping the crazed fantasy aspects of the stones and ultimate evil, The Fifth Element gives us a pretty dire view of the future. Cities are built high to escape the constant layer of smog that coats the surface; corporations are all-powerful; governments are impotent; fashion statements have gone seriously awry; cockroaches are used as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems - but at least we still get cheap Chinese food! Plus robots now do all our menial work!

The Bottom Line: No, the Fifth Element is not intended to be taken seriously. Still, this movie is just far more enjoyable than it has any right to be. The action and romance are fun, the characters are unforgettable, the story is entertaining, the music is great, and the visuals are marvelous! The Fifth Element has been in my regular heavy watching rotation since it came out. Give this a watch if you’re looking for a witty futuristic cyberpunk action-comedy flick.

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Overview: Originally convieved of by Stanley Kubrick, Spielberg took the reigns of this wonderful Pinocchio tale done in cyberpunk. This story is about a robot who wants to be a “real boy” so that his mother will really love him. Like Pinocchio, he goes on a journey of discovery. Although there are a few over-the-top scenes, the FX is awesome and the acting is wonderful. AI definitely inspires discussion if nothing else.

The Story: Set in a near future where global warming has led flooding of all the coasts, and a general breakdown has occurred in many parts of the world. Robots, called Mechas, are common in society now, and perform a variety of functions. Unfortunatley, there is widespread public outcry against their very existence. The focus is on a single family, where a mother has essentially lost her son, who now hangs on to life in cryogenic freeze. Her husband convinces her to get a new model mecha to replace their son – this one becomes hard-wired to its owner and experiences real love and emotion. After accepting their new mecha, a child named David, the family’s life seems complete – until their real son miraculously recovers from his illness.

Their real son feels threatened by David, and after a sequence of incidents, David’s mother is forced to send David back to his maker for destruction. But while driving him to his death, she cannot bring herself to follow through, and instead sets him free. In a traumatic breakup, David’s mother warns him of the dangers of the outside world before leaving him alone with just his Teddy toy. David, having been read Pinocchio, decides that if he can find the Blue Fairy, he can convince her to turn him into a “real boy.” Along the way, he encounters Gigilo Joe, who helps him on his journey.

The Acting: The acting in AI is consistently terrific. Haley Joel Osment puts in a performance you’d never expect to see from an actor so young. He is utterly believable both as a mecha, and as his journey proceeds, seemingly transforms into a regular acting boy. Jude Law puts in a terrific performance as Gigilo Joe – one that almost transcends the movie itself as a memorable character. Frances O’Connor also delivers a fine performance as David’s mother, as does William Hurt as David’s inventor.

The FX: The visual effects in AI are still among the best that’s ever been put on film. The mechas (robots) look incredibly real – far more real than should be possible. There are many different kinds of mechas, many of which are represented here, but none are better than the Nanny. She is breathtaking. The entire front-end of the movie gives us a very normal set of surroundings. Other than the cars, and minor mecha parts, we aren’t dazzled by the upfront effects. This makes the second half all the more impressive. When David goes outside, things change dramatically. From the robots, to the city-scapes to the destroyed New York, this AI is a visual feast. To top it off, the Teddy Bear is maybe my favorite robot character of all movies.

The Score: John Williams is as awesome as ever in creating the score for AI. He is able to capture the feeling of the dregs of humanity along with an almost heavenly sense of love and contentment. The score really brings the movie together in places that with something lessor it might not have worked.

Kubrick versus Spielberg: AI is a strange movie in that it encapsulates a harsh Kubrick-style future while at the same time has a story that lends itself to Spielberg’s Capra-like tendency for the emotional mushiness. In watching AI, rarely do the two tendencies meet up well. We either have the dystopic craziness of the Flesh Fair or the serenity of the beginning. We also see dramatic changes in pacing. In some parts, we have a very slow, deliberate movie, whereas in others, it seemingly breezes past key scenes.

Some thoughts on the ending: Many folks who generally like the movie end up hating the ending. I don’t have this issue - in fact I like the ending, but I do understand the sentiment. The ending really does drop into a completely different movie altogether. In effect, it becomes the fairy tale that David pursues the entire movie. But because I KNOW the ending engenders discussion, I am concerned about spoilers in the comments below. PLEASE don’t post spoiler thoughts - if you do, your comment will be deleted. Instead, I’ve created a thread in the meatspace to discuss the ending of AI.

The Bottom Line: AI is a visual feast of dystopia and human morals run amok. As the same time, it’s a beautiful love story about the best of humanity. Many have issues with the ending, although, it works fine for me. While the actions in the Flesh Fair are bit outside believability, overall, the story is very well done. The CG is among the best ever on film (check out page 2 below if you want to see more screencaps). It doesn’t serve to astonish us, but instead, attempts to integrated seemlessly into the film. The acting is terrific, especially from Haley Joel Osment (David the robot boy) and Jude Law (Gigolo Joe). On top of this, we get a very interesting portrayal of a future with sentient robots who do not have any rights. One can almost see the Animatrix’s Rennaissance occurring shortly afterwards.

Go to AI, Page 2: More Screencaps –>>

Overview: Now, surely there must have been some kind of mistake. This is Cyberpunk Review, right? OK. Since when stories of little green men do qualify as such? Surely the mere fact that agent Scully had an implant in her neck does not count for an awful lot.

All true. This particular episode, however, is different. Look at the credits. William Gibson. Ring any bells?

More Than Meets the Eye: It all starts with a rather innocuous shootout at a diner in a drab neighbourhood. Piece of cake, eh? Well, not exactly, as it turns out that one of the victims is in fact a top IT expert and programmer whose death might have been anything less than a coincidence. Soon afterwards Mulder and Scully happen upon a rather charming lady going by the nick-name of Invisigoth, who turns out to be much more than just a leather-clad Trinity wannabe…

The threat, it is revealed, comes from a fugitive AI she and her companions helped to spawn. This synthetic entity seems to have little regard for human life, plus it possesses some rather eccentric habits, such as playing with leftover Star Wars military orbital lasers and residing in abandoned… camping trailers. Needless to say it has to be stopped, although it may yet turn out Invisigoth pursues a different agenda altogether…

Out There: Even if the credits said “Jay Leno” or “Kermit the Frog” rather than Gibson, there still would be a good case to make for the overall cyberpunk feel of this standalone episode. In terms of themes, it is all there- the pursuit of the AI takes place both in our very own “desert of the real” and through the net; agent Mulder even gets to become a multiple amputee courtesy of the malicious program’s VR simulation. More interestingly, the episode deals with the transfer of consciousness- translating a human psyche into digital data in pursuit of a peculiar kind of disembodied immortality. It is at that point one may begin to realise that one of the foremost attractions of the concept of sentient cyberspace entities is that cyberspace begins, to the mind of many, resemble a manufactured heaven of sort, a synthetic paradise for the unbelievers, allowing those of little religious zeal to dream of achieving transcendence. This move to another plane of existence, an ersatz afterlife- may not be explored at lengths here, yet gives a good cause for reflection. Apart from the sentient computer theme there is of course our sweet little Trinity impersonator (prettier than the real deal? I might be getting controversial here…) who also happens to drive a car (1960s Imperial, to be exact) very similar to the black Lincoln in the first Matrix.

Convinced? And then you realise that this episode actually comes from 1998, which is a year BEFORE tha Matrix… So, who’s the copycat, eh Trinity? Guess I should be expecting a lawsuit for these allegations any time now…

The Visuals: While not trying to rival Blade Runner, the visuals are decent for the budget. Being that this is an X-files episode, we shouldn’t expect anything too fancy - the series rarely relies on fancy visuals to generate their mood, or to depict story elements. One of the distinct traits of the X-Files is that they can often make ordinary places or events appear menacing and sinister when placed in the given context - this applies to Kill Switch.

I assure you that, having seen this episode, the next time you’ll see a decaying camping trailer you’re gonna think twice before approaching it. In a way this depiction of cyberpunk is more realistic - inconspicuous locations concealing the drama of furtive technological experiments and computer crime is very much what one’s bound to encounter today. The most important bit - the flow of data - is hidden from the eye. The episode does treat us to some juicy cyberpunk visual elements, including gloomy improvised computer labs, and chaotic nests of cables and wires lit by the dim glow of terminal screens - but nothing too extravagant (aside for a few explosions).

Confirm File Delete: Overall the episode represents a truly interesting foray of the famous franchise into the realms of cyberpunk, courtesy of Mr. Gibson himself. As with many other episodes, the strength of Kill Switch lies in its inherently believable narration, a mixture of the ordinary and the imaginary that made the series famous. The acting is decent- Invisigoth oozes character- and the action tightly coiled into a mere 45 minutes of film. Yet because of the unspectacular nature of the whole thing few will probably have seen and noticed it, even if this is as close as we can get into having a Gibson story made into a feature film, after his Alien3 script got binned long ago. It may not be cyberpunk canon in any way, but do watch it- I swear that after those 45 minutes you’re likely to be craving for more. Which you just might get, as there is another Gibson-written X-File which I will investigate soon…

Overview: Canadian film maker Vincenzo Natali, master of doing more with less, delivers us an excellent cyberpunk flick for a virtual pittance budget. At 7.5 million, Cypher is FAR more polished than it has any right to be. This paranoid conspiracy, near-future espionage thriller provides a continual stream of mindfuck moments. Expect your head to get jerked around so much that you’ll need to check yourself for whiplash after watching it.

The Story: Jeremy Northam stars as Morgan Sullivan, a nerdy and slightly incompetent salesman who leads a bland life. His job is boring, his nagging wife is overbearing, and he spends most of his time yearning for some excitement to infiltrate his mundane life. In pursuit of this, Morgan applies for a job at Digicorp, a high-tech company, to become a corporate spy. But so far, the job is not the excitement he was looking for. The job involves assuming an fake identity, and then traveling to various non-envious US destinations and secretly recording boring conference speeches.

Morgan, now calling himself “Jack Thursby,” develops a persona associated with the name he’s given by Digicorp. He starts to imagine himself to be a suave and sophisticated player, who likes to smoke, drink scotch and pick up sexy women at hotel bars. During one trip he meets Rita Foster (Lucy Liu), who claims to work for a freelance expert named Sabastian Rook. She warns him that he is being brainwashed by Digicorp in order to infiltrate their rival company, Sunways Corporation.

From there, the story becomes too complex to try explaining. The plot reveals layer upon layer of unraveling truth and reality. Morgan realizes he has become enmeshed in an ongoing high stakes corporate battle, and worse, events have so overtaken him that he has nowhere to turn and can trust nobody. Everyone wants to use him for their own purposes, as Morgan, while still a pawn in the larger scheme of things, has come into play.

The Acting: Jeremy Northam, a British character actor, is simply brilliant at acting completely different personas over the course of the movie. He really nails a role requiring complex and diverse acting. Lucy Lui plays a terrific femme fatale who leads Morgan further down into the abyss. The rest of the cast also holds up well, including Nigel Bennett as Digicorp’s mysterious representative, and David Hewlett, who plays a completely bizarre character who lives in a data vault.

The FX: Truly, I’m blown away that Natali is able to pull over as many special effects as he has with a 7.5 million dollar production budget. The brainwashing headsets are clearly the highpoint of the movie, but many of the effects throughout are muted, but important. In looking at Cypher, most would conclude that this should have taken at least 25 million or so, and even then, they would have needed to watch costs. The range of sets, and completely different looks staggers the mind when the overall cost is presented. Make no mistake – I’m not comparing Cypher to big budget fares like the Matrix, but for the money, Cypher’s FX really look terrific. More importantly, they add important touches in bringing a near-future feel to an otherwise modern day setting.

The Bottom Line: In many ways, Cypher comes across as a cyberpunk version of Hitchcock’s North by Northwest. The pacing and feel of Cypher is very similar, and in both movies, you really never know what’s coming around the next corner, but most assuredly it will involve more layers of out-of-control untruths. With all the goodness that Cypher gives us, you’d almost expect the final score to be a 9 or 10. But unfortunately, Cypher’s story falls apart at the end. The technical believability, which is decently high throughout the film, flat-out does a belly flop at the end, and expects us to buy something that anyone who knows a whit about data security, just can’t stomach (I can add a spoiler page on this if anyone is interested). However, this sore point is not enough to sap enjoyment out of an otherwise wonderfully made film. You may not have heard of Cypher, but this is not an indication of its quality. Give it a go – chances are you’ll love it!

Overview: Often sequels are just made to cash in or earlier successes with a rehash of the existing story. To Cameron’s credit, he comes up with an entirely different take from the original Terminator movie, yet still maintains some level of believability to the story. Cameron certainly ratchets up the FX, but doesn’t forget the essentials that made us love the original (a well told story). Arnold Schwarzenegger returns as the Terminator, but this time he’s the good guy. Sarah Conner’s transformation from the girl next door to toughened soldier, willing to do anything to see to her son’s viability and stopping the enemy.

The Story: In Terminator 2: Judgement Day (T2), over 10 years have past since the events of the first movie, and the Skynet from the future has made one last attempt (um, well, until T3, that is – I believe the final last attempt will be Terminator versus Predators) to destroy John Conner. This time, they have skipped the “retroactive abortion” ploy, and are targeting him directly. This time, they are sending a more advanced unit – the T1000 – an android made out of liquid metal. The T1000 has the ability to copy virtually anything it touches, but prefers to assume the form of a police officer (Robert Patrick) to aid in its pursuit of John Conner.

John Conner of the future, in a desperate attempt to save the gains made, captures, reprograms and sends back Cyberdyne Systems model 101 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to protect John Conner in the past. His primary mission is to ensure John Conner’s survival by any means necessary. A secondary aspect of his programming states that he must take orders from John Conner.

John Conner is currently living in a foster home, as his mother has been committed to an insane asylum by the good Doctor Silberman (Earl Boen). Now, disenchanted to learn that his mother has basically fed him a fantasy his whole childhood, he has become a troublesome youth. He spends his time stealing money from ATMs, jerking off with friends, and playing video games.

As the plot evolves, the familiar chase and pursuit feeling from the first movie returns, only this time we get the added benefit of Terminator on Terminator conflict. John Conner eventually hooks back up with his mother, and they decide to make an attempt to eliminate Cyberdyne Systems in the present, thus, eliminating the apocalyptic future that awaits the human race. Unfortunately, the T1000 has other plans.

The Acting: The most impressive aspect of T2 is the personal training Linda Hamilton put in to make her transformation to a soldier absolutely believable. She really looks the part, and for a short time, almost comes across as a terminator-like powerhouse. Her acting is also spot on, as is Edward Furlong and Schwarzenegger. Robert Patrick puts in a serviceable job as the T1000, but still pales in comparison to Schwarzenegger’s character in the original. Joe Morton is also decent as Cyberdyne System’s top scientist, Dr. Miles Dyson.

The FX: T2 is remembered for raising the bar on CG enhanced FX. Cameron transformed the T1000 into almost as large a phenomena as Schwarzenegger’s Terminator became in 1984. The liquid metal effects had the benefit of looking ultra-cool while not requiring the detail necessary for facial features. In this way, Cameron really played to the strength of the available technology. However, over time, as FX have continued to evolve, the impact of the T1000 has been significantly diminished, while the original Terminator is more embedded in our psyche than ever.

The Bottom Line: While T2 is a very well made film, personally, I still like the original lots better. Simply put, the movie is a very well made sequel, and still includes the best android fight on film. But in my mind it’s not nearly as sophisticated in terms of the whole Time Travel angle, and worse, it invalidates a key part of the original story – that nobody goes through after the first pairing. One wonders why they Skynet of the future didn’t just send the T1000 back to the same time as the first movie – then they’d have 2 Terminators pursuing Sarah Conner (or 3, 4, or 5 depending on how many Terminator movies we finally end up with). Still this is a minor point, and I know of many who disagree with me about the original being better.

T2 Page 2: More Screencaps–>>

Overview: In yet another very well made Korean Sci-Fi movie, we have a terrific story, great acting, and a wonderfully unfolding secret that really adds to the suspense. 2009: Lost Memories is one of the best Time Travel movies out, and takes place almost completely within an alternate timeline. In this alternate reality timeline, Korea is a Japanese territory called Choson. The primary language of Choson is Japanese, and although the natives still speak Korean in private, they speak Japanese in the course of normal operations. Japan won WWII, and the atomic bombs were dropped on Germany. The Furei-Senjin (Choson Libration Army) are the last ones alive who know that the timeline has been tampered with, and will do whatever is necessary to set things right.

The Story: Sakamoto Masayuki and his partner and best friend, Saigo Shojirou are police officers living in Choson (a province owned by Japan that we know as Korea) who are investigating and confronting the terrorist organization called the Furei-Senjin. Sakamoto discovers that the Furei-Senjin have been after a crescent shaped stone called the Lunar Soul - an ancient artifact purported to have the soul of the moon in it. In pursuing the story, a number of different strands in Sakamoto’s life start to fall into place.

For most of his adult life, Sakamoto has a recurring dream about a beautiful woman he has never met - she has a crescent necklace, and in the dream, they shoot someone. Sakamoto knows he is in love with this woman, and, for some reason, thinks they are destined to be together. During the second confrontation with the Furei-Senjin, he meets this woman - it turns out that Oh Hae-rin (the woman from his dreams, played by Seo Jin-ho) is in fact a leader of the Furei-Senjin. She too feels the connection, and stops her followers from killing Sakamoto when they get the chance.

Through his investigation, Sakamoto discovers that back in 1909, in the area surrounding Harbin, there was an attempted assassination of Ito Hirobumi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ito_Hirobumi), a prominent Japanese politician back than, and Japan’s first Resident General of Korea following the Russo-Japanese War (which Japan used to occupy Korea). This assassination was prevented by Inoue, an unknown soldier, who was later rewarded for his feat by becoming the second Governor. The Inoue Foundation has spent the last century collecting all artifacts from the 1909 time period.

In following the trail, Sakamoto learns too much, and is framed for the murder of a fellow police officer. Sakamoto eventually discovers that history was altered at that moment, and that Hirobumi was supposed to die that day, and that there never should have been an Inoue back in Harbin on that day. This leads him to the astonishing revelation that the Furei-Senjin are actually the last group alive aware of this tragedy, and that they are trying to restore the proper world timeline. As the movie develops, Sakamoto and his partner become enmeshed on opposite sides of this timeline struggle.

Cost of Entry For Understanding: There is a cost of entry to understanding 2009: Lost Memories. It helps if you recognize the difference between Japanese and Korean Characters. Japanese characters are pictoral in nature, whereas Korean characters look like boxes, half-boxes (L-shaped characters) and circles. This is significant especially at the beginning. The other important element is to know which language they are speaking. Sakamoto is Korean, whereas his partner, Saigo Shojirou is Japanese. The importance and meaning of the scenes is often given away when they switch over to speaking Korean (most of the movie’s “public” scenes are in Japanese). For instance, when Sakamoto is with his uncle, he ALWAYS speaks Korean. Also important to know is the latent hatred that still exists in Korea towards Japan for the time they were occupied (up until WWII). To Koreans, this movie will come off as far more emotional than for foreigners.

The Bottom Line: 2009: Lost Memories is a very intelligent Korean sci-fi film. I include it as cyberpunk primarily for the wonderfully done time-travel theme done in the very near-future. Te intense confrontation between the best friends that occurs as this movie develops is just terrific. The visuals are all high-tech current visuals though - they are not futuristic in most of the cyberpunk sense. But the world they create is cyberpunk in the sense that it depicts a reality changed by a future traveler to a past time. Also interesting is the notion, that even during a “time-shift” souls might potentially “know” something is amiss.

Overview: This is one of those shows that TOTALLY addicted me to it when it came out. This was the first 3D animation I ever saw, and I must say, I completely fell in love with it. Reboot is a wonderfully intelligent kids show, that for techies, seemed to have all the inside-tech jokes just right. All the characters are inside a computer world - the mainframe, and the good guys are trying to stop the evil virus, Megabyte from infecting the rest of the mainframe.

The Bottom Line: Reboot provided us a terrific fantasy view inside a virtual computer. While the first two seasons were fun, season 3 was just terrific! After ABC dropped this Canadian production, they were able to go adult-like, with much darker themes and a really cool sword and sorcery bent. The follow-on movies captured the fun of the first two seasons while keeping the darkness of the third. And while the CG has definitely been surpassed, for some reason, the look still works.

Overview: George Lucas’s THX-1138 is one of the many good small-budget films long forgotten that has found new life on DVD. THX-1138 gives us a wonderful commentary on how Lucas, back in 1971, thought society would be if those in power ever really got their way. Everything here is antithetical to the 60s movement. Freedom and in fact most of humanity is squashed in this depiction of a dehumanizing nightmare society. All actions are controlled and securitized to ensure compliance.

The Setting: THX-1138 takes place in an underground facility in some ill-defined future where all aspects of humanity have been squashed. Everyone has all individuality removed, including possessions, hair (everyone has shaved heads). Humanity is controlled by television brainwashing combined with medications that remove human emotions. All citizens have a have a specific role to perform, and must adhere to completely programmed time schedules. Regularly scheduled “confessions” with mind control officers are used to catch any unexpected problems with individual expression. In this setting, Robert Duvall, known as THX-1138, and his room mate “dare” to have affection for one another.

A series of events occur which make THX-1138 disenchanted with society. He begins to cut down on his medication, and convinces his room mate, LUH 3417 to do the same. When emotions return, so does their humanity. They begin to find emotional desire and love for one another, but this is cut short, when a ranking facility member, SEN 5241, decides he would prefer to have THX-1138 for a room mate, and removes LUH 3417. But THX-1138 has gone too far, and instead, seeks out a budging resistance movement. Unfortunately for him, the control group has discovered his deceit.

The Visuals: Like many cyberpunk films, dominating color schemes are used for conveying the moods. In this case, white is used to depict dehumanized society; yellow is used for the controlling machinery, and darkness is used for the unknown innards of the facility’s inner-workings. THX-1138 provides much of the storyline through its visuals. We aren’t told the history of this futuristic dystopia, nor are we given much indication of how this society is run. As an interesting side note, although its never stated, one really gets the feeling in watching this that the powers that be would strongly prefer replacing humans with emotionless robots.

Changes to the Original Release: I have only seen the director’s cut of THX-1138, so I cannot comment on the original cut. However, I notice a similar level of anger to this version as was seen in changes to Star Wars. I probably need to track this down, but not having seen it, I don’t really see many of the problems they list, including poorly integrated CG effects (the shot above is an example of added CG into the background). Many also complain that while the film length is the same, some shots are missing. I don’t notice any complaints about changes to the sound, which seems very well engineered to me. Again though, having come to this movie without seeing the earlier version, I do have a hard time with people stating there is no value to this version, or that it is so far worse than the original that it is not worth watching. These sentiments seem like severe overkill. Still, like Star Wars, one hopes that the original eventually gets released as well.

The Bottom Line: THX-1138 is a very well made low-budget art film where Lucas takes the controlling elements in society to what he sees as their logical conclusion. While this isn’t very realistic in many ways, it certainly sends a powerful message. The pacing is consistent and the themes, while not new, are interesting and well conveyed. As long as you’re not looking for lots of action, you will probably enjoy this.

Overview: Metropolis is a wonderful anime that, while it shares the same name as a far more famous movie, it is in fact a different story altogether. In this story, also set in an astoundingly beautiful futuristic city, with three tiers of inhabitants - the elite, the human working class, and all the way at the bottom, the slave-like robots. The powerful corporate leader who runs Metropolis, Duke Red, has created a structure called the Ziggurat, a huge tower designed to control all information and machines in the world. To make this possible, he hires Dr. Laughton, a genius criminal scientist to make a an super-android focal point of the Ziggurat, who is designed in the image of his daughter.

Fortunately for the world, their plans are disrupted when Shinsaku Ban, a detective from Japan, and his nephew Kenichi, arrive to track down and capture Dr. Laughton. They disrupt the “birthing” of the super-android, called Tima, and destroy the lab. In the ensuing chaos, Kenichi finds Tima, and thinking her human, rescues her from the destruction. They become separated from Separated from his uncle, and begin a journey of discovery in the lower levels of Metropolis.

Eventually, Duke Red learns that his super-android is alive and well, and dedicates everything to catch her. Over the course of the movie, Tima begins to learn her true nefarious purpose, while at the same time, begins to fall in love with Kinichi. This becomes a story of questioning what is humanity, and whether robots can be loved and treated like humans, or whether they are machines to be used for our purposes.

The Visuals and Sound: The visuals in metropolis are both varied and often astounding. We get a wonderful mix of 2D-3D graphics - unlike most movies, they are definitely weighted towards the 2D side. And I love how Metropolis makes the change in colors from almost a pastel-type opening to dark and dirty colors as the movie progresses. This is very similar to how Transmetropolitan does it in graphic novels. The characters are done in an interesting style, with almost completely round heads. This is disconcerting at first, but eventually you get used to it. And top top if off, we get some of the most wonderful use fo music in an anime. Some of the old fashioned Jazz tunes in here create a wonderful retro-type mood that really seems to fit.

The Bottom Line: Metropolis is a terrific little anime, although I would have liked to have seen a few parts of the script flushed out a bit more. Still, I love the movie, but it’s the ending that makes it for me. Tima’s question at the end pretty much sums up the purpose of the movie. This is a really nice exploration into the nature of humanity thing from a cyberpunk film standpoint.