I can't in good conscience call Richard Clabaugh's Eyeborgs a good film. But I also can't call it a bad one. After watching it, I fully believe that Richard Clabaugh has always dreamed of making movies and saw this film as his big chance to break into the main stream. However, I feel that he bit off more than he could chew. Eyeborgs is an action/sci-fi/conspiracy/thriller about a future where Americans have traded in their basic freedoms for security. The government keeps its citizens under constant, 24 hour surveillance through the use of tiny robot cameras called Eyeborgs. The Eyeborgs all connect into O.D.I.N., a massive government mainframe that "protects the American people from crime and terrorism." Uh-huh. I think you know where this is going. The problem is, I'm not sure that Clabaugh knew. Of course the Eyeborgs and O.D.I.N. go rogue and start taking over the world. But the film never addresses why. There are hints and murmurs about terrorists taking over O.D.I.N., but it is never given much consideration. How did this technology become evil? Did it gain sentience? Is it being controlled by a resistance group? This is a basic question that never gets answered. Also, the film exclusively uses CGI for the robots and Eyeborgs. Considering that it tries to emulate The Terminator franchise at the end with a massive shoot-out between fleshy humans and steely robots, Clabaugh did the best with the technology that he had available to him. The film was made for an estimated $3.7 million, which in today's age still counts as low-budget. Clabaugh tried to make every cent of his budget count. I feel bad for Clabaugh...the man has big dreams. Hopefully this will be the first step towards a brighter future. After all...not every director gets it right the first time.
5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment