Prototype

I saw this quite a few years ago, probably on a Friday night when I had nothing better to do and had no desire to hit the bars--which would have been a better option, considering the movie. I remember being markedly unimpressed by the film, so much so that I woke up at one point and thought, Man is this thing ever gonna end? I remember seeing Kato Kaelin's name in the end credits, but never had the desire to rewind it and look for him. There aren't many films I have fallen asleep during, particularly early in the evening after a good night's rest, but this thing was like a Valium to a guy on Speed. Highly recommended as a curative if you are an insomniac.

I know where it all went wrong. The cover. Prototype's tape cover shows a fake-looking robot standing against the background of a virtual reality grid. Instead it should have been showing a couple of lovers with expressions of suffering on their faces and some kind of dramatic quote. The movie should not have been called "Prototype" but rather something like "Desert Roses". It would have attracted a different kind of audience and would have perhaps been much better received.

Even if the people watching this B-movie do not admit to having any expectations for it, they are subconsciously expecting to see indications of some genre. Yet they receive none because Prototype can't pick a genre. Well then, is it like one of those smart genre-transcending films? Well, no. Firstly, because it is not smart and secondly, because even those kind of movies are clearly about something and generally pick an emotional focal point out of each genre on which to base the storyline and Prototype doesn't really get its footing in any of the genres. However if we tried to pinpoint a genre, it would most definitely not be an action movie, but a drama. It is a poorly executed drama.

The story is about a problematic couple getting caught up in the leftovers of a vague futuristic conspiracy. The setting is an 80s post-apocalyptic world.

There are multiple aspects of the story that could have been much better developed. It is not that the movie does not have enough material, like some have suggested. It is that the makers did not do enough with the material at hand. There is a whole movie out there about nothing more than a guy who gets his hand stuck in a rock, and it managed to keep its audience interested. Prototype is just poorly executed. The few action scenes are laughable. The stuff in between the action scenes doesn't have enough expression, contains horrible camera decisions and is in desperate need of better dialogue.

Having said that, the movie is somewhat underrated as it does have an interesting style and the acting, which this movie heavily relies upon, is not that bad. Unfortunately its style is a slow one, and unless you have a lot of patience with pessimistic sci-fi dramas, you will not like this.

I wish someone redid this movie and gave it life rather than a zombie existence.

Remember him from the O. J. Simpson trial? One of his earliest films. This movie has some style to it. The lighting, the editing, the music all has some Miami Vice influences. Too bad the screen play, script, and the acting is so bad. If you are in the mood for an early 90's throwback, and there is absolutely nothing else to watch... well, you've been warned.

You know sometimes you're wandering through Youtube looking for groovy old scifi movies (that hark back to the days when a 40 MB hard drive was apparently something to get excited about) and you find yourself watching something that you then keep watching because you're convinced at some point the writer(s) will remember to inject a plot and some decent dialogue into the thing?

Yeahhh. That was me watching this ... and wondering why, at the 55 minute mark (a) nothing of note had happened, (b) I had no idea how any of the characters related to one another, (c) some wheelchair dude with an uber mullet was pouting a lot because his skanky gf wasn't putting out - coz he was in a wheelchair I think?, and (d) where this was all going... because it felt kinda like nowhere.

Luckily there's an option to skip ahead in small jumps, which I started doing at the 62 minute mark just to get some sort of closure before heading off to watch something actually entertaining.

Good luck. Recommended if you can't sleep...

What wasn't magical about this movie? Futuristic sex combined with phenomenal special effects and massive amounts of cigarette smoking made this sci-fi thriller a hit!!! With the star power in this movie, I knew I was in for a treat. I mean, Brenda Swanson and Prototype...what a stellar line-up!! I became even more intrigued when I discovered that this was actually the third part of the Terminator trilogy. This became evident when access was granted about two thirds into the movie. Finally, I'd just like to say this movie was part man, part machine, and ALL KILLER!!!