By Geno McGahee
In 1973, the film WESTWORLD became a huge hit and gave birth to the follow up FUTUREWORLD. Each film explored the idea of human-like robots that can be used for the pleasure of the paying public and the downfalls of such a business. Lionsgate’s VICE is a take on that idea and brings in some notable actors and actresses to make a decent go with it. VICE will be released in theaters and VOD on January 16th.
Roy (Thomas Jane) is a cop that doesn’t approve of Julian (Bruce Willis) and his business of pimping out robots to the darker side of humanity. The robots are used for rape and murder and it doesn’t set well with Roy. The police force is basically owned by Julian. They are above the law, but Roy sees what they are doing to society. What they do to the robots gives them the urge to do it to humans and it has to be stopped.
When one of the robots, Kelly (Ambyr Childers) becomes self-aware and escapes the complex, she becomes the most wanted and runs into her old creator, Chris (Johnathon Schaech). The two go on the run with the heat on their trail. When all goes wrong, Kelly and Roy team up to go against Vice and Julian and deal with an endless amount of armed security guards and evil technicians, eager to turn Kelly off and return things to normal, leading to a not-so shocking ending.
Bruce Willis was very good as the villain in this. He seemed to enjoy the role and that is the key to getting the best out of him. In recent roles, he has been going through the motions or barely paying attention, but in VICE, he was on his game and really did well in the role of the mean corporate head. Also impressive was Thomas Jane. He was the standout in this film as the grizzled cop with something to prove. Unfortunately, the film sort of steered away from his character for a while, but then settled and returned for the finale.
VICE is a beautiful film with a great score and shot incredibly well. It has that futuristic look to it and being a fan of WESTWORLD and FUTUREWORLD, it’s easy to like this film. It has a great deal of good things going for it, but it does lack some focus and seems to have too many characters. Some of the characters could have been combined and it would have been more effective.
Written by Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore and Directed by Brian A. Miller, VICE gives us a look at a dreary future. VICE is a satisfying sci-fi thriller, but it could have been so much more with just a little more focus. It worked in the end, but at times, I felt they missed some opportunities. It just feels rushed, but it’s still enjoyable. I recommend it.
Rating: 6.5/10
