Rating: C+
Dir: George Henry Horton
Star: Tim DeZarn, Adam Budron, Danielle Harris, Olivia Scott
This is the sort of movie where you need to buy into the concept. I can see why it could seem thoroughly ludicrous to some viewers. If you can’t get past that, it’ll be a big, and likely insurmountable, problem. I was just about able to suspend my disbelief, and be adequately entertained as a result. Actually, a bit more than expected, perhaps – considering this is basically two guys running round a very large warehouse for eighty minutes, intermittently chased by forklifts. The pair are James (DeZarn) and Blake (Budron), who are on the run after a robbery in which James got shot in the leg. They decide to hole up in the facility, which shows signs of having been suddenly abandoned.
This is for good reason, since it was home to a research project which, years ago, created an AI entity called “Dorothy” (voiced by Harris). When it became too dangerous, the scientists fled, and Dorothy has been waiting ever since. What the robbers have, that Dorothy very much wants, is a laptop. She can use that to connect to the Internet, and then… Well, I needn’t draw you a picture. It probably ends in Kyle Reese coming back from the future. The AI locks the facility down, and sends its fleet of self-driving forklifts to chase down James and Blake, and force them into compliance. Oh, and the forklifts growl. I literally LOL’d at that.
Yeah, there is an undeniable and significant amount of “I’m so sure” present in this. Not least, the way a facility which has supposedly been abandoned and untouched since the nineties is pristine, still supplied with electricity, and fully functional. Or how Dorothy even knows about the Internet. Early on, when it (she? What are a megalomaniacal AI’s preferred pronouns? Am I guilty of misgendering here?) tries to connect to ARPANET, I did get a nice, nostalgic laugh at the AOL dial-up sound accompanying this. It is a rather cool location, to be sure, and Horton shoots around it well. However, there are just too many meaningless shots of forklift POV, whizzing about the place to no particular purpose.
There’s also an issue with forklifts as predators. It’s a problem shared with Daleks, and best summed up in this classic cartoon from 1981. All the roaring can’t conceal they are more than a bit crap as a threat. The film needs extra characters, purely so some could die, and demonstrate the danger posed by the machines. But for all the silliness, it’s just about salvaged by the performances. DeZarn is particularly good, and Harris does a fine job, given her role is entirely vocal: all we see of Dorothy is a few flashing lights. The actors sold the situation well enough, to get me over the scepticism hump. Your mileage may certainly vary in that department.
The film debuts on Cable and Digital VOD today, including Prime Video and Vudu.