Shockwave [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

If you have seen the movie Curse of the Komodo then you will recognize a lot of this film. Artificially intelligent war machines prove to be more indestructible and less controllable than designed (they look like they stepped out of The Incredibles). On goes berserk in the film's opening and we never learn its final fate. Two more are being carried on a plane that crashes in the Pacific. The military puts together a team to locate the plane and the missing war machines. Meanwhile, a group of crooks rob a cruise ship, flee in a helicopter, and are forced down onto a Pacific island by a storm. On the island they run into the activated war machines who attack and steal their helicopter (an interesting new twist). The military arrives, runs into the crooks, and they all join forces to stop the robots and get off of the island.

The robots prove to be very hard to stop even with a special weapon meant to be able to do so. There are two deadlines that the team must meet. One is to get off the island before the military nukes the island to stop the robots. The second is to stop the robots before they rig the helicopter to get them off the island. Of course the team needs the helicopter to leave as another storm is preventing their radio from working to summon their own. The film is then filled with action, special effects, and peppered with scenes of the military debating how to handle the situation. Who survives and how will have to be left to the viewer.

The main difference between this film and Curse of the Komodo is that this cast has been filled out with a lot of recognizable names. There are three Star Trek members from three different series, one from Lost in Space, and Tim Thomerson of so many Full Moon projects. The characters act much the same, like getting too close to the robots while only armed with a pistol. Of course these are amazing pistols as they have infinite shots without reloading. Still this movie never intended to be intelligent or original so it doesn't really fail in those respects. If you are looking for some relatively mindless entertainment with plenty of gunfire then this one is for you.

with tons and tons of direct to video junk coming out every month i thought this was kind of cool. the cg that they can pull off these days with little budgets is amazing. i thought this movie was pretty entertaining for the most part. you gotta love the robots that just kill everything. if you want a goofy-action-robots-killing-people movie this one is for you. give it a shot. you can do lots worse.

The story line itself is not entirely bad. A bit worn, but workable for a sci-fi flick. Tired old "set 'em up, pick 'em off" plot. And some awful acting. Awful to the point of funny. One girl, on the plane at the beginning, gripped by the machine's claw, frees herself, and then, with the machine not even touching her, she runs, jumps and throws herself on the floor in a heap. I keep thinking this must have been the setup act for a CGI scene that they forgot to do. It's hilarious.

But the movie spends what seems about half it's entire length reiterating the same scene. Guys standing in front of the machine shooting at it with AR-15's. I mean, it doesn't work, and they continue to spend their entire time trying to shoot it with guns they know won't do the job.

After the twentieth gun battle with two guys standing on front of the machine shooting at it, and the machine standing there unfazed, I'm yawning.