Well, okay, I'm being harsh. This movie isn't total crap. In fact, though it is pretty lame for today's standards, it's entertaining on some levels. The story is predictable and offers no surprises. Kyle Baxter is a champion in the virtual reality game 'Evolver' and hereby wins a real-life Evolver robot. So Kyle and his friends can now chase it around the house while playing the shoot'n'survive game. But there's a glitch in Evolver's system, making it see enemies everywhere as he gets going on a killing spree. Kyle finds out that its initial program was used in an abandoned military project (you didn't see that one coming, did ya? Harharhar!).
I can imaging a 10-year-old being extremely excited about the coolness of Evolver, but to me it looks like a Transformer-version of Johny 5 from SHORT CIRCUIT. Why EVOLVER got an R-rating is beyond me, 'cause there's almost no blood in it (and certainly no gore or nudity). In Belgium it got a 12-rating, just like it should be 'cause this is a horror/sci-fi-flick for kids. But it is kinda cool that every now and then Evolver upgrades himself to the next level. Though he looks like he's made out of plastic, he really is a tough little bastard. Throwing him in a pool, hitting him with blunt objects and even blowing him up don't seem to shut him down. Why didn't anyone call Optimus Prime to terminate it? The only real surprise this movie provided was when I read in the end-credits that William H. Macy performed the voice of Evolver. So you can imaging your friendly neighbor sounding much scarier than Evo. However, Mr. Macy did have some nice one-liners like "Delete this!" and "Bonus round!" before killing someone. Ethan Embry (as Kyle Baxter and rather young at the time he did EVOLVER) maybe isn't a top-notch actor but he injects a certain enthusiasm in his role and he did manage to show up in the surprisingly good horror-flick THEY (2002), giving a decent performance in it and showing us that he has grown as an actor.
So, EVOLVER is that kinda movie from the mid-90's that's neither good or bad. Just average acting, average special effects and an okay-looking robot. We've seen it all before. Remember the shoot-out scenes from the virtual reality game in GHOST IN THE MACHINE? Well, EVOLVER's got 'em too, only not as good and less dynamic. One good thing might be that the movie never gets really boring, but don't expect any scary stuff either. I say EVOLVER is somewhere stuck between Pyun's ARCADE and Flynn's BRAINSCAN, though none of them are comparable movies for that matter. I was contemplating giving EVOLVER 4 out of 10 stars, but I feel generous and will therefore add one star extra for Mr. Macy doing the robo-voice.
I can imaging a 10-year-old being extremely excited about the coolness of Evolver, but to me it looks like a Transformer-version of Johny 5 from SHORT CIRCUIT. Why EVOLVER got an R-rating is beyond me, 'cause there's almost no blood in it (and certainly no gore or nudity). In Belgium it got a 12-rating, just like it should be 'cause this is a horror/sci-fi-flick for kids. But it is kinda cool that every now and then Evolver upgrades himself to the next level. Though he looks like he's made out of plastic, he really is a tough little bastard. Throwing him in a pool, hitting him with blunt objects and even blowing him up don't seem to shut him down. Why didn't anyone call Optimus Prime to terminate it? The only real surprise this movie provided was when I read in the end-credits that William H. Macy performed the voice of Evolver. So you can imaging your friendly neighbor sounding much scarier than Evo. However, Mr. Macy did have some nice one-liners like "Delete this!" and "Bonus round!" before killing someone. Ethan Embry (as Kyle Baxter and rather young at the time he did EVOLVER) maybe isn't a top-notch actor but he injects a certain enthusiasm in his role and he did manage to show up in the surprisingly good horror-flick THEY (2002), giving a decent performance in it and showing us that he has grown as an actor.
So, EVOLVER is that kinda movie from the mid-90's that's neither good or bad. Just average acting, average special effects and an okay-looking robot. We've seen it all before. Remember the shoot-out scenes from the virtual reality game in GHOST IN THE MACHINE? Well, EVOLVER's got 'em too, only not as good and less dynamic. One good thing might be that the movie never gets really boring, but don't expect any scary stuff either. I say EVOLVER is somewhere stuck between Pyun's ARCADE and Flynn's BRAINSCAN, though none of them are comparable movies for that matter. I was contemplating giving EVOLVER 4 out of 10 stars, but I feel generous and will therefore add one star extra for Mr. Macy doing the robo-voice.