Set in a desolate 21st century, Hardware tells the story of Mo, a soldier who buys parts of a junked robot from a scavenger. Mo gives the parts to his girlfriend Jill, who makes sculptures out of scrap. Unfortunately, Mo doesn't realize that the robot is actually a M.A.R.K.13 cyborg, a highly intelligent military robot, a killing machine that is in fact still functioning...

Hardware is one of those unfortunate movies that gets all dressed but has nowhere to go. The movie sports some great visuals and a compelling world, but lacks a good story to go along. The movie seems to be trying to communicate some kind of message regarding war (the M.A.R.K.13 has an American flag painted on its head) and religion but what that message is and what we're supposed to get from the movie is never made clear.

Shot in washed out colors the movie looks and feels like a graphic novel come to life. The world of Hardware is an interesting one, and the movie goes to some length to flesh it out with details. Taking place in a war torn North America, Mo's surroundings indicate the harshness and misery brought about by nuclear fallout, fallout caused by a war that, the film indicates, is still being fought (during a radio broadcast we hear mention of a "Christmas cease fire" being broken). Another interesting moment comes when we learn that the government is planning on passing something called the Emergency Population Control Bill, a bill that the president says will act as; "a clean break with procreation".

Aside from the main plot the movie focuses on Mo and Jill's relationship, and also gives us a creepy subplot about a fat sex fiend who is stalking Jill. Both subplots are fairly compelling and well acted, and Mo and Jill's "lovers on the rocks" arguments feel very real. Probably the most memorable thing the movie sports isn't a robot though, its Jill's frightening neighbor Lincoln the peeping tom. The close-ups of Lincoln's slobbering mouth spouting out sex talk while he spies on Mo and Jill's intimacy are very effective scenes, and its easy to understand why many viewers will spend more time worrying about Lincoln than the M.A.R.K.13. After all, as dangerous as a cyborg may be, it is incapable of committing rape. Even if you put rape aside, however, at least the cyborg isn't a fat slob who's interested in sex. *Shudders*

The actual M.A.R.K.13 robot is one of the movie's strengths, and it sports an impressive and slightly spooky design. However good looking the robot is, though, goes largely to waste by how the movie chooses to use the robot. The final confrontation between the heroes and the cyborg is a horribly mispaced disaster. The robot is seemingly defeated multiple times, enough times to make its continuous resurrection tiresome. We see the M.A.R.K.13 get cut by a power saw, blown up, forced out a window by gunfire, hit with a baseball bat, and shot directly in the head multiple times. I won't say anymore in fears of spoiling anything but... yeah, thats one tough robot, so tough in fact, that it made the movie seem ridiculous.

While I'd recommend the movie to cyber-punk fans, I don't think it has anything going for it other than its visuals. It is ironic that a movie called Hardware would contain so little substance. (Vhs Caveman, 7/8/05)

Directed By: Richard Stanley.
Written By: Richard Stanley.

Starring: Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, John Lynch, William Hootkins.