Review for Android

Director: Aaron Lipstadt

Released: 1982
Genre: Science Fiction

By the mid 1970s, Hollywood had all but abandoned science fiction, claiming that the genre was no longer profitable. Few such films were produced during this time, and big budget movies such as Logan's Run (made for $9 million, an large sum by 1976 standards) did little to raise the hopes of studio executives. Of course, all of that changed drastically in the summer of 1977 with the immense success of George Lucas' Star Wars. From that point on, every movie script with the slightest element of science fiction present was immediately given the green light by Universal, Paramount, and other large production companies. By the early 1980s, several high quality science fiction films had been produced, such as Alien, Blade Runner, and the sequels to the original Star Wars film. Even the Australian Mad Max franchise enjoyed financial success in America, acting as a rusted out, Frankensteined star vehicle for actor Mel Gibson.

Of course, such a high volume of futurized projects ensured a wide range in quality- needless to say, for every classic sci-fi movie released, there were several less than classic competitors. The 1982 film Android definitely fits into the latter category, and it consequently has not aged well. The creator of the soundtrack is essentially a poor man's Vangelis, the premise behind it is stale and unoriginal, and the effects are what I like to call, "economical."

Those are Android's negative traits, but director Aaron Lipsdadt manages to set his work apart from other low budget, lackluster sci-fi entries of the day. Everything about the film is resoundingly odd, from the way the sets were designed to the eccentricity of the characters. Also, the eerily Teutonic Klaus Kinski plays one of the lead roles. He alone can determine whether a movie is worth watching or not.

Kinski assumes the part of Dr. Daniel, a crazed scientist who slaves away on a research station floating through the far reaches of outer space. His work involves creating state of the art androids, an activity that is illegal on Earth. His assistant is the socially inept and frighteningly thin Max, who has clearly spent way too much time on the spaceship. In fact, it is made explicitly clear that Max has never seen an actual woman in his life. That all changes, however, when a damaged ship appears on radar and requests to dock with the station. Hilarity ensues when Max struggles to maintain composure in front of the three crew members, one of whom is female. The guests initially seem nice, but are in fact escaped convicts attempting to return to Earth. Everything goes wrong when they begin to disagree on what course of action to take with the residents of the ship and several unexpected consequences arise.

Android begins to gain momentum through the power struggles between the trio of felons and between Max and Dr. Daniel, but the ending is much too brief, and seems forced. I was given the impression that Lipstadt ran a little short on money and needed to tie up the loose ends as quickly (and as cheaply) as possible. I will not divulge who is and is not human, but with a title like Android, the question is not if there are any, but how many there are. Needless to say, Android is modest sci-film with a few stylistic idiosyncracies. And Klaus Kinski. At 80 minutes, it is unlikely to bore you too much.

2.25/4.00