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ScreamersReviewer: iris48 Screamers is a sci-fi movie with close associations to Aliens. Dan O’Bannon wrote the scripts for Aliens (1979) and Screamers (production start 1994). Screamers has the same feel as Aliens, testosterone saturated men and an industrialized, utilitarian environment. The story takes place in 2078 A.D. on Sirius 6B, “… a mining planet ravaged by a decade of war.” (All quotes are from movie’s web site.) The apparent inhabitants are the military of the two warring sides (I can’t recall their names, here they are “A”, and “B”.) and Screamers, “A” side’s robot weaponry. The plot involves two realizations: humans on the planet have been “had” by Earth industrial/ corporate politics, and Screamers are a bigger nightmare than anyone can deal with. There are no “good/bad” guys. There is a protagonist and his real name is not Dupuis. The same politics that started a war on Sirius 6B over its energy mineral has lead to the abandonment of its combatants to their stalemated fight. I think, but it is not clear, the rationale for Earth’s abandonment of the men on Sirius 6B is superficially, the discovery of a better mineral resource elsewhere, but the real problem is the Screamers. For the men of Sirius 6B, their abandonment is a death sentence because of the Screamers. The first series Screamer (Screamer 1) is a programmable, fast, mechanized mole with saw blades for teeth. Screamers 1hone in on humans by sensing their heart beat as they move around outside their bunkers. Once the Screamer “hears” the human, it burrows to the victim, attacks and then sucks the dead body underground. Humans protect themselves by wearing a watch like device that disguises their heartbeat (or breathing, whatever) from the Screamers. The point of the machine sucking the victim underground wasn’t clear (why would a machine want a dead body) except that it was scary and (upon reflection) a harbinger of the Screamers’ programming beginning to evolve (more bad news for humans). The movie’s action is set up by three events. “B” side sends a human messenger to “A” side. I love what this implies. Unless Sirius 6B is an undiscovered planet in our solar system or the real time of this story is a few thousand years, minimum, Screamer technology involves travel that has solved Einstein’s speed limit. Yet, when an important message must be conveyed, a human walks a long way across a dangerous planet’s surface for a face to face meeting. ( Coffee anyone?) The messenger does not make it because a Screamer 1 “gets” him, but “A” side retrieves his message. “B” wants a pow wow with “A” to talk peace. A short time later a transport plane crashes outside “A’s” bunker. One grunt survives the crash. He is gung ho, naïve, and therefore a willing pawn of Earth’s politics. Last, “A” receives a hologram message from their Earth leader. The message is basically hang in there; we are working on a resolution. The grunt sees the hologram and disputes its authenticity claiming “A’s” Earth leader has been dead for two years. Hendricksson, the “A” side Sirius 6B leader thinks about the situation and develops his “Earth has abandon us” theory. Hendricksson decides to take the grunt and walk to “B’s” bunker to have the pow wow. A reason to see Screamers is all the actors are good ones. Peter Weller is Hendricksson. I liked him a lot in the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension. Roy Dupuis is Becker (more a later). Andy Lauer is Ace (a.k.a. the grunt). Lauer can be seen in Born on the Fourth of July, and the t.v. show 21 Jump Street. Charles Powell is Ross. Powell is a Texan transplanted to Montreal, Quebec via L.A. He was in Brainscan, Million Dollar Babies (about the Dionne quints, with Dupuis), and General Hospital. Jennifer Rubin is the only female in Screamers (Jessica) and she is definitely up to it. Rubin can be seen in movies The Crush, Bad Dreams, and Nightmare of Elm Street III, and made for t.v. movie The Wasp Women. Toronto based Ron White is Elbarak, Hendricksson’s friend and comrade in arms. See White in Intersection, Justice Denied, and Day One. Finally Michael Caloz appears as the robot child “David”. Caloz appeared with J.-C. Van Damme in The Quest. Hendricksson heads off with Ace (the grunt) to side “B’s” bunker. The outdoor scenes are filmed in the winter in a huge sandpit near Montreal. Sirius 6B is suppose to be a tough, cold place and I’m sure the sandpit was the same. Radiation from the tailings of the mined mineral is everywhere. Humans smoke anti-radiation cigarettes. Everything in sight has been destroyed by war. Screamers 1 follow them. They run into an orphan child David carrying a Teddy Bear. Henricksson lets David tag along, wondering how he’s managed to survive. Ace forgets to wear his watch and a Screamer 1 almost gets him. Henricksson shoots the Screamer and takes its I.D. tag. The tag indicates a series upgrade. They approach “B’s” bunker. Becker (Dupis) and Ross (C. Powell) are in “B’s” bunker. Becker shoots David, the kid. Henricksson and Ace are horrified until they discover David is a robot. His robot I.D. indicates another robot series upgrade. Henricksson and Ace go into the “B” bunker. Becker and Ross claim the kid is a Screamer 3 upgrade (I think I have the series right). Henrickssen wants to know what a Screamer 2 is. Becker (Dupuis) and Ross take Henricksson and Ace to meet Jessica. (I think she’s introduced as an agent of a planet enterprise.) Jessica takes everyone to “B’s” headquarters. (This action was filmed in a huge cement plant. Another good site location.) Everyone on side “B” has recently been killed (blood, dead bodies everywhere). Henricksson accesses “B’s” computer, inserts the Screamer I.D. information and sees more evidence of robotic upgrades. An insect robot shows up (an ideal pet for the creature in Alien). It is a Screamer, series number?. The watch devices barely ward off this Screamer insect. Everyone leaves “B’s” headquarters (barely). Becker kills Ross claiming he is a Screamer, but Ross’ blood and guts reveal this is a mistake. Everyone returns to “A’s” bunker. It has been taken over by hundreds of David type Screamers. At the last moment Henricksson blows up a small atomic device destroying the Davids and, nearly, his group. Becker is injured. Ace helps him. Becker kills Ace. Becker is a Screamer, series number ?. Apparently Screamers are self-replicating A.I.s with evolutionary capabilities. Their programmed mission is to kill humans. Henricksson and Jessica take off to find the planet’s escape space ship. Henricksson and Jessica are very hot for each other. They find the rocket, but it can only hold one. Henricksson fights a Screamer evolved as an Elbarak look a like. Henricksson wins and then tells Jessica she must go. A Jessica look a like shows up. (More Screamers.) The two Jessica(s) fight. Jessica (girlfriend) wins. She dies telling Hendricksson she wishes her programming were better. These robots evolve fast. Henricksson seems sympathetic. (I really like my car too.) Henricksson escapes in the rocket to Earth. But, uh oh, a David Teddy Bear is along for the ride. Whew! First, what I liked about Screamers. The actors were all good in their parts. The graphics were good. The sets and costumes were good. Since this is a Dupis web site movie review, I’ll give special mention to his part and character. I confess that I saw Screamers five years ago. Since LFN didn’t exist I didn’t know Dupuis existed. I didn’t remember I had seen Screamers and it took awhile for my neurons to locate my memory of the movie. Upon seeing Screamer the second time, I knew Becker to be the actor Dupuis. Dupuis played Becker well, but Becker’s character wasn’t complicated (a skin head warrior, but with head hair). What more can I say. Dupuis skills are way beyond this character. The fact that Becker wasn’t appealing to me is testimony to Dupuis’ acting skill. (To me Jack Nicholson is always Jack.) Next, what I didn’t like. Alien (I and II) were first, extraordinary, unforgettable, and for the genre, unbeatable. Screamers suffers in its shadow. Also, there was no reason for Henricksson, Ace, and Ross (all real humans) to survive as long as they did except as a vehicle to allow the movie to develop the A.I., self-replicating/ evolving idea. There is a great Phillip K. Dick (sci-fi writer extraordinaire) idea here. Screenwriter O’Bannon states (after making the argument that A.I. will exist via the Internet): “ You can’t say it will be independent of humans because humans will be logging onto it and talking to it … [and each other, etc.]… but it will be non-human and intelligent, and we won’t be able to shut it off [O’Bannon: Since the Internet isn’t centralized how do you shut it off?] At that point, it’ll be a mind. …it will be independently intelligent, … with free will, and therefore… unpredictable. … I don’t think anybody’s going to make weapons like the ones in Screamers because … terribly dangerous thing to do. Nobody will [design] independent, self –evolving/reproducing weapons. That would be silly. Instead, [it’ll] be a giant mind which is neither malevolent nor benign and it will decide what it is.” The movie made a good effort to create and “market” this idea with Hendricksson’s discovery that the Screamers were self-replicating and evolving. Regardless, Screamers end up as another species on a mission of genocide. I agree with Dick, if you think it has cognition, so be it. The only question is how do you deal with it. (Eat meat, don't’eat it; love Gaia or throw your cigarette butts anywhere; root for the Palestinians or root for the Israelis or pray to God for both, … ad infinitum). I don’t have doubt that in 1490 A.D., if the people of the (now named) American continents had a crystal ball revealing their next 500 years future and a button to wipe out the then existing European culture, a majority vote would have resulted in the button being pushed. I mean, A.I., aliens or humans: why genocide? Genetic superiority, cultural hegemony, resource domination, boredom, just plain old Evil? My rating system:
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