Blu-Ray review time now. Richard Stanley's cult 1990 Sci-fi horror film, HARDWARE gets it's UK blu-ray debut on 23/02/15, courtesy of Brightspark Productions and yours truly got to delve into the release to bring this review. Check out my words after the jump...
I remember the first
time I ever saw Hardware, it was the early 2000's, probably around
'01, I was still relatively naive to cinema, I knew stuff but as for
my knowledge at 31, as a 17 year old I was discovering new movies,
new cult movies. Hardware was sitting in a big box VHS case in a
local second had record store. I can't remember now but I think I
paid something like 99p for it, which was a bargain as DVD's were
still taking off and Video was still the big seller in the home
entertainment market.
The reason I nabbed
the VHS was due to the awesome looking cover. It a multitude of
different colours, greens, reds, blues and oranges with a black
border and my eyes just gravitated towards it. I remember putting it
on and seeing the opening scene, a machine shop followed by the
wasteland, a scorching orange desert, and a hand, a robotic hand
sticking out of the sand. A man, a scavenger walks the desert. It
looked awesome.
The plot follows a
scavenger in a post apocalyptic wasteland who discovers the robotic
skull of a M.A.R.K 13 Cyborg. He decides to take the head back to his
girlfriend as a Christmas present which she can use in one of her
sculptures but robot head activates and begins building it's self a
new body. All hell breaks loose when Jill (The girlfriend) becomes
trapped in her apartment with the rampaging cyborg and has to fight
for survival as she has become the robot's prime target.
To be honest, some
14 years after I first saw Hardware, I struggled with it. Having seen
multiple post-apocalyptic movies over the years and being a huge fan
of the first two Terminator movies, it all seemed far too familiar.
That's not to say that the film isn't very good, quite the opposite,
it is a good film and really does pass time on a rainy afternoon but
for someone like me who's big into stuff like Mad Max and Terminator,
Hardware was just “another” PA movie, slightly better than most
but nowhere near as incredible as it's made out to be. It's well shot
and directed by Richard Stanley, the production design is pretty
awesome and the MARK 13 robot was cool but the overall film left me a
little bit bored.
The production
design is fantastic and the grungy PA look really works with the
retro sci-fi look of the buildings. The Soundtrack is also pretty on
point, featuring songs by Public Image LTD, Motorhead, Ministry and
Iggy Pop.
I couldn't remember
much about the film prior to re-watching it except the opening. I
guess I watched it at a time where I was finding my feet as a
cinephile and it unfortunately did nothing for me. As an older wiser
person, the film is alright, it's better than I remembered but it's
not the awesome film i've been led to believe it is. I mean it gets a
solid 3 out of five for the film it's self but as far as Richard
Stanley's films go, I much prefer Dust Devil.
As for the 25th
Anniversary Edition blu-ray from Bright-Spark, it's appalling. The actual transfer is pretty good, the colours pop
and the blacks are black. As for calling
it a 25th Anniversary Edition? Bright-Spark should be reprimanded as
there is nothing special about this release. The only extras you get
are two small art cards from a 2000AD artist which are loose in the
box. There are no special features, none what so ever, no scene
selection option, no audio commentary, no featurettes, not a single
trailer and there's not even a subtitle option. The main menu just
has a play button. It's false advertising calling it an Anniversary
Edition as that implies the disc will be special but no, this disc is
absolutely disgraceful and is not what should be presented to a
paying customer.
I hope with the
other cult films Bright-Spark have on their calender for the year
that they put some actual care into their releases and not just to
make a quick buck.
Overall, Hardware,
well for me anyway, wasn't what I remembered it was from watching it
years back, it didn't leave me with the wow factor but more the “it's
alright” factor. It looks good but the terrible treatment it's been
given on blu-ray is just criminal, even for a film I didn't think to
highly of. It gets a perfectly servicable 3/5 for the film but a
shocking 1/5 for the disc.
Hardware is
available on UK Blu-ray from 23rd of Feb from Brightspark
Productions.
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