Blu-ray Review - Hardware (1990)

Genre:
Sci-fi
Distributor:
Three Wolves Ltd.
Rating:15
Director:
Richard Stanley
Cast:
Dylan McDermott, Stacey Travis, John Lynch
Release: 23rd February 2015
Hardware is the debut film by South African director Richard Stanley who fled South Africa during the war in Angola. He made his name making music videos for bands like Public Image Ltd., Fields of Nephilim, Pop Will Eat Itself etc. during the 1980s and it shows in the film. He would also later make Dust Devil and be fired off the troubled The Island of Dr. Moreau remake, which he recently made a documentary about.

Hardware is a fairly derivative film; a dystopian sci-fi with strong aspects of a basic slasher film. The world is a nuclear wasteland ala. Mad Max, the space marine Moses Baxter (Dylan McDermott) buys a cyborg head from a scavenger. He gives it to his girlfriend Jill (Stacey Travis) but the head reactivates itself and builds itself a new body and goes on a violent rampage.

The film’s greatest virtue is in it’s aesthetic even though it clearly comes out of films like Mad Max 2 and Blade Runner, even bits of Brazil are in there. It’s got a wonderful red tint to most of the film, especially the climax, that almost makes me think Nicolas Winding Refn was thinking of it when he made Only God Forgives. It has that ‘used future’ look that so many films have, and due to its desert setting it hard not to compare it the Mad Max films. The other film that looms large over Hardware is The Terminator - both films are about a killer cyborg and both are pretty down and dirty independent films.

The film’s major flaw is the descent into slasher film clichés in the last half hour. It’s desperately trying to be some many films at once, it wants to have the satire of Brazil, the marvel of Blade Runner but also the genre thrills of Alien. It seems like Stanley is throwing different bits of other (better) films and seeing what sticks. It has some nice social satire and ends on a good Philip K Dick twist, but it also has some unnecessarily fan boy moments like the cameo from Motorhead’s Lemmy playing his big hit Ace of Spades after saying “you like music, check these guys out”.

In closing, Hardware is an entertaining mess of a film that is very promising but sadly falls flat in the last act. The performances aren't anything to write home about, and the highlight is Iggy Pop’s voice as a radio broadcaster. It’s extremely well designed and does have a solid soundtrack of PiL, Iggy, Motorhead, and Ministry. Over the years Hardware has gained a cult following, but it’s hasn't aged as well as some of it’s influences.

★★★

Ian Schultz