Check out our review of the Sci-Fi Double Feature of Millennium / R.O.T.O.R - a recent Scream Factory Blu-ray release, below:
Millennium
Millennium is a entertaining time travel film that if it had a bigger budget and better artistic skills the film could have been a awesome film. The film follows safety investigator Bill Smith as he looks into a disastrous airplane crash. He learns that there is something very out of the ordinary about his crash. As well, this beautiful and mysterious Louise has entered into his life in relation to the crash. Bill soon learns that Louise may be the key to solving the mysterious elements of the plane crash.
The two lead actors did a very good job, in particular Cheryl Ladd. There is a point in the film where the focus turns to Cheryl's character and from that point onward is the leading character. She does very well in the spotlight as a confident but fish out the water character. Another strong aspects of the film is the novel way that time travel is utilized in the film. In the film those that are using time travel must travel to a specific time in which they can make sure that there presence will not affect anything. So basically they are limited to traveling to times where a disaster happens. An additional strong aspect of the film is the story and its ability to keep the mystery of the film maintained for quite a long time resulting in a very engrossing film that will leave the audience with a feeling of satisfaction once all the mysteries are resolved. While the film has a lot going for it, it is not without a problem. The only real set back of the film is the unoriginal and cheap looking designs of the future in the film. This takes the audience out a little from the the current setting of the film, which has solid production values. Other than that, Millennium is a very good and entertaining film.
In the end Millennium is a film that is worth checking out, a solid second tier Sci-Fi film. It features a strong story with a novel use of time travel, plus some solid acting from the lead actors Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd. The only keeping this film from being a higher tier film is the production values and the uninteresting designs for the future setting.
Special Features:
-Alternate Ending
-Theatrical Trailer
R.O.T.O.R.
R.O.T.O.R. is simply a bad movie, thanks in part to horrible dubbing of the lead actor, a weird and unneeded wisecracking robot, and some pretty lame action pieces. Some might find it to be one of those "bad its good" type of movie but I would imagine it would be very few. The potential for a decent Robocop rip off was there but the film just goes from bad to worse. The movie starts with our main character, Barret Coldyron, being taken into custody for killing a police officer. It then goes back a couple of days and we get to see what lead to these events happening. A police commander orders the expedited construction of the ultimate weapon in the war of crime, which Coldyron is working on as the robotics expert of the police force. Coldyron cautions that it will take years to get to the level were it is safe to activate his creation, which promptly results in him loosing his job. This is the point where everything takes a huge nosedive, as the new head of robotics and the wisecracking robot bumble around while Coldyron wanders around and gets into some action sequences. Not until almost two thirds of the way in the film do we get the crazy killing robotic law enforcer.
The most noticeably bad aspect of the film was the dubbing of the lead character. For whatever reason the lead actor has a dubbed voice and it is very distractingly noticeable. Add to that an annoying wisecracking robot and boring action sequences and you get an undeniably bad film. The only off-kilter aspect of the film that brings some genuine entertainment is when Dr. Steele, a body building female scientist who built R.O.T.O.R.'s robotic chassis, comes to assist Coldyron in his fight against R.O.T.O.R.
Overall R.O.T.O.R. is a rather boring bad movie that lacks just about any aspects of interest to push it into the "so bad its good" category. However, the film does have one short but fun aspect and that is Dr. Steele, though that is not enough create any interest in the film as a whole. Put this movie down as one of those movies where the poster was cooler than the film.
Special Features:
-Theatrical Trailer
I haven't seen Millennium, but it was one of those tape boxes I repeatedly saw at the video store when I was a kid. I first saw R.O.T.O.R. a couple of years ago. I bought a VHS dirt cheap, expecting it to be one of those "so bad it's good" movies. Oh man, is it ever not one of those movies. In addition to what you listed, there's also a really bad stop-motion animation sequence of the robotic skeleton of R.O.T.O.R. They didn't even try to matte the animation into the scene. Super cheesy.
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