Okay, so the once great Val Kilmer looks a little goofy and yeah, Cuba Gooding Jr. has won Oscars for MUCH better. But people, this is Science Fiction for God's sake! Just exactly WHEN was the last time you saw a decent Sci Fi film, hmmm...? How about the tons of drivel cranked out by the Sci Fi channel? I truly think that this movie has some very good ideas in it. The opening scenes showing all the corporate advertising ALONE give this film a strong '5' to start with. A VERY clever idea in my opinion. I absolutely frigg'n LOVED the soundtrack; now THAT is a bloody great soundtrack!!! And technically (which is usually FAR more important in Sci Fi films) I thought that they were pretty sharp with the visuals and the editing, which gave it a fairly glossy look. With probably about 1% of the budget, I actually got flashes that reminded me strongly of 'ENEMY OF THE STATE' Not a bad accomplishment, considering...Remember too, the BEST Science Fiction is based upon GOOD ideas; and the idea for this one is indeed quite intriguing. There have been several films made on this premise where in the near future corporations will own and control EVERYTHING (the introductory statement at the beginning of the movie is a nice touch) So yeah, the movie was somewhat constrained by it's budget. But, I honestly thought that they accomplished a lot with what they had and were able to create a pretty good looking film and, surprisingly, were able to keep the Cheeeeez factor fairly low. Let's not forget too that the movie DOES indeed have Val Kilmer and Cuba Gooding Jr., which is a HELL of a lot more than most low budget Science Fiction films have these days! Bottom line (and I really DO like saying 'Bottom'!) If you really appreciate a quality Science Fiction concept and you take the time to notice and enjoy all the nice visual and creative touches, you really should enjoy this film...

I didn't think the movie "Hardwired" was as bad as a 4. But it isn't the greatest either. Gooding's character Luke is played well as a distraught man trying to figure out what has happened to him and who is responsible. He really is the best part of the movie. On the other hand, Kilmer is always good for a crazy man, unfortunately I think Kilmer's character is strongly underplayed in this movie. Is he a crazy person? Or is he just a middle man with no heart? I don't know. I would of enjoyed it had he played with more psychotic emotion. The man responsible for Hope Corp. might as well been Kilmer's character. Did they actually pay the guy who was Mr. Hope? For the person responsible for the bases of this movie, he really didn't do much. I also don't know if it was a selling ploy, but why is Val Kilmer's hair perfect on the cover picture? It is far from perfect in the movie.Conclusion: I enjoyed it as a relaxing Saturday, nothing to do, movie.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning If asked to think of a promising Hollywood talent who has squandered his potential away over the years, without to any knowledge succombing to any drink and drugs lifestyle, it's hard to think of a better example than Cuba Gooding Jr. You usually get 'one hit wonders' with singers, but in his case he had his golden 'show me the money' moment with Jerry Maguire, then spent the following years melting away with Godawful rubbish like Boat Trip and Daddy Day Camp, as if on some mission to wreck his career taking meaningless roles in inferior material. It's carried on, and now we have this rather appalling straight to DVD disaster in which he gives one of his worst performances ever as 'Luke', a former soldier who loses his memory in a car crash where his wife is killed. In a world where the corporations own everything, he finds himself suffering hallucinations in the form of nauseating, tacky commercials for everything from watches to whisky. Some resistance fighters may hold the answers, tracing them as the responsibility of Hope Industries, and as he gets his memory back, it becomes more of a desire for revenge...There isn't a redeeming quality in sight here. The acting from all involved is laughable, from Cuba to a bloated looking, unkempt, bespectacled Val Kilmer as the villain, years of reportedly being an arse to work with on Hollywood film sets relegating him to far lesser stuff like this. And that's without mentioning the effects, especially the 'exploding heads' moments, which look cheaper and faker than if they'd been filmed thirty years ago. Seriously one to avoid. *

Okay, yes. You've seen the material a thousand times from Freejack to Johnny Mneumonic to Total Recall to Matrix. This echoes both John Carpenter's, "They Live," and the more-recent "Gamer," with some of the feel of the original "Blade," attempted, but never achieved.The action is awesome, well choreographed, and professionally executed throughout a Terminator-stylized storyline including the end of the world as we know it via robotics and a mad scientist portrayed disappointingly by Val Kilmer.Mad scientists should be either raving mad, or insidiously fiendish. Kilmer's Virgil was full of high ideas with no moral center, but he utterly lacked the diabolism required to carry through such a plan. It was like he knew from the beginning that he was doomed to fail, and played the character thusly, failing to invest too much of himself in a doomed role. I wanted him to be Madmartigan vs. the kid from Real Genius, and instead, I got Craig Ferguson's Dr. Wagner of Lenny the Wonder Dog. To say the least, I was disappointed.Decent on a rainy afternoon if there's nothing left in the house to clean. Otherwise, you could find something better to do with your time.It rates a 5.5/10 from...the Fiend :.