This Sci-Fi channel original movie (original air date May 12th 2007) is set sometime in a not too far distant dark dismal future where civilization is on the brink of collapse because, of all things, mankind created Cyborg-android-drone police and they've rebelled and started exterminating us. If that sounds suspiciously like a premise lifted from the Outer Limits that's because there were several episodes with similar storylines. Some of the more relevant episodes include In Our Own Image, which introduces the idea of an rebelling android; Resurrection, which more fully develops the android idea by having servant and military models; and The Camp, which is set on a post-holocaust Earth many centuries after an alien invasion in which the only surviving enclave of humanity are in a prison camp run by android police guards.

Those familiar with the Sci-Fi channel (U.S.) know that Sci-Fi 'original movies' tend to be medicore at best. Alas, even by Sci-Fi's low standards, The Last Sentinel is bad. We're talking low budget drek that Roger Corman would be reluctant to put his name on! This despite the fact it stars Don 'The Dragon' Wilson (who was also a co-producer) and Battlestar Galactica fanboy darling Katee Sackhoff.

Yet, for some, these movies have become part of the great rite of bad movie night watching. It's like a ritual of passage to endure what has become the great genre mockery that is affectionately known as sciffy, the network that even the most hardcore science fiction forum fanboy is hard pressed to find something nice to say about; but I digress. Now on to the movie. .

See, we know it's a post-apocalyptic future because there's abandoned cars in the street and newspaper litter all over the place!

And the streets are totally deserted, except for our Mad Max loner anti-hero who suddenly wanders into frame and. .

At the instructions of an ethereal voice- which turns out to be an AI chip in his weapon- our mystery soldier takes aim at a bunny rabbit. No, really, he wastes ammo (two shots!) on a rabbit. We're not even a whole 5 minutes into the darned movie and already the suspension of disbelief is broken. I mean, seriously, who is going to use an assault rifle, especially when ammo is hard to come by, to kill a rabbit in a post-apocalyptic world?

Apparently Don 'I Ate a Lemon' Wilson, that's who!

There's not much of a plot and most of the movie seems to be composed of scene after scene of gun battles that focus on extended scenes of extras walking to gun battles. .

Gun battles whose only purpose is to pad out the run time. I'd say the stunt coordinator should be ashamed but the movie looks like the stunt coordinator directed it. Actually, believe it or not, that is actually the case! The director is Jesse Johnson who, according to the IMDB is a "member of US Screen Actors Guild as a stunt performer and coordinator"; which certainly explains a lot.

Thematically the film is a poorly constructed extended stunt video (composed mostly of inane gun battles) interrupted every now and again by utterly banal dialogue. The editing is terrible, though not as bad as some of the dialogue, did I mention how bad the dialogue is at times? This movie fails to engage the viewer. It's presented almost as an abstract allegory, alas even in that regard it fails mostly due to the running voice over that is a grating annoyance. Then there are the flashbacks. O, for the humanity!

What's really annoying about this movie is there are moments when you can see a brief glimmer of the wasted potential for a cult classic. Alas the camp factor is just not there. And there are other problems. For instance. .

Knowing when, as a co-producer, you need to stay out of the picture and let the one actor hired for name and face recognition be the focus. This isn't done often enough, which is going to displease the target demographic Sci-Fi is aiming this movie at. But what amazes me even more is that the main character is an unabashed rip-off of ROGUE TROOPER, right down to the soldier being genetically engineered and the only survivor of his unit! There are even talking AI chips slash personae of former soldiers!

Okay, so the movie sucks, but are there any redeeming plot points or nifty ideas that can be mined for use in a post-apocalyptic RPG?

Yes! Sadly none of them are very original. As previously stated this movie is pretty much a direct clone of Rogue Trooper, and both share very similar premises: The soldier character is genetically "enhanced" and given a advanced AI- which in the movie seems to have access to a database of annoyingly unending quotes- linked weapon keyed specifically to the soldier's genetic/neural imprint. While the idea of rogue cybernetic police drones is nothing new, after all Gamma World GMs have thrown enclaves of the Ancients totally run by rogue AIs and drone guards at their players for decades, it is still a great premise to build a scenario around.

The annoying AI would make for interesting artifact to throw at your characters. Just find a source of quotes online and print them out and have the AI offer them up piecemeal at the oddest of times. Granted the laughs make quickly wear off as the annoying AI drives the characters mad, but that's the point! (Perhaps that's why it's previous owner abandoned it?) Of course the fun thing about AI integrated weapons and equipment is there's no limit to what can have an AI chip in it. Imagine the characters discover a cash of smart binoculars, a backpack, or a radio that's been chipped. Too, there's no need for the AI to be annoying but character flaws will probably make for a more interesting artifact.

In closing I'm sad to report that if this isn't the worst piece of garbage the Sci-Fi channel has ever aired/produced that's only because they're still airing/producing movies. Is it worth watching? Let's put it this way when I posted about this on the usual forums the main thing I was asked about was either how "hot" Katee Sackhoff looked in the movie or if she takes her kit off. Fanboys may be drooling over the fact Katee Sackhoff is in this insipid flick but what you have to endure to catch a glimpse of her isn't worth the headache.

I wanted to like this, really I did, but there are limits to my patience especially where derivative crosses the line into wholesale lifting of story fragments without any real attempt to rise above the sources being copied. Worse, the editing kills whatever potential this movie might have had by presenting an movie so convoluted and over run with flash backs that even if Ms. Sackhoff had pranced around totally naked (she is only supposed to have a brief 'nude' shower scene) that would probably not be worth the brain damage you will suffer watching this horrible movie.

While this is not yet out on DVD I'm going to suggest you do yourself a favor and don't bother to wait for it. Rent Kurt Russel's far better Rogue Trooper inspired Soldier instead.

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Copyright © C. Demetrius Morgan

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