Writers: Andre Fabrizio, Jeremy Passmore
Stars: Thomas Jane, Bruce Willis, Ambyr Childers
Strength: Concept
Weakness: Story, script and acting
Runtime: 96 minutes
Rating: 1.5/5
Plot: A sci-fi thriller about the ultimate resort: VICE, where anything goes and the customers can play out their wildest and weirdest fantasies with artificial inhabitants who look, think and feel like humans. When an artificial becomes self-aware and escapes, she finds herself caught in the crossfire between Julian's mercenaries and a cop who is hell-bent on shutting down Vice, and stopping the violence once and for all.
Review: Vice could have been one of those quiet noir flicks that says very little in the way of dialogue, just let the shots tell the story. But it's not that good. It's basically a B movie with once A-list actors. It's possibly the least motivated adaptation of a combination of a horde of good science fiction movies, including Bladerunner, iRobot, the Matrix, etc. The opening sequence is a high-octane bank robbery, which ends with a freeze-frame modeled on the famous last shot of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” The camera pulls back, as Michaels (Bruce Willis) explains to us that it's all a harmless fantasy, courtesy of Vice, his fabulously expensive pleasure dome. This is all thanks to the development of robots/droids/replicants/whatever-your-favorite-synonym-is. The real live customers mingle with very convincing fake humans, who can be shot, strangled, folded, stapled, and mutilated without guilt. They react realistically enough for a sadist to get his freak on, but damaged parts can be easily replaced and memories erased. One night Kelly (Ambyr Childers), a pretty blonde bartender, starts having a montage of death flashbacks. She escapes into the night while trying to figure out what and who she is. This attracts the attention of Roy (Thomas Jane), your basic Cop Who Does Things His Way. Roy is convinced that the violence inside is increasing the violence outside, and is devoted to putting Vice out of business. Unfortunately, he is frustrated at every turn by Michaels' political clout. Most of the rest of the film tracks Roy, who is tracking Kelly, who has teamed up with Evan (Bryan Greenberg). Meanwhile, Michaels' thugs are tracking all of them. What is missing in this equation? The action and the film in general have a whole lot of Childers and Jane and Greenberg and Johnathon Schaech (as the head thug) — but not very much of Willis. All his scenes are indoors and add up to (generously) 15 minutes of screen time; it's hard to imagine he was around more than a few days. Worse yet, he appears unengaged and disinterested, an attitude that can't help infecting the audience. The production design and cinematography isn't truly sci-fi, it just looks bluish. It creates a nice mood, but that's not enough to compensate for its overly familiar content, weak story and uninspired acting.
