Not a Terminator "rip off," but a story that borrows slightly from James Cameron's human vs. machine battle imagery. The film also evokes THX 1138 for some of its prison guard aesthetic and models its CGI drilling-machines-gone-bad directly on the Matrix Sentinels.

Joseph Lawrence's DeeCee android character is a true highlight, and much of the film's first quarter suggests a well-imagined and entertaining story complete with social commentary on the hubris of humanity, android labor politics, the darker side of technology, and environmental irresponsibility.

The final third of the film, however, becomes hijacked by some George Lucas logic of rushing to tell the rest of the story without regard for thematic consistency or much concern for the story and characters themselves.

Despite the "phantom menace" of the end, I appreciate the filmmakers and actors for the inventive, entertaining narrative. That said, the studio responsible for the severely limited budget should be reprimanded and folks at SciFi Channel should be ashamed of themselves for these kinds of oversights.

It's hard to imagine that Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Asimov were once on the cable channel's advisory board.

ANDROID APOCALYPSE, a film set in some kind of dodgy post-apocalyptic world where android helpers are now the norm, is the usual kind of cheapo sci-fi made-for-TV movie trash. The central story, about an unlikely relationship between a human and an android wandering through an unfamiliar wilderness, is copied from ENEMY MINE, with the alien replaced by an android.

That's the only interesting part of the story, but sadly the script isn't really up to much and the characterisation is virtually zilch. Scott Bairstow does his best to deliver an edgy performance but Joseph Lawrence mistakes being wooden for being robotic and never comes across as believable in his crucial role. The other androids are even less authentic and the evil-government-corporation stuff is so hackneyed as to be totally passe.

I'm guessing this is a 'SyFy channel' movie because the production values are cheap and cheesy and the special effects are equally cheap and cheesy, and although a little bit fun to go with it. But overall, despite the title promising something explosive and action-packed, ANDROID APOCALYPSE is as defunct as a malfunctioning android and a film whose sole entertainment value comes from watching WWF star Chris Jericho getting beaten up as a robot wrestler.