Written and Directed by: Richard Stanley
Music by: Simon Boswell
Cast: Stacey Travis, Dylan McDermott, John Lynch and Iggy Pop
Runtime: 94 min
UK, USA, 1990

iMDb | Allmovie

No Flesh Shall Be Spared

Once in a while you find a movie that almost nobody heard of and while watching it you realize: what a shame. Hardware is one of those atmospheric beauties that strongly defines itself in a careful Cyberpunk esthetic, almost hard-core; it’s story-line spawning a direct and hopeless vision of the most possible future we will encounter.

It’s also heavily influenced by two movies that, although not entirely dissociated from themselves, are also key-marks not only of the Cyberpunk genre but of the whole 80s science fiction Cinema: Blade Runner and Terminator. Hardware depicts the heavy technological dependency and distopia pertaining in books like Neuromancer, mixes it with the romantic noir of Blade Runner and blends the quick pace and looks of Terminator. It’s a strong visual impact that is also the most beautiful thing about this movie: the visuals  are carefully constructed, the plot is not.

This Earth is an apocalyptic one, Humans made everything they could to destroy the ecological balance, radiation is everywhere. New York is a junk town and the wasteland surrounding it is a no-man’s land. The strong ecological impact made people retreat to their homes in the remaining cities where they have the technology to survive and the loneliness to achieve it. There are some hunters, called Zone Trippers, that go into the wastes searching for scraps of metal or ancient bots to sell on the black market for a few credits. Our main guy returns from a long absence in the wastes with a bit of metal to sell. While in the black market shop, a strange man emerges with a suposedely destroyed robot and sells it to our man; it’s Christmas eve and he thinks it’s a good gift for his girlfriend. She loves this weird pile of metal and uses the robot’s head as an ornament for a statue she is building. But of course that this robot, aka M.A.R.K. 13, is not really dead, it turns itself on as soon as she is alone in her dark and gloomy apartment.

The movie is a giant chase scene that is not very well executed and has it’s fair amount plot holes and bits that don’t fit, but the atmosphere and setting are enough to keep with the bad pacing. The visuals are extreme, and the questions it raises are well beyond a single viewing. As Jason Buchanan writes in its All Movie review, Hardware establishes a doomed future where mankind has already marked its final days of doom by destroying the ecological balance, the world is too fucked up. In fact, the whole movie presents an Earth that is near its end but it never does, there is always some sort of escape, just like our contemporary world. Catastrophes come and go and it seems that there is always a way to survive, the end is not entirely bad. The robot in Hardware is a killing machine with a flaw; that’s why it was found in the wasteland, but in the end we know that it’s going to be mass produced. Cannabis is legalized in this dystopian future, as a means for one to legally evade the mess of the everyday reality. Houses are securely tight with video surveillance and multi-level locks, but a neighbor can easily spy on you.

These details make the world in Hardware a real one, and that’s more than half the movie. It creeps you out and makes you wonder, and that pays off the clumsy script and incoherence of some scenes. It’s also one of the most Cyberpunk movies you’ll ever encounter, complete with electronic body modifications and apocalyptic doom. Catch it if you’re up for some psychological thriller noir with gorgeous visuals and a kick-ass redhead that gives this movie one more beautiful colour.

Where to get it:

DVD-wise, the Red edition is the one to get. Amazon helps you. You can get the Blu Ray edition that just come out with superb picture quality, if you already have succumbed to the Blu-Ray.

The Soundtrack:

Here’s a link to get the great soundtrack from Simon Boswell. There is no edition available, as it has gone out of print so here’s to you dearly, to revive the movie and to listen to Iggy Pop as a great radio entertainer.

Thanks to Cyberpunk Review for the tip and the soundtrack link

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