Leofwine_draca
In the mid 1980s, the world of science fiction found itself heavily inspired by the winning formula that was THE TERMINATOR. Thus, a fair few projects actually managed to get some (cheap) funding to make their own variations on the theme. ASSASSIN is one such film, a thriller which by its very nature needs to be violent but which finds itself restricted due to the television-movie format. The far too simplistic plot line sees a renegade scientist create a robot which looks like a man and then set it on a mission of assassination again all of the people he doesn't like. This is how deep the film gets with only a couple of barely surprising twists thrown in to enliven the mixture.This is a television movie that feels very much like a television movie. Namely, an emphasis on talk, talk and more talk, lots of sentimentality and romantic sequences which feel like they belong on a soap. The science fiction aspects are kept to a bare minimum, so don't go expecting any amazing special effects because there simply aren't any. Instead, Asimov gets quoted, and the robot falls in love and makes love to a woman in an exceptionally clumsy sub-plot which humanises the monster at the expense of creating a scary menace. Richard Young, playing "Robert Golem" (you can tell whoever thought up that name thought they were being really clever) is just a blank space as the robot, neither convincing nor unconvincing. He certainly doesn't possess any on screen presence and he just looks like a normal guy, not the superhuman monster that Schwarzenegger was.The soapy leads are taken by Robert Conrad and Karen Austin, whose developing relationship serves to slow things down even further. Not exactly good news. The acting is television level and nobody impresses with their performance. The various action sequences are lacking in imagination and often get repetitive, with the robot being shot and then jumping out of a window more times than I care to remember. Even the finale is ludicrously unrealistic and the film as a whole has more than its fair share of contrivances and gaping plot holes. Generally it's a waste of time and talent and nothing compared to the classic which "inspired" it.
SanteeFats
Man this had so many actors that I was familiar with that I thought this would a decent movie, well not so much. It is pretty trite and the plot line is easy enough to figure out. A retired agent (Conrad) is lured out of retirement to pursue, wait for it, a robot assassin. This robot is targeting a list of assassination targets since his maker has died. Karen Austen plays Mary Casallas as the female lead and of course she ends up becoming Conrad's love interest down the line, she is an agent who worked with the robot designer when he was designing and building the robot. They finally find the journals the scientist has left behind in a hidden storage unit. Using the information obtained from the journals and Mary's insights They eventually trap the robot in a sealed room where he self destructs.
Woodyanders
Rugged former secret government agent Henry Stanton (a fine performance by Robert Conrad) gets called out of retirement by the agency he used to work for to stop crafty, lethal and resourceful renegade cyborg assassin Robert Golem (nicely essayed with smooth intensity by Richard Young). Shrewd'n'sassy scientist Mary Casallas (winningly played by the fetching Karen Austin) helps Stanton out. Writer/director Sandor Stern relates the involving plot at a snappy pace, develops a good deal of tension, stages the action scenes with considerable aplomb, and further spices things up with a slyly amusing sense of deadpan humor. Conrad and Austin display a pleasingly casual and engaging rapport as the likable lead characters; they receive excellent support from Robert Webber as Stanton's huffy, slippery superior Calvin Lantz, Jonathan Banks as Lantz's steely partner Earl Dickman, Jessica Nelson as alluring, unsuspecting barroom pick-up Ann Walsh, and Nancy Lenehan as Mary's steady gal pal Grace Decker. Moreover, the violence is surprisingly rough and brutal stuff for a made-for-TV feature. Chuck Arnold's polished cinematography does the trick while Anthony Guefen supplies an effectively groovy'n'moody score and the special effects are pretty nifty and convincing. A neat little item.
janoch
SPOILER WARNING!I thought this movie was Programmed To Kill (it was named so over here) a movie which is generally acknowledged to be so horrifyingly bad it's good. I like bad movies, but this... It is very pointless but still quite professionally done :-( The only "highlights" were the nice 50's-style computers, the totally unemotional one-face acting by Robert Conrad and the ultra-cheesy ending. Everything else was simply pointless, boring and predictable.Watching this movie was mostly just a big waste of time. Not recommended to anyone.
AD
