Vice (2015)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Really Surprised!

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

I was looking for a good film to watch on Netflix. I was baffled by all the negative reviews at IMDb and elsewhere. I thought the film was fast paced and clever. I think the movie was a 10 and I recommend it to all. Bruce Willis was good and all the acting was good and believable. I enjoyed this movie from beginning to the end.

This is not a West world remake. It brings up several interesting topics such as whether sentient AI is alive or merely a very good imitation of life. The idea of being unleashed in a world where one can do anything and everything is another element brought up, but none of these are really explored. The action is believable generally though not exceptional. The acting mostly solid. It's not a B flick, but not a blockbuster either. Entertaining but this movie missed it's potential to be deep or interesting. Far too much screen time was spent on trivia and not enough exploring the ideas. Not enough action to make it a mindless action flick. The biggest liability was the typical Hollywood clichés. If Willis had been unleashed as a character rather than a 2D villain it'd made for a much more interesting movie. The detective just comes off as annoying and PC in a really odd way. There is some mild preaching going on that just distracts rather than enhances the movie and takes away from the plot exploration. It is also psychologically unsound, as psychology studies have shown that violent outlets such as video games actually decrease rather than increase violent tendencies and serve as a healthy outlet for preexisting drives rather than inspiring them. Overall this is a movie worth watching but not one to write home about. It could have been a really great movie and that is the real shame.

Absolute dreck.Forget about how much money you'd spend renting it -- the real cost is you'll never get the 96 minutes of your life back.1. This film is truly awful from top to bottom, in all important respects. The script is terrible, the acting almost uniformly amateurish, and Brian A. Miller's direction is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E! It's beyond me how someone actually gets PAID to turn in this level of film. And this is his SIXTH directing credit! I don't know why there would be a seventh.2. Why EVER would Bruce Willis do this drivel? He can't possibly need the money, can he? Somebody needs to have a come to-Jesus-talk with him about quick paychecks versus industry/audience respect and career health.3. I can find only two good things about this film: a) it was shot in Mobile, Alabama, so at least the budget dollars stayed in the U.S.; and b) it's a very good reminder of how difficult it is to make a quality film, and gives me new-found appreciation for those that do.There are so, so many better things I could have done with that 96 minutes.

No, "Vice" is not the worst movie of all time, as some would have you believe. On the other hand, those who gave it ten stars need to see more movies. But while covering very little new ground, it did manage to plod along, and do an average job of it.HERE THERE BE SPOILERS... The biggest touchstone for this film would have to be "Blade Runner;" like that film, "Vice" also explored the concept of the humanity of those who are not quite human. The "artificials" (as they are called in this story) have been placed in an adult amusement park (called "Vice," hence the title) in a concept similar to "Westworld," except that this film's budget apparently would not cover sets that were anything more elaborate than everyday urban. The minds and emotions of these "residents" are quite real, but each day their memories are erased, so that they will not recall the criminal traumas inflicted on them by human visitors; they have no idea that they are living in a fake world, and have been placed in the "Vice" amusement park to be assaulted or murdered by paying guests. Of course, if they were to start RETAINING those memories...A police detective (Thomas Jane as the inevitable "loose cannon" cop) believes that, rather than getting evil intent out of their systems, raping and murdering the residents of Vice only inflames the passions of criminals, who then come back into his city and commit crimes against real humans. He therefore repeatedly ignores the orders of his cliché-ridden captain to stay away from the park, their city's biggest source of revenue.Of course, he teams up with one of the original inventors, played by Bryan Greenberg, whose incredibly wooden performance marks a low point in a movie filled with poor acting. A runaway resident, played by the lovely Ambyr Childers, also takes part in the scheme to take down Vice's founder (Bruce Willis) but finds that her programming will not allow her to shoot him (a minor plot point brazenly stolen directly from "Robocop.") Too bad, because aside from being the stereotypical "corporate bad guy," Willis has almost no role, phoning in a one-dimensional performance that consists almost entirely of frowning at computer monitors and issuing orders; I suspect his "starring" role took up no more than a single day of his schedule.Though not entirely original, the combination of the familiar stories is somewhat intriguing, if marred by mediocre and unimaginative execution: the producers would have done better to explore the philosophical and moral points of the story rather than engaging in an endless parade of chase scenes and disposable security officers. But for what it is, an obvious direct-to-DVD make-work project, "Vice" is a decent enough effort. It could have been better, but it could also have been worse.