Screamers (1995) ★★★★
As an adaptation of a Philip K Dick story, it's almost impossible not to compare it to Blade Runner, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, The Adjustment Bureau, and Total Recall (1990), all films I rate highly and very much enjoy. When placed against those, it's not a huge success. However, when compared to Paycheck or Next, it's positively brilliant.
The crux of the film is how it takes the idea of what it means to be human, the importance of consciousness, and incorporates some impressive world building with a very good central performance from Peter Weller
The film could be a little clearer with the story – events and motives are occasionally a little unclear – though for the most part it's a well-designed, atmospheric, and exciting watch. It's major failing is the lack of a likeable protagonist because there isn't anyone in whom we can become fully emotionally invested and through whose eyes the major events are told to the audience. Joe Hendrickson is a hard-bitten and suspicious soldier, though not someone who is, like Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard or Arnold Schwarzenegger's Quaid, particularly engaging. He's not even someone I desperately want to see survive and live until the end credits roll.
Despite the characters, many of whom are clichés, I really like Dan O'Bannon's screenplay (Miguel Tejada-Flores with a rewrite) and the intelligent, sensitive handling of Philip K Dick's short story. Director Christian Duguay will never be mistaken for a filmmaker with the calibre of Ridley Scott, Steven Spielberg, or Paul Verhoeven, but then George Nolfi has a similarly underwhelming résumé yet I love what he did with The Adjustment Bureau.
For people who aren't familiar with Second Variety and want an action-sci-fi film which is interesting and entertaining, they could do much worse than watch this – I found each viewing more enjoyable than the last. The less mental energy you spend on the major plot points, the more you have for the themes within the story, the aspects which make it timeless.
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