KNIGHTS

KNIGHTS. Albert Pyun, dir., script. USA: Kings Road Entertainment (prod., © holder), 1992. Kris Kristofferson, Lance Henriksen, Kathy Long, Scott Paulin, Gary Daniels, Nicholas Guest.

Action-Adventure movie giving us (figuratively speaking): Conan the Cyborg training a Red Sonya figure to be a human terminator of cyborg vampires (and ninjas, of sorts). The good cyborg, Gabriel (Kristofferson)—killer of the vampire cyborgs—tells the heroine, "A long time ago the cyborg units were to be government assassins; their sole purpose was to kill. My creator thought he could alter their old-world [?] programs." Gabriel identifies himself against revenge: "I am order." When the heroine offers to help Gabriel become more human, he replies, "Now why would I want to be human? . . . I'm a cyborg . . . I'm not alive; I'm just a machine that's in the active mode," for about a year: with "him" at loose ends after he has terminated the vampire cyborgs (who take in human blood to go on "living"). "Dying means nothing to me, 'cause I'm not alive. * * * I don't mind being a machine." Open-ended conclusion pointing toward sequels and a battle in "Cyborg City"—and adventures out into the Universe. If anyone picks up the TV rights or invests in a sequel, there's the promise of a continuing Gabriel, becoming more human. Cf. Mr. Data of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, Isaac Asimov's "The Bicentennial Man"—cited under Drama and Fiction—and other "Spam" robots and androids ("metal on the outside, meat within": collaborator robots who really want to be human). Briefly reviewd by Judith P. Harris in Cinefantastique 25.5 & 6 (Dec. 1994): 122.