Eve of Destruction Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Eve of Destruction Blu-ray Movie Review

My Fair Android.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 9, 2013

By the time the seventies rolled around, once storied Metro-Goldwyin-Mayer was but a mere shadow of its former glory days self. MGM never really seemed to be able to adapt to changing tastes the way that some of the other majors at least made an effort to, and exacerbating that problem was the fact that the studio had never made the same inroads into television production that, say, Universal or Warner Brothers had. And so when Westworld became a rather sizable hit for MGM in 1973, it may have inspired a certain amount of interest by the bean counters who regularly fill the executive ranks in studios, even to this day. The Michael Crichton film of course posited a bunch of “rogue robots” who take over an amusement park dedicated to recreating the old Wild West for high paying vacationing customers (Crichton revisited this same general premise years later in Jurassic Park, with rogue dinosaurs taking the place of Yul Brynner). Whether or not the unexpected box office bonanza Westworld reaped for the then rapidly declining MGM planted a seed somewhere that took close to two decades to actually bloom may be debatable, but there are nonetheless certain similarities between Michael Crichton’s first directorial effort and the 1991 thriller Eve of Destruction, a film which once again posits a rogue robot, but ups the ante by making her a doppelganger for the scientist who created her and which adds to the threat level by making the robot a weapon armed with a nuclear device. The film obviously plays upon the title of the famous chart topping song sung by Barry McGuire in 1965, but that playfulness also points up one of the most serious flaws in the film: it is relentlessly derivative, mixing a bunch of frequently seen action-thriller tropes into one less than satisfying stew. The film has a few moments of tension to its credit, especially in its closing act, but this is more often than not cut and paste filmmaking at its most formulaic.

Eve of Destruction may feel like San Francisco World (to coin a new Crichton-esque title) at times, but it at least benefits from some unusual and frankly fairly effective casting. Dutch actress Renée Soutendijk, probably best remembered nowadays for Paul Verhoeven’s Spetters, portrays both Dr. Eve Simmons and her robotic creation, also named Eve. We first meet Dr. Simmons as she reviews the progress made on another robot, though its ultimate failure perhaps foreshadows what’s soon going to happen with her namesake. Later, we get a frankly creepy scene with Dr. Simmons and her sweet little son Timmy (Ross Malinger), where she discusses sexual anatomy in rather unexpurgated terms with the tot (well, she’s a scientist after all—no need for those “birds and the bees” euphemisms, evidently). While she’s at home, she gets a panicked call that her latest creation, the robot Eve, has suffered a debilitating injury while it was out in the city being tested in “real world” conditions, and is now unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, we’ve already met hard as nails Colonel Jim McQuade (Gregory Hines), who literally takes no prisoners as he attempts to train some troops in hostage rescue techniques. When Eve (the robot) goes missing, it’s decided that McQuade’s hunting and sharpshooting skills are what’s needed, and he’s brought in to consult with Dr. Simmons and to track down Eve. Eve, who had been in a bank when a would be robbery takes place, has suffered a devastating gunshot wound which has sent her into an unpredictable mode where she senses she’s under threat. Playing into this scenario is the fact that the robot has been programmed to have Dr. Simmons’ memories, something that ultimately plays into the film’s taut concluding sequence, when the robot seeks out Timmy and takes him hostage.

The lack of logic running rampant through this film is probably its biggest detriment. Right after Eve gets wounded at the bank, when she’s supposedly pushed “over the (robotic) edge” into weapons mode, she goes—shopping! Later, she flashes back on some childhood memories of Dr. Simmons and engages in a rather vicious example of road rage on steroids. Even her “kidnapping” of little Timmy doesn’t make much sense, but at least she doesn’t get into anatomical discussions with the little boy. McQuaid, who had initially been kept in the dark about Eve’s ultimate weapon capability, is left to try to figure out what crazy thing the robot is going to do next, while also trying to mitigate so called “collateral damage”.

Eve of Destruction follows its fairly predictable template to a tee, replete with the typical showdown between Dr. Simmons and her creation, followed by (of course) one last coda after you think everything is finally over. Director and co-writer Duncan Gibbins actually stages things very well throughout the film, including a nice final sequence in a subway station, and there are good uses of locations throughout the film. The film is patently ridiculous, though, despite a rather nice set of performances by Soutendijk. Eve proves she can wreak havoc wherever she goes, but she really didn’t have to do much to destroy an already fairly shoddy screenplay.

Eve of Destruction Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eve of Destruction is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is a solid if unspectacular looking transfer that benefits from nicely saturated color and some actually above average fine detail (the little nubby patterns on Eve's bright red jacket are especially notable). While colors seems generally accurate, flesh tones are a bit on the ruddy pink side of things at times. But the overall image here is often on the soft side, even in midrange and close-ups. Contrast and black levels are both fine if never fantastic, and there does not appear to have been any digital tweaking done at all on this release, which means there is both minimal damage in evidence as well as an intact layer of grain.

Eve of Destruction Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eve of Destruction features a surprisingly forceful DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix that benefits from some very lively sound effects as well as Philippe Sarde's score. Dialogue is very cleanly presented and the mix is well prioritized, even in its noisier sequences (the mix here is fairly over the top quite a bit of the time). Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is very wide.

Eve of Destruction Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080i; 1:59)

Eve of Destruction Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gregory Hines and Renée Soutendijk give Eve of Destruction a certain watchability that its otherwise rote presentation doesn't really offer. The film is fairly formulaic, but it does have a few nice set pieces, and it's fun to see a female android destroying things right and left, rather than the more typical muscled male variety. This is yet another rather odd entry in the ever growing Scream Factory enterprise, and while the film is at best a cult item, for those who do love it, the good news is the video is decent and the audio is quite good.