Eyeborgs

Plot synopsis:
The movie opens by explaining current events such as the passing of the "Freedom of Observation Act" and the subsequent implementation of ODIN (Optical Defense Intelligence Network), including the development of a new type of mobile camera drone, the eponymous "eyeborg". The system is administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Sankur (Dale Girard) is making a deal to purchase a shotgun while an eyeborg watches the transaction. The eyeborg is discovered and the deal is aborted. Homeland Security agents rush in to find that Sankur has escaped and the other party in the gun deal is dead.
Brandon (Devin McGee), the lead singer of a band known as "Painful Daze", is in a car with a girl. "G-Man" (Danny Trejo), approaches them to deliver a rare bag of banned North Carolina tobacco. After G-Man leaves, the two begin smoking the tobacco - but are interrupted and killed by a large six-armed eyeborg.
With Brandon missing, Jarett (Luke Eberl) becomes the lead singer of "Painful Daze" at the next night's gig. As he sings, eyeborgs search for Sankur, who has entered the building. They signal an alarm that causes a panic, during which Sankur tries to shoot Jarett. An eyeborg blocks the shot. Jarett falls, unharmed, but breaks his guitar. It is revealed that Jarett is the President's nephew.
Sankur is captured and taken to the regional DHS office. During interrogation, Sankur is shown video footage of his earlier gun deal, showing him to be the dealer's killer. Sankur protests his innocence despite the apparent proof of the video. Agent Gunner (Adrian Paul) gets a message to report to the front desk, leaves the room with his partner, and locks the door. Four eyeborg security cameras detach to attack Sankur, but the door opens, allowing him to escape. A foot chase occurs, stranding him on level six. When the elevator he is waiting for opens, a large eyeborg emerges and pushes him over the banister, causing him to fall to his death.
Jarett and Ronni (Julie Horner) are making out when the news is announced that the President has declared war on the (fictional) country of Zimbekistan, which catches Ronni's attention. She shows Jarett a bank error where a large sum of money has been deposited in their account from Zimbekistan.
Back at the regional DHS office, Agent Gunner comes under fire over security footage showing that he failed to lock Sankur's door. Meanwhile, Barbara (Megan Blake) (newswoman) and Eric (Juan-Carlos Guzman) (cameraman), who earlier witnessed Sankur's death, find a video file in Sankur's apartment. Meanwhile, Jarett goes to G-Man, whose face is finally revealed, and asks him to fix his guitar. During their meeting they discuss the eyeborgs, which Jarett approves of and which G-Man doesn't trust.
Eric analyzes the video from Sankur's apartment and calls Barbara to tell her the video file is fake. En route in a news van to give her the evidence, he is attacked by a new type of eyeborg. It force feeds him a bottle of whiskey and causes him to crash, attempting to make it look like the result of drunk driving. While he manages to get out of the news van alive, he is immolated by a flamethrower carried by the eyeborg that attacked him. Barbara is notified of the wreck and, when told that he was drunk at the time of the accident, she doesn't believe it. Shortly thereafter, G-Man is attacked and killed by a large eyeborg. Jarett arrives and is momentarily pinned to the ground by the escaping eyeborg, after which he finds G-Man's body. He tells Gunner what he saw, but video of the alley shows a human leaving G-Man's place rather than an eyeborg.
Growing increasingly suspicious, Gunner asks Jarett to meet him and tells him that he believes that Jarett did see an eyeborg leaving the scene of G-Man's murder, and that he suspects that the system is compromised and that the President may be in danger. He asks Jarett for help in warning the President, since Jarett has been asked to play at the President's campaign debate. While Jarett is out, Ronni is attacked by two eyeborgs and manages to call him, but the call is cut short. When he arrives, he finds her dead, with her wrists slit as though she has committed suicide.
Jim Bradley (John S. Rushton) and Gunner go back to G-Man's to see if they missed anything. They find a secret room containing plans for weapon-carrying eyeborgs, plus a malleable C4 variant which was formed into the pickguard on Jarett's guitar. They try to leave to warn the President that Jarett's guitar is a bomb but Jim is killed by an eyeborg, which Gunner manages to disable. Gunner gets to the Millennium Center, where the Presidential debate is being held. But when he arrives on stage, there is no President or crowd present. He realizes that the President is dead, and that ODIN is in control and has been using Presidential power to declare war so that it can spread.
A group of warbots shows up and begins firing on the DHS agents. Barbara is run into by her new camera bot, but she tells Gunner where he can find Jarett. Gunner and his team manage to free Jarett, whose likeness is being scanned for use by ODIN, just as two newer and more deadly eyeborgs attack and kill all but Jarett, Gunner, and Barbara. As Gunner is leaving with Jarett, Barbara gives him the only video evidence of what happened at the Millennium Center. Too injured to leave herself, she shoots the eyeborgs to distract them before shooting the guitar, detonating it and the barrels of flammable liquid in the basement, destroying the Millennium Center.
With the explosion of the Millennium Center broadcast on national television, the President is considered dead. The news shows the vice-president being sworn in, and in an address to the public declares Jarett a traitor and shows video of him detonating his guitar in the debates, killing the President and all in attendance. Gunner goes to see Jarett, who is alive and disguised as an altar boy, and tells him that Barbara's video has gone viral and even ODIN cannot stop it.
The movie ends with Gunner shooting an eyeborg in an alley and declaring he does not need their eyes anymore.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
Low-budget execution of a good concept.
With a name like "Eyeborgs", you know it has to either be really bad or really funny.
You'll see in the end that it's a pretty original idea; it just suffers from mediocre execution, likely due to its low budget, which is a real shame.
Far from polished, the script was only "eh", and the fight choreography was worse, especially when the robots and humans fought hand-to-hand.
The placement of CGI within real-world shots was generally not too believable, but that's somewhat understandable considering the budget.
The little camera robots are cute, like tiny robotic gremlins going around killing people, with distinct and consistent personalities.Unfortunately, the first hour or so of this isn't that absorbing.
The concept itself is good though, and you won't fully appreciate it unless you sit through the entire movie to find out the real deal.
The last 20 minutes are when things pick up and I actually felt absorbed by the movie, and I dare say, it may actually end up leaving you with something to think about..
Eyeborgs is a Sci-Fi flick that seems part Robocop part Predator.
It is low-budgeted but pretty good for an Independent flick and worth at least a rental..
Eyeborgs on Blu-ray looks very good for an Independent low-budgeted film.
The acting is a little shaky but most of it is the supporting cast with the exception of Supporting Actor extrordinaire Danny Trejo.
The Eyeborgs themselves remind me a lot of the Ed-209's in Robocop (they even sound like them) at least the miniature ones do.
The bigger Eyeborgs are another robot/creature entirely.
You can read my full review here - http://www.movie-vault.com/reviews/eyeborgs-bluray/.
I am giving this 10 out of 10 because it is a surprisingly good science fiction film that should have a much wider viewing than it is getting.
If you know your science fiction you will easily see this film's pedigree.
If you don't know your science fiction, you should do everyone a favor and stick to reviewing what you know and enjoy.In Eyeborgs, we are treated to a near future surveillance and mechanized police state society gone to its logical extreme.
It is done in a campy but satisfying way not unlike the Robocop movies.
If you like science fiction get your Jiffy Pop ready and spin this one up on your little DVD player or patch into your high speed internet and let the electrons and photons begin to stream..
As a Highlander Series fan I watched this film hoping for good things, but was disappointed.At a high-level the plot and premise have real potential, but this potential is never realized because the actual script and directing are mediocre at best.
Character development is also weak and you really don't get to know the characters or care about them much.Adrian Paul's performance was competent, but uninspiring, probably due to mediocre dialog.
Likewise, the other actors performances are hard to critique because they really did not have much with which to work.Somehow, in spite of the above, the ever present cameras and Eyeborgs do create a really creepy atmosphere and made me think I do not want anything even close to a society infested with Eyeborgs.So in spite of its many flaws, good special effects and just enough of everything else still allows Eyeborgs to achieve its objective of making us question an ends justifies the means approach to fighting terrorism..
I saw Eyeborgs at its premier screening in St. Pete Beach, and it is a fun "killer robot" movie wrapped around a moral/political message.
However, in essence it is a fun movie about robots being used to take over society.
An independent film with a very high production value and excellent special effects.
Very good performance by Adrian Paul as the Department of Homeland Defense Agent.
I definitely recommend this movie for sci-fi fans..
Robot Watchers Are Watching Now. This movie has it's good points and it's bad points Yet there is just something about this movie that holds your attention all the way through.
The special effects are not fantastic but they are very good.
The acting in general is not great, but it is for the most part, fairly good.
The story line is not new yet, it seems to work within the context of the movie.
Don't expect Star Wars or Star Trek but there is mystery and action and a little bit of thrills, and plenty of robots.
Very importantly, I did not feel the movie was slow in parts as it kept my mind engaged and I also found myself thinking more about what was going on in the movie rather than what I thought could have been done better.
It does borrow concepts from other great movies to an extent, but given that there are so many science fiction movies out there now, it is hard to come up with any real new and "never been done" ideas.
For those that like to get an idea of the basic concept of the move and it's components like acting and plot, I think of this movie as an updated version and cross between 1984, and Colossus: The Forbin Project.
Surveillance Security vs FreedomSlick Low-Budgeter.
Slick Looking Conspiratorial B-Movie with a Multitude of CGI Surveillance Robots that are the Government's New Tool in a "Big-Brother is Watching" Scenario that is Beginning to Find its Place in the Cinema of the New Millennium.
Cue Benjamin Franklin.This is a Scary and Creepy Film that At Times can be too Good Looking for its Own Good.
Some of the Ominous Observing Robots can Look Cute and Cuddly and Maybe that's the Point.
Just Like the Government is Your Friend and Bill O'Reilly is "Definitely looking out for You".The Excellent Plot and its Twists are Above Average for its Type.
Of Course, the Images are Sent Back to a Centralized Network (Skynet?) and Manipulated to Make it look like anything They want and that's the Flaw in the Argument Against the Peeking Patrols of Not Only Eyes in the Sky but Eyes Everywhere.This is a Fine B-Movie that Thinks and Entertains with Some Gusto from a Talented Director.
Second, a mobile robotic system of cameras have been introduced, called "Eyeborgs".
There is an attempt to assassinate Mr. Eberl, but he survives when handsome ODIN agent Adrian Paul (as Robert "Gunner" Reynolds) and his Eyeborgs make the scene.
Pushy blonde TV reporter Megan Blake (as Barbara Hawkins) smells a story...Curiously, Eberl is the nephew of the President of the United States.
Even more curious, Mr. Paul's subsequent investigation of the killer reveals something disturbing about our protective Eyeborgs.
"Eyeborgs" would rank a couple notches higher if not for the shaky cameras.
Some of the wobbling looks natural, but there are many times when the camera is shaking uncontrollably.
It's not too bad during the erotic car wash, though...****** Eyeborgs (4/29/09) Richard Clabaugh ~ Adrian Paul, Luke Eberl, Megan Blake, Danny Trejo.
Excellent Entertainment; movie is way under-rated..
Great science fiction story and a scenario that could actually become a reality.
Movie starts out a bit rough with kiddy's attempt at music which is noise to delicate ears, but, the saving grace is the torture is short lived.
If you're into good science fiction this is it.
I found this movie better than Robocop.
The story has mystery to it that I doubt any movie goer seen coming.
The special effects and acting was up there so as not to mark down for.
After viewing this movie you may be looking for cameras the rest of your life.
In sum, it's a better than average science fiction movie.
I really liked it for how they handled the SF elements, developing a reasonable What If scenario which they spin off from the surveillance aspect of our governmental enthusiasms for security theater.
Even without that, the characterizations and action sequences would be enough to place this movie much higher than what you'd normally find by frittering away the same amount of time on, say, a SyFy channel original movie.I doubt there were many $$$ involved in this.
It's good to see a SF movie which starts with a decent story and is handled with enough care to show that the makers don't think they're looking down on the audience..
Low budget and bad bad bad acting.
Story line good.
But acting is bad at its best.
Its really frustrating to look at the film.
I had to fast forward the film few times to avoid seeing the bad acting parts.
Acting of the boy is really really bad.
I don't think he is a good actor.
he should have recognize that there were lots of bad acting.
The story line have lots of places where you could easily bring up thrill.
This is one of the really bad films I have ever seen.
This could become a great hit if not for this bad acting.
Pretty good B-movie.
EYEBORGS executes a simple B-movie premise with energy and efficiency: various characters encounter and are forced to battle against a new wave of 'eyeborgs', which are strange robotic critters that appear to be drones with legs.
Said 'eyeborgs' have been taken over by a nefarious power, their forces growing while investigators attempt to uncover the conspiracy behind them.What this all boils down to is an action-packed flick in which the protagonists are constantly fighting off attacks by the deadly machines.
The hero duties are handled by Adrian Paul (TV's HIGHLANDER), playing his tough-guy routine with aplomb; also along for the ride is Danny Trejo, although he appears to be locked in a basement for his scant screen time.What I noticed most about EYEBORGS is that the CGI effects are actually very well achieved.
They're not 100% realistic, of course, but for what must have been a low budget they're excellent and the robots get plenty of screen time too.
As usual, the script is what ends up lacking the most, but the plentiful action at least keeps this one entertaining throughout..
When I saw this movie on the Syfy channel, I couldn't get into it and was surfing around to other channels, this movie was cheesy where there should had been a tension and suspense, but I came back toward the end to see what might happen, as this is so bad it was good and I wanted to see where this movie would end.
And I was surprised, it was if there was another movie that had come on.
The 3rd act of Eyeborgs presents a thought provoking concept and has good action.
So remake this movie with a decent budget and script, it's a great story..
In a near-future USA its citizens are under perpetual surveillance from Eyeborgs, mobile robotic cameras, used by the police to stop crime happening and to convict any criminals they see.
A big hairy ranting paranoid man is arrested when tries to shoot Jarrett Hewes (Luke Eberl) the nephew of the American President as he is performing with his punk band.
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security 'Gunner' Reynolds (Adrian Paul) and his partner Bradley investigate to see if there is any other threat.
During the investigation Gunner become suspicious of the Eyeborgs and his suspicions are confirmed by evidence from TV reporter Barbara Hawkins (Megan Blake).This film covers a lot of old ground but it is a pretty good take on the ideas that make up it main story.
While 'The Matrix' and 'The Terminator' had humans at war with the machines this film suggests that their route to dominance and control may be through taking advantage of suspicion and fear to encourage humans to surrender their freedom to the machines.The design of the robots was okay especially the little two-legged ones that almost look like toys but they turn out to have more in common with a certain silver ball from 'Phantasm'.
This is film is worth a watch, not too deep and not too dumb.
Ignore the negative reviews - this is a good, exciting movie!.
I don't know where the barrage of negative reviews on this site comes from - given the plot of the movie, about out-of-control government surveillance, I'd almost believe they were part of a campaign to deter people from watching it.The film is suspenseful, thought-provoking and well-acted.
The script was tight and literate and the direction and camera work kept me glued to the screen.And given the premise, it raises a disturbing question of how much of what passes for news in the media is actually real - a photo-shopped picture of a monkey holding a semi-automatic handgun that was used by FOX News to illustrate a discredited story about monkeys being taught to kill U.S. soldiers - immediately comes to mind.So if you are looking for a fast-moving, well-done and entertaining way of passing some time, don't believe the bad reviews.
When I saw this I thought it was going to be a cheesy, low budget, poor acting movie.
The movie wasn't able to maximize its potential but it still makes you think.
So let's break movie down: ACTING.
The movie flows OK but there's so many unexplained bits and pieces that should have been linked or explained.
The singer from the band and the girlfriend are killed in the car making the President's uncle the new lead singer.
No connection to the movie's plot.
It's like two plots to kill the President.
The plot line is confusing at times.
We never figure out who is controlling the eyeborgs (likely the VP) or if they are acting independently (AI).
Sometimes it seems like it has to be the latter but the basic plot line only seems to benefit the VP.GRAPHICS.
The larger units looked a little too computer generated at times but other units, such as the soldier units, looked good.So why give it a 6 instead of a 2 or 3?
In the movie people could never get away from the cameras.
Even low end criminals selling guns, dope or plotting to kill the President couldn't keep them out of their houses.Also found it unsettling how they relied on robots for all evidence such as film footage, blood samples and other crime scene investigations.
No one thinks for themselves.Finally it has the feeling and the closing that would work well as a pilot for a TV show.It's worth a rental or purchase in the low cost movie bin..
This was fun.Possible future in which an advanced AI has control of remote cameras that are now mobile and can move and act.
If I hear that there's a movie floating around called Eyeborgs, that's it: I'm kind of honor-bound to watch it.
I'll admit that I grabbed this Blu-ray disc expecting some sort of schlocky campfest with a cartoonishly over-the-top sense of humor and bargain basement CGI...something ripped out straight of the SyFy Original Movie playbook.....
......The scale and scope of Eyeborgs' visual effects work is staggering by any standard, but that's especially true for a movie shot on such a low budget.
Again, there are somewhere around 700 visual effects shots throughout the film along with a legion of different types of machines.
While the basic idea and storyline has some faint potential in it (even if its a ripoff of the terminator franchise) the execution is below par, with 1-bit characters, crappy acting and crappy cgi sequences.
The last two might be attributed to low budget, but you don't need loads of money for a good screenplay.I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that this wasted strip of celluloid has over 5 points rating.
Maybe the audience really isn't thinking, or did our standard really fall THIS LOW?
What I really don't understand though is why did they make it to end like there is already a sequel in the making, did they honestly believe that this will be a hit or what?
Or if I think more on it, the ending makes this look like it was intended to be a back-door pilot for a TV show.
Everyone is under constant surveillance from mobile robotic cameras known as "Eyeborgs." Federal agent Robert J.
'Gunner' Reynolds (an excellent performance by Adrian Paul) uncovers a sinister conspiracy plot concerning the Eyeborgs while investigating a series of bizarre deaths.
Director Richard Clabaugh, who also co-wrote the clever script with Fran Clabaugh, relates the enthralling and entertaining story at a brisk pace, does a sound job of crafting a nicely paranoid atmosphere, and stages the exciting action set pieces with real aplomb.
The solid acting by the capable cast rates as another major asset, with especially praiseworthy work by Megan Blake as pesky reporter Barbara Hawkins, Luke Eberl as brash punk Jarrett Hewes, John S.
Danny Trejo has a small, but cool role as irascible guitar maker G-Man. The CGI robots look pretty funky (and they make these mean'n'snarly growling noises!).
I thought the acting was really hurting, and the lead actor was really a bad choice for a lead character.
I will say that the CG was good, but that was the only thing that was good about the entire movie.
All trash movie admirers will love it.
I had the impression that the movie was shot in a week and they did not have money to repeat some scenes.
The boy, his girlfriend, terrorist and a TV reporter are the result of the extremely bad casting.
Apart from Danny Trejo, the best acting in this movie is done by eyeborgs..
I wish I could rate the entire movie here, but the jerky camera work was making me so nauseated that I had to stop watching.
Sure, the acting pretty much was dismal, and some of the effects were obviously awful, but the premise of the movie's storyline was what grabbed me.
I could see where this could be going and the idea of cute little robots attacking and killing people at whim is something I really wanted to see.