Circuitry Man (1990), and Circuitry Man 2 (1994) from Tuna

Circuitry Man (1990) is a post-apocalyptic action film. It is the not too distant future, pollution has made the surface unsafe, and society lives underground. The national pastime seems to be killing each other, playing mind games, and some obsession I never understood with computer chips. It is possible to plug into people's heads, and read their thoughts. There are also two types of androids, one made for charm, and the other for brains. The only one left of the brain variety is known as Plughead, as he has so many connectors embedded in his skull. He serves as the antagonist. Another android, Romeo, and a female body guard serve as the heroes, who try to make a run to New York to sell some computer chips. Evidently, New York is the head of the black market. 
The film looks ok, especially for something made on a zero budget by recent  film school graduates (the predecessor was actually a film school project at UCLA film school). There were many laughs, mostly unintentional, and no exposure or near exposure.  The studio somehow made what they thought of as a large profit on this film, and convinced the writer and director to do a sequel. Characters are well developed, and mildly interesting. C-. 

NUDITY REPORT

none in the original, see the main commentary for info on the sequel
 Circuitry Man Two: Plughead Rewired (1994)

Robert and Steven Lovey were in Prague making commercials, but not getting laid, when the studio asked them to work on a sequel to Circuitry Man. The made commercials during the day, then wrote at night. The studio kept making deals for locations, and dictating settings for the sequel, only to have the deals fall through, which necessitated a complete rewrite. When they finally finished the deal, what they created went for humor intentionally. Romeo is back, and a female FBI agent (Deborah Shelton), actually an Android made from a memory in Romeo's head, enlists his aid to go after Plughead, who has become the most evil man in the universe. 

DVD info from Amazon.

the films are packaged together

As a Sci Fi action film, this is at least as bad as the original, but it frequently works as a comedy spoof (there is a vending machine in police headquarters that servers, hand grenades, tear gas, donuts and rockets), and it has clear nudity. The first is very quick nipple exposure from a female guard who is forcing herself on a prisoner in a stake truck. The second is a fairly long sex scene between Romeo and Deborah Shelton, where she shows magnificent breasts. She also does justice to a white shirt. 

I will give this a solid C as Sci Fi comedy. 

The Critics Vote

  • no major reviews

The People Vote ...

  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score Circuitry man 4.5 
  • With their votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters score the sequel  3.1 
IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, I say C- for the original, C for the sequel 

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