Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Robot Overlords'

Written by Scott Edwards

We have always been told to follow the rules since we have been able to remember, but what always happens?  We look for ways to bend, fracture or break the rules, since let’s be honest here, we don’t understand the thinking behind them and to quote a favorite movie of mine, ‘I was never consulted’. We may think that playing by the rules is for the lame people and we don’t want to be like that, we are looking for fun and exciting ways to express ourselves. But as we quickly find out, some rules that we thought we could break are there for a reason and maybe we should not try to test those since somebody is almost guaranteed to get hurt.

It has been over a thousand days since the robots have invaded earth and people are starting to reach their breaking points.  Connor’s father is running around on the streets yelling at the new law of the planet, but it will not hear his cries for help and he is killed in the middle of the street. Connor watches his old man die, right in front of his very eyes and even through the robots will not listen to him as well, he is saved by Robin Smythe who is kind enough to give the boy a grieving period. But Smythe might have other priorities as he is talking to Kate who has lost her husband and is taking in a couple of the towns orphans. Kate offers Connor a place in her home with her kids Sean and Alexandra, along with their friend Nathan who is just along for the ride.

Being confined to their homes for so long and having to wear tracking devices that the robots have implanted on all of the population, the kids are sick and tired of being prisoners in their own homes. When trying to rebuild their PlayStation to entertain themselves, a massive charge enters Nathan’s body, sending him flying across the room. Seeing that his tracker has been deactivated, the rest of the group take the same charge and are able to run about the town unnoticed by the robots. While Sean is trying to find out what happened to his father, the group checks out the local high school where the records are said to be held and he finds out that his father has been moved to a different grid. 

Finding out the hard way that the trackers do not remain dormant on only one shock, the group is captured by Smythe and after seeing one of their friends killed in front of them while a different chip is attached to the tracker, they do not want to suffer the same fate. When Sean is able to bait Smythe while being implanted with a memory chip, the kids are able to escape and shortly after, they see that Sean has more to do with their survival than previously thought. When Sean’s mother Kate is brought out to try to locate her boy, Sean sees that she is going to be taken to Smythe’s castle for safekeeping. Knowing that Smythe is not the man he pretends to be, Sean and his new family have to take their battle to the streets to save her and find his father before time runs out.

This is a quiet, good movie that looks more at the human condition than the action than one would expect, even though you get the action as well. Sean has one goal, to find his father, and when his mother is put into a situation where she will need to be rescued as well, he is able to step into action. The memory chip seems to have different capabilities for different people that wear it and with a strong will and a purpose, the robots do not seem to be able to know how to control it. Young Connor is just the scene stealer in this movie and although it may leave you wondering how smart the kid really is, you are just happy to see him when he shows up and for goodness sake, give him a gun. This is fun movie with a story that follows the rules and the effects are actually pretty stunning when you get to see them in the day time.  Happy Viewing.

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