Eve of Destruction (1991)

Directed by Duncan Gibbins. Starring Renée Soutendijk, Gregory Hines, Michael Greene, Kurt Fuller, John M. Jackson, David Hayward, Larry Anderson. [R]

In her first (and only) lead performance in an English-language film, Paul Verhoeven-favorite Soutendijk tackles the dual role of an android-run-amok and its human creator, who designed the EVE VIII robot to look and sound just like her. Military man Hines, meanwhile, is the person assigned to capture the malfunctioning machine with a killer instinct. What could have have been a mindlessly diverting chase thriller with the requisite violence and techno-babble thrown in is actually just a mundane melodrama punctuated by the occasional second-rate shootout. Programmed with all the repressed memories and fantasies of its creator, EVE VIII’s actions help human Eve exorcise her weepy-eyed demons, but her issues are as trite as any of the hardware and bloodshed on hand. There was simply too little money and talent available to produce something that doesn’t belong in the bargain bin. Hines is even more unconvincing playing an elite soldier than Soutendijk is during her rigid emotional outbursts. Director Gibbins also co-scripted.

33/100