Before we get started I wanna point out something that I didn’t get the chance in my Runaway review. Killer robot spiders are FUCKING scary.
We open in a hotel room where a man is getting dress only it turns out it’s not a hotel room but a testing area. And the man in question is actually a robot starting to malfunction in the hand. We’re introduced to a Dr. Eve Simmons (played by Renee Soutendijk) who is the robot’s creator. Simmons gets a call that Eve VIII (which was modeled after Simmons herself) is ready for a test run. Cut to Eve VIII traveling in San Francisco while a handler is keeping watch on her from a distance. Eve VIII stops at a bank as it gets held up by two armed gunmen soon after. The handler draws out his gun and shoots the first gunman dead but gets taking out by the second gunman. Shocked and confused, Eve VIII approaches the second gunman; the gunman shoots her but still approaches the gunman. Eve VIII disarms the gunman, throws him out of the window and leaves the bank with the gunmen’s stuff. Cut to a small village where a band of soldiers are ready to raid the place and rescue the hostages. The soldiers storm in taking out most of the guerilla fighters and proceed to save the hostages. However, a guerilla sleeper quickly takes them out. But it turns out this whole raid was a training mission and the sleeper in question is actually Colonel Jim McQuade (played by Gregory Hines) who’s in charge. After McQaude gives the Big Ass Motherfuckers-in-training a harsh prep talk, he’s approached by an officer with new orders. Cut to Simmons spending time with her son Timmy as she gets an emergency call to return to the lab. McQuade arrives at the NSC where Eve VIII was created and is being brief by military officials. Through the briefing it’s established that NSC’s goal is to create a robot that completely resembles a human being and Eve VIII is that robot. She was designed for surveillance work but NSC found her more potent as a battlefield weapon. Judging by what happened at the bank Eve VIII was in Battlefield Mode which is her highest state of readiness. Meaning that she will use force to protect herself from what she proceeds as terminal harm. This also means that in Battlefield Mode she won’t follow any orders she’s given. Long story short with McQuade’s impressive specialty in counter terrorism he’s brought in to work with Simmons to find and neutralize Eve VIII. Wait a minute….a man is brought in by an agency to take down a rogue robot…… Now I’m not saying this film ripped off Blade Runner but I will say this film was inspired by the very best. We cut to Eve VIII stopping at a gun store and a clothing store before checking into a motel room to dress her gunshot wound. Simmons shows Eve VIII’s schematics to McQuade describing that she has similar vital vulnerabilities as a human. Her motor functions are controlled by the spine and her heart and blood system have no medical functions. So a bullet to the heart won’t kill her; she can bleed but it won’t kill her. The only chance for McQuade to stop Eve VIII is to aim for either eye, putting a bullet to the brain. Now what Simmons hasn’t told him that Eve VIII has a small nuclear device cylinder at the base of the spine? She’s given an alert device by one of her superiors in case the cylinder is triggered and to keep McQuade out of the loop about it.
NSC gets a trace on Eve which places her somewhere in northern California. We cut to Eve showing up at a bar near the Pine Hill Motel and she’s immediately getting attention from some of the male locals. She invites one of the men to a motel room and about to have some kinky robot/human sexy time. Meanwhile outside of the motel a police patrol spots the parked mustang registered to Eve. Back in the motel the guy unzips his pants, whips out his junk and asks Eve to “say hello”. Come on dude you’re doing it wrong you’re supposed to say it like this. “SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND”! Eve gets a little hesitate but complies however, she gets upset when the guy calls her a bitch. Being a stupid douche the guy continues to call her a bitch so she decides to do a pre-Teeth reenactment. The guy’s friends are outside the room as they hear him screaming; they come storming in seeing their douche friend on the floor and proceeds to attack Eve. She throws the first guy out of the room and breaks the other guy’s arm. The guy who was thrown out runs away into the awaiting squad of cops. They ready their guns as Eve appears out of the motel. They order Eve to show her hands but instead she shows them an Uzi, guns them all down and leaves. Later McQuade and Simmons arrived at the motel/bar; Simmons gets a feeling that she’s been at this place before. Cutting to a back room Simmons explains to McQuade that she use to live nearby when she was a teen. She would pass by this place but never went inside given that the place is a hooker joint. But she used to imagine of what would be like. With all of Simmons’ memories, she believes that Eve VIII was acting out on a fantasy….sexual fantasy. McQuade finds this unsettling that a robot is not only deadly but horny as well. Simmons is not too sure what Eve will do but McQuade believes by gathering everything from her past they may find Eve. McQuade reports to NSC on possible places that Eve may go to; he also has them search for Simmons father Bill. Cut to Eve on the road as she’s being troubled by memories of Simmons’ abusive childhood. Namely her father was abusive towards her and her mother. Distracted by these memories, Eve is unaware of the pissed off driver behind her. He managed to go around but he just had to be a stupid douche by provoking her as the guy speeds off. So course Eve goes into Battlefield Mode again and proceeds to chase after the guy. She catches up to him and starts ramming him down until he’s knocked off road. The guy gets back on the road but is unaware of Eve waiting for him. She speeds towards the car and completely plows it down however, in doing so the impact has cause the nuclear cylinder to be triggered. Simmons gets the alert signal and immediately calls NSC on the situation. Afterwards Simmons is left with no choice but to tell McQuade that Eve is a battlefield nuclear weapon. Designed to deployed in hostile countries but now that she’s activated they only have 24 hours to shut her down or she’ll explode with enough force to level 20 to 30 city blocks. Eve arrives in a town of St. Helena after stealing a jeep and stops at Bill Simmons’ (played by Kevin McCarthy) place. A little bit later McQuade and Simmons arrived at Bill’s place along with some BAMs for good measure. McQuade goes into to the house alone cautiously searching for Eve. McQuade finds Bill unconscious then gets attacked by Eve; he tries to fight back but he’s repeatedly overpowered. Eve has him at gunpoint saying “I saw what you did”, apparently she’s confusing McQuade with Simmons father for killing her mother. Simmons is listening in from McQuade’s com she then tries to talk down Eve as enters the house alone. She finds Eve holding her father in choke before she snaps his neck. Eve opens fire on Simmons but she quickly jumps for cover. She makes her but before she gun downs “three” marines. By that I mean we only saw Eve killed TWO marines, where the hell was the third guy just magically fallen into the BLACK HOLE? Great continuity movie.
Anyway McQuade approaches Simmons asking what she meant that he didn’t kill her. She’s been hiding a memory for long time which is night her father killed her mother. Her father was heavily drunk at the time her mother try to talk him down from driving them all home but it only made him angrier. The two started fighting only for her father to push her mother into an oncoming car killing her instantly. Simmons now believes that Eve is trying live her creator’s life only without barriers. And her next stop in Simmons’ life is New York where her son is. With only ten hours before the big bang, McQuade and Simmons head out to New York. There a few NSC men are keeping watch on Simmons’ husband Peter (played by John M. Jackson) and Timmy in case Eve shows up. However, this proves futile as Eve is already in the apartment complex with one of the NSC men now dead. Eve arrives at the apartment, Peter unaware that it’s not the real Simmons is surprised to see her all different. Eve becomes much actuated as she keeps asking to see Timmy making the husband become rather nervous. She gets very excited to see Timmy actually a little too excited to the point that Peter moves her away from Timmy. Peter calms her down and heads to the kitchen; he gets a call from Simmons telling him that the Eve in the living room is a robot. She tells him to act normally, take Timmy out of the apartment and take the elevator down to the lobby. Peter calmly heads to the living room and gets Timmy but Eve is nowhere in sight. Peter and Timmy quietly head to the door but are stopped by Eve. Cut to McQuade waiting at the lobby gun drawn at the elevator; the elevator doors open but only sees Peter unconscious. McQuade heads out the complex to find Eve with Timmy in tow as she guns down a few NSC men. With only 15 minutes until the big bang, McQuade and Simmons follow Eve to a subway station. McQuade continues to pursue Eve while Simmons tries to head them off at other station. Eve open fires on McQuade badly wounding him but McQuade shrugs it off like he’s Inigo Montoya and keeps pursuing her. With only 5 minutes until the big bang, McQuade has Eve cornered at the tracks and readies to take the kill shot. But Eve has Timmy held in the path of McQuade’s kill shot unable to aim for one of for eyes. Simmons arrives at the tracks while train is heading towards them; she pleas to Eve to throw Timmy to her before the train come. Seeing a memory of Simmons playfully tossing Timmy, Eve feels a sense of happiness and tosses Timmy to her. With only less than a minute before the big bang, McQuade takes aim for one of her eyes and takes the kill shot. Quickly after he dives to the ground avoiding the oncoming train behind him. All seems over however, Eve still alive grabs Simmons and throws her down while it’s only 30 seconds until the big bang. Eve approaches Simmons as McQuade slides his gun to Simmons; she shoots at Eve but keeps missing the weak point and runs out bullets. McQuade verbally distracts Eve long enough for Simmons to stab her in the eye with the gun finally killing her and stopping the big bang clock at 9 seconds. And with that the film ends.
My Final Verdict: Even though Eve of Destruction was made in 1991, something about this film has a rather 80s vibe to it. Not sure if it’s the story, the tone, the music or maybe all of the above. It just screams of 80s cheese and I kinda like it. The acting is pretty good for the most part for an early 90s film. The interaction between McQuade and Simmons has a rather impressive dynamic and Renee Soutendijk’s dual role though already been done in many films the performance here is creative.
OK that bad Host taste in my brain is fading away but I think one more sci-fi film might wash it away completely. So stay tuned next time as we look into Virtuosity.
