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What’s the Story?

Reviewed byRenee Schonfeld
Five robots have been developed to be used in wartime. They're powerful fighting machines. During a storm, lightning strikes one of the robots. "Number 5" malfunctions and escapes from the compound. Hiding out with Stephanie (Ally Sheedy), the robot surprisingly begins to take on the characteristics of a human being. While the security team from the company sets out to find and destroy Number 5 before it blows anything up, Newton (Steve Guttenberg) and Ben (Fisher Stevens), the scientists who created the robot, try to find him first and save him.

Is It Any Good?

2
It doesn't get much more simplistic than this. The good guys are good; the bad guys are bad; nobody changes much. But the ride has its message and its moments. The message: it's wrong to kill. The moments come when Number 5 meets '80s culture, particularly TV, movies, and commercialism.

The highlight is when the robot mimics what he takes in around him, imitating John Wayne, The Three Stooges, George Raft, and John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. This movie is fun and harmless if viewers can get past the skin-deep characters (and performances), unnecessarily fiery battle sequences, and the lighter-than-air, obligatory romance.

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