Parents' Guide to Kill Code

A mishmash of styles and tones, this cyberpunk thriller recalls a handful of influential sci-fi and action movies while never managing to find its own voice. Despite a short running time, Kill Code's plot is overstuffed with different elements, as writer-director Justin Price throws together a cast of combatants that spends a lot of time speaking plot to each other. Keitel's unhinged corporate priest is a case in point. Reduced to handful of speeches, the jeopardy he faces comes and goes, punctuated by a few combustive fight scenes. Despite the gaudy AI aesthetic of the movie's more explosive moments, Price sells these reasonably well on a limited budget. But the storyline about criminals being forced to wear smart watches and fight for their freedom gets lost in the soup of all the revenge over the killings of characters never seen or who are quickly forgotten. Keeping things afloat is Schissler, who could quite easily join the ranks for B-movie heroines who know how to sell better screenplays than this. But the whole movie is baffling to the point of exhausting, and with a sequel teased in the final scene there might even be more confusion to come.