When your film is based on preposterous premise, it is wise to consider making it as a comedy. This advice was apparently not taken by Duncan Gibbins, director and co-writer of 1991 science fiction action film Eve of Destruction.
Titular character, played by Renée Soutendijk, is Dr. Eve Simmons, brilliant scientist who developed human-like robots for US government, intended to be used as weapon behind enemy lines. The last and most advanced model is Eve VIII, made in her likeness and sent on field test in San Francisco. There she successfully passes for human but also gets shot during bank robbery, causing her to malfunction and begins running her program without outside control. US Marine Colonel James McQuaid (played by Gregory Hines), top counterinsurgency and counterterrorism expert, is brought to retrieve renegade robot. His only trail is murderous rampage which, as Colonel McQuaid learns, has something to do with Dr. Simmons' troubled past. It turns out that Dr. Simmons used her own character, memories and desires to develop behavioural patterns of Eve VIII. That makes McQuaid's task easier, because the robot is going to New York City to meet with Dr. Simmons' young son. Things become complicated, however, when small nuclear bomb within Eve VIII is activated, leaving McQuaid and Dr. Simmons small amount of time to stop unimaginable catastrophe.
Obviously inspired by The Terminator and launched in cinemas few months before its sequel Terminator 2: The Judgment Day in order to exploit the latter's hype, Eve of Destruction had decent budget. Gibbins tried to spice up the concept of unstoppable deadly human-like robot by making it a female, which, among other things, gave excuse for few exploitative scenes of misguided erotica and gratuitous nudity. The main role was played by Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress who tried to repeat success of her compatriot and old director Paul Verhoeven by making her name in Hollywood. The attempt failed, partly because of poorly conceived and played dual role in which Soitendijk makes almost unimaginable feat of being wooden by playing human, while overacting by playing robot. Script, co-written by Gibbins and Yale Udoff, also looks uninspired and fills the plot with predictably violent scenes of robot's rampage, especially near the end when Eve VIII wantonly uses machine pistol without bothering to reload her weapon.
But the biggest problem of the film is the premise that wants us to believe that US government would spend billions of dollars and years of most sensitive research only to allow its superweapon to be designed as emotionally unstable, vengeful and violent woman. And, to make things even less plausible, such superweapon is armed with nuclear warhead while being tested in the middle of heavily populated city. Character of Colonel McQuaid, who serves as the only voice of reason in this film, actually speaks for audience while he addresses some of those issues during her conversations with Dr. Simmons. Gregory Hines, singer and dancer who occasionally found himself in action roles, is good in his role, but even he can't rescue Eve of Destruction from Gibbins' inept direction that makes this film look cheap, uninspired and quite unworthy of audience's attention. At times it looks like this film could reach "it's so bad it's so good" level, only if nudged a little bit in more humorous direction but Gibbins, alas, plays it straight.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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