The opening of the story is a little disorienting, you have a city traffic scene and for a while, I was getting upset that the movie I was watching wasn't the one featured on the DVD sleeve. But then the opening credits offered the title I was expecting, so it was with an 'OK', this could be interesting, that the rest of the picture unfolded. Though nominally a Western, what you have here is an early sci-fi experiment in the concept of virtual reality with an 1880's back drop. The premise of 'Blood City' itself, the Project as it were, was to choose a leader for an elite corps of killers in the real world. By weeding out the losers, project designers attempted to identify someone who could lead a military unit to victory based on their ability to make rational decisions in stressful situations, as well as survive the ordeal. What surprises me is that the concept was tackled in film way back in 1977, thirty years ago, yet the timing only a couple short years after the end of the Vietnam War suggests that the search for ways of insuring victory in future conflicts was well under way.
So much for theorizing. Except for the poor production values of the picture itself, I found the whole premise fairly fascinating. As the story progressed, the cut aways to the lab began to make more and more sense, particularly when Samantha Eggar's character began interjecting her own values into the game to affect the outcome. It would have been interesting to learn what became of the people who were 'killed' in Blood City, the story didn't take it that far. As for Lewis's (Keir Dullea) decision to return after being terminated, the film allows for a quandary. Apparently, subjects chosen at random for the experiment didn't have recourse for a return to their former life, even if they could remember it. Of course, we don't get to see what happens when the machines are turned off.
One thing I was left wondering about was why the identity cards with the murder scores on the new arrivals was introduced in the first place. That idea didn't seem to have any bearing on the story that followed, even if it helped set up the plot. Was it the point to establish the remaining kills needed to achieve 'immortality'? If so, that idea was negated by the fact that new arrivals could attain immediate citizenship with their first kill. Anyone?
I guess the reason I enjoyed the film as much as I did was because of it's way of asking more questions than it answers. Whenever I try to wrap my brain around the concept of virtual reality, a la "The Matrix" for example, it starts to make my head hurt. I don't even want to think about living there like Lewis.
Hey, check this out - watch the scene where the camera cuts away from the dead Maxine for the last time - if you look real close, you'll see she opens her eye!
So much for theorizing. Except for the poor production values of the picture itself, I found the whole premise fairly fascinating. As the story progressed, the cut aways to the lab began to make more and more sense, particularly when Samantha Eggar's character began interjecting her own values into the game to affect the outcome. It would have been interesting to learn what became of the people who were 'killed' in Blood City, the story didn't take it that far. As for Lewis's (Keir Dullea) decision to return after being terminated, the film allows for a quandary. Apparently, subjects chosen at random for the experiment didn't have recourse for a return to their former life, even if they could remember it. Of course, we don't get to see what happens when the machines are turned off.
One thing I was left wondering about was why the identity cards with the murder scores on the new arrivals was introduced in the first place. That idea didn't seem to have any bearing on the story that followed, even if it helped set up the plot. Was it the point to establish the remaining kills needed to achieve 'immortality'? If so, that idea was negated by the fact that new arrivals could attain immediate citizenship with their first kill. Anyone?
I guess the reason I enjoyed the film as much as I did was because of it's way of asking more questions than it answers. Whenever I try to wrap my brain around the concept of virtual reality, a la "The Matrix" for example, it starts to make my head hurt. I don't even want to think about living there like Lewis.
Hey, check this out - watch the scene where the camera cuts away from the dead Maxine for the last time - if you look real close, you'll see she opens her eye!