T-Force (1994) User Reviews

Low Grade

[refinedsugar · 5/10 · 14 March 2001]

Wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a world that had mastered the art of cyborg creation? We could have them serving us drinks and killing masked terrorists. That's essentially T-Force in a *ahem* box. In the not too distant future when Los Angeles law enforcement is unable to cope with high risk situations they call in T-Force. A group of elite cyborgs who were made specifically to deal with situations of deadly peril.

Unfortunately T-Force will do anything necessary to complete their mission within acceptable parameters including the death of hostages. Of course that's seen as unacceptable and the future of T-Force is all but sealed. They are to be dismantled, but wait - oops - it turns out they don't like the sound of that. So they escape and here enters Jack Scalia as the cop given the plum job of bringing them in a la Blade Runner.

What follows is the usual assortment of cheap action segments and an underlying question of morals. Are the cyborgs people? Do they deserve the same rights? Can cyborgs have babies? That sort of nonsense. Jack Scalia and director Richard Pepin team up for PM Entertainment. A production company notorious for dtv action titles and once again we find the same routine with Pepin bringing the movie in at a certain budget and Scalia turning in yet another burned out lone cop role.

T-Force isn't trying to fool anyone. It's a mindless low budget action flick that borrows upon ideas from other films. I don't see how you could be surprised nor left feeling cheated by T-Force. It has a fun moment or two, but you know it's not really worth your time.

Shamelessly rips off other films

[DigitalRevenantX7 · 6/10 · 24 May 2008]

The Story: Terrorists take over an embassy. Terminal Force, an elite team of android counter-terrorists wipe out the terrorists but accidentally kill six hostages. Faced with shutdown, the androids go on the run. Police lieutenant Jack Floyd is partnered with Cain, the sole remaining T-Force android, & sent to find & destroy the renegade androids.

This effort by action director Richard Pepin is unstinting when it comes to ripping off other films. The first half-hour shamelessly rips off "Die Hard", with a well-dressed terrorist taking over a building. But after this second-rate scene, "T-Force", which retools itself as a robot version of "Universal Soldier", actually becomes enjoyable. Lead actor Jack Scalia should get an award for getting into a performance above the call of duty, making his role as the bitter robot-hating cop extremely likable. Bobby Johnston, in the role as Jack's android partner, works with him admirably. On the other side of the coin, Evan Lurie does another of his bad performances, spouting campy one-liners as he dispatches his victims. As is the case with all of Pepin's films, "T-Force" has a lot of action scenes, plenty of heavy artillery & massive explosions, ensuring that action junkies will get their fix and more.

Utterly predictable, but still enjoyable.

[misbegotten · 6/10 · 29 September 2020]

Inspired by ROBOCOP and UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, and also including a DIE HARD-themed skyscraper siege and a TERMINATOR-style police station massacre, there's nothing in this movie you haven't seen before - but that turns out to be one of it's strengths. T FORCE knows how unoriginal it is, doesn't pretend not to be, and is all the better for it. In the near-future, a super-SWAT team of robot law enforcers goes rogue, and a bigoted, robot-hating cop has to stop them while unhappily partnered with another robot - the only team-member who didn't rebel. An enjoyable film from PM Entertainment, who kept entire armies of stunt-people and pyrotechnic experts in gainful employment during the Nineties making straight-to-video action fare. This is actually more restrained than some of their subsequent films, such as HOLOGRAM MAN (1995), DARK BREED (1996) and THE SILENCERS (1996), and in my opinion works better as a result. The only mildly surprising aspect of the film is the final scene, which the scriptwriters no doubt thought was ending the proceedings on a cheery, upbeat note... but is actually quite dark and bleak. And a special mention for actress Jennifer MacDonald, who manages to inject a surprising amount of depth and even a degree of pathos into her role as the female member of T Force.

This has everything a bad movie needs to be funny.

[Funky A · 1/10 · 29 January 2001]

Some movies have potential and fail to live up to it and others are just bad from the idea to the final product and make you wonder how anyone could think "Well, this is an interesting project and I am interested in being a part of it"... Of course, T-Force has absolutely no potential and falls into the second category. The story is ridiculous and seems to try to be spiritual, with scenes focusing on the robots asking themselves who they are and what is their main goal in "life". The idea of it is stupid and the acting is so bad you will ask yourself how these persons can even be considered actors. Maybe they just needed people stupid enough to accept playing in an action movie with robot sex scenes... Yes, you have read it well, ROBOT SEX!!! But the robot sex is not the most ridiculous part of this movie(although it is really stupid). The worst is probably the costumes for the robots, which seem made out of silver-painted plastic pieces. But let's not forget that it is laughable for a movie that brags about being "full of suspense" that half of the scenes in this piece of c**p are set in a bar with Jack Scalia, which must have gotten the job because he looks like Bruce Willis, becoming a friend with a member of the T-Force around a pool table. Oh, and by the way, this movie reminded me of Operation Delta Force 2 because it overuses cheap slow-motions. Slow-motion can be nice if used in an intelligent way, like in Snatch, but in this case, it makes long action sequences even longuer... Even the title is bad! From another point of view, if you want a movie which will make you laugh because it has worst dialogue than Revenge of the Radioactive Reporter and because the acting is so pathetic you laugh out loud when you are supposed to be thrilled, I strongly recommend T-Force. If you are looking for a good action movie, watch Die Hard, with Bruce Willis, not a look-alike. I guess you have to be a bad actor like Jack Scalia to assemble a crew of bad actors like these and produce such a piece of pure garbage...

5%

I wish they all would self-preservate

[toll-8 · 1/10 · 19 January 2012]

Lately I have been renting some relatively unknown B movies due to the fact that some of them star actors who have managed to break into A movies out today. I am also intrigued to see what can be done on a small budget and above all I feel it deserves the watch that a Hollywood blockbuster also deserves. I have to say though that after watching this film I have decided that B movies are an absolute no-no.

This monstrosity of a movie is called T-Force standing for Terminal Force, which is a group of cyber naughts (not robots) that look completely human and work for the LAPD. They are sent in on dangerous missions when it is unsafe for humans. The story opens when a skyscraper is taken under siege by a man who demands some prisoners are released. When the hijacker proves that he isn't afraid to throw his weight around, the police send in the T-Force with orders to kill the kidnappers. These orders however are bought into question when one cyber naught kills the lead terrorist at the expense of six hostages, something the Police Chief and Mayor are extremely unhappy about and decide to have the T-Force programme terminated.

When the cyber naughts are bought in to be deconstructed, they turn on their maker, demanding that their 'self-preservation' takes priority. I put 'self-preservation' in quote mark as it has to be word of the film as one character must say it a hundred times in ten minutes. That's ten times a minute. That's once every six seconds!! It is so annoying. Right to carry on, three of the four cyber naughts (another word completely over used) go on a rampage to defend themselves, one however remains behind believing that he should obey orders. He has human individuality apparently. As he is willing to track down his fellow T- Force he is partnered with a man who hates robots!! Shock, didn't see that one coming. They then set off to find and destroy the rogue 'cyber naughts'. Lost interest in a plot that has been done so many times yet? I have.

What we actually get here is a film that rips off any Hollywood film that was made just prior to this was. We start off with Die Hard (skyscraper being taken hostage), moving on to Die Hard 2 (demanding prisoners are released), to The Terminator (a carbon copy of the police station massacre), then moves on to a dodgy porn segment (typical porn music played over the top of a male and female robot stripping each other!!) and then the finale is just like Mad Max, the vehicles are identical. Seriously is there no originality out there?

The acting also doesn't help the film as it is seriously dreadful. The dialogue is corny, cheesy and any other word you can think of that describes lame and tacky. The action scenes seem very set up with explosions just happening anywhere and everywhere. We get cyber naughts that can't shoot the lead cop for love nor money but can take out five men in five shots and robots that seem to be as human as anyone else other than the fact that they can strip off their skin and show their robotic hand (and yes one of them does give the finger!). One of the best bits is when a terrorist points a rocket launcher at a police car and the policeman jumps inside it to protect himself! What is that all about?

You know I wasted an hour and a half on this movie and now I feel like I am wasting my time in writing a review for it, so I will leave you with this one comment, do not watch this movie!

0.5 / 5

Tolli

yawn. is this film still on ?

[ksf-2 · 2/10 · 19 May 2015]

Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy... like a big bowl of melted Velveeta. At the open, some group is breaking into some building, killing everyone in sight. They seem to be after "the ambassador"... the acting is pretty shady, along with everything else. The actors all say each line as if that one line is the most important line of the film. My favorite actor name in here is Clement von Franckenstein (really!)... he is the ambassador. Erin Grey probably best known for Buck Rogers and Silver Spoons, is The Mayor. I did not enjoy this at all... even the robots were arguing about what the "prime directive" is, when they decide to take over. Bad script, bad acting, bad direction. Don't waste your time. Some films are so bad, they are funny or fun, but it just doesn't happen here. Maybe it was meant for the kiddies, but there is a whole lot of cussing, so I wouldn't let the munchkins watch it! Find something else to do.

Derivative fun

[HaemovoreRex · 7/10 · 2 August 2009]

OK....mix together elements of Die Hard, Blade Runner and the Terminator and hey presto - welcome T-Force! Yes it's yet more B-movie heaven from director Richard Pepin who apparently not only content to steal basic elements from the aforementioned classic flicks, additionally directly lifts scenes from them to(!), most notably an almost scene for scene swipe of big Arnie's attack on the police station from the original Terminator film. Well, normally I would berate any such blatant plagiarism with the utmost haste and deduct points from the offending film like there was no tomorrow......but you know what? - This film is simply so much damned fun that I can't but help to love it and actually find the rip off elements to actually ADD to it's bizarre charm (a factor which so often occurs in B-movies in fact).

Also adding to the enjoyment is the assembled cast including (in the beginning at least) Vernon (Bennett!) Wells, a still incredibly sexy Erin Gray (damn, I used to fancy her like crazy when she was in Buck Rogers!) and he of the cleft'd chin (no not Kirk Douglas!) Jack Scalia. I've just got to award another point to this for its inclusion of one of the most stupid excuses for a sex scene ever in which two of the cybernauts get down to it......after looking at a dirty mag(!!!!) Tremendously entertaining stuff from start to finish! Alas, shame there wasn't a sequel (yet.....)

Sure ain't the worst movie out there

[mergatroid-1 · 3/10 · 11 August 2010]

The future.

Cyborgs used as advances swat teams but their decision making skills are not up to snuff.

Civilians get killed.

Cyborgs ordered to be dismantled.

Cyborgs say 'FU' (they didn't get their Laws of Robotics quite right) Three of four cyborgs decide self preservation comes before obeying authority.

Three cyborgs run away, killing everything in their path, and decide the Law is corrupt and must be destroyed.

Loner cop (Scalia) teams up with the only boot licker (uh, I mean, obedient) cyborg to take out the evil cyborgs.

This is a low budget cop scifi romp, and it shows. I wouldn't recommend this movie, however if I was bored and it came on TV I might not change the channel unless there was something better on (like the Paint Drying Channel).

They do try and ask some interesting moral questions, but this ain't no I Robot. However, the babe cyborg is HOT. AND, the best part of the movie, Erin Gray stars as the Mayor. She is SO hot, even trying to be a stuffy know-it-all politician. She can roast my weenie any time!!!

A Classic 90's PM.

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 8 September 2014]

At some point in the future, a scientist named Dr. Gant (Brooks) creates "Cybernauts", robots with very human characteristics used for law enforcement. Adam (Lurie), Zeus (Malibu, or McBee, or perhaps Malibu McBee), Mandragora (MacDonald) and Cain (Johnston) are bulletproof, never miss when they're shooting their guns, and have super-strength, among other superlative characteristics. However, when they're told the program that created them is going to be shut down, their "self-preservation" instinct kicks in. Zeus, Mandragora and Adam then proceed to go on a robot rampage. But Cain separates himself from the murderous bunch. He ends up teaming up with Lt. Jack Floyd (Scalia), a man who initially hates robots but eventually warms to Cain when Mayor Pendleton (Gray) ensures they have to work together as partners. Can anyone – or anything – stop these super-strong, deadly and emotionless killbots? Find out today! T-Force is an excellent example of what PM does best. It delivers the goods – it provides tons of viewing enjoyment, and totally fulfills what this sort of movie should be. Of course, the "T" in T-Force is short for Terminal, going along with what can only be described as the "Terminal" craze of movie titlings in the 90's. Terminal Force would have been a cool title, but shortening it to T-Force is even cooler. It starts with an amazing intro where the Cybernauts are posing in front of explosions, and we're treated to many more blow-ups where that came from.

Casting Malibu and Evan Lurie as robots was a stroke of genius, and these robo-meatheads (or MeatBots if you prefer), of course, have long hair. Why long, lion-like manes (and in the case of Cain, a propensity for wearing tight jeans) was part of the intentional design of the Cybernauts remains unexplained. But in addition to the plentiful shooting, blow-ups and fights, there are actually ideas and concepts embedded herein that make you think. No, seriously. The screenwriters must have been reading their Socrates, because there are some Crito-like meditations on the nature of law and society. Not to mention humanity. So, there are more real explosions – and ideas – in the final third of T-Force than in the past 20 years of Hollywood pap combined.

Playing the archetypal American man that the audience can identify with (he even has an all-American car, a 1977 Cadillac he names Ol' Betsy) Jack Scalia is at his absolute best here. Endowing Jack Floyd with a lot of energy, not to mention groany one-liners, he provides nice counterpoint to the robotic action. This blows away his performance in Dark Breed. I think we can safely say this is Classic Scalia. But giving him a run for his money is the guy who plays Alderman Peter (we think his name is Sean Moran). He gives everyone a run for their money, including two meatheads exchanging quasi-Shakespearan-style dialogue. Malibu and Lurie together is almost too much meathead for one movie, but at least T-Force reconstitutes the meat into something a little different this time.

So in classic 90's fashion we have tons of mindless killings and blow-ups, dialogue that's silly when it's not intellectual, exploding helicopters (and everything else), sax on the soundtrack, and of course the 90's-future-movie staple, VR. It's hard to ask for more, and the confluence of classic elements puts this ahead of the pack. PM delivers yet again, with a winner that is indeed T-Forceful.

T-riffic!

[Bezenby · 8/10 · 6 December 2016]

Ha! Why watch Die Hard, Universal Soldier, Terminator, Blade Runner or any buddy cop movie when you can just watch T-Force? That's all those films rolled into one. I nearly forgot the post-apocalyptic battle using mad max-style buggies! And all the other crap! T-Force is so awesome that we're introduced to T-Force by them posing in a futuristic landscape while stuff burns behind them, the first of many scenes that end with a character walking away from an explosion. We also get the plot of Die Hard condensed into a twenty minutes sequence as Vernon Wells turns up in a quick Klaus Kinski-like cameo, taking over a skyscraper, killing some dudes, then having all his men slaughtered by a bunch of cyborgs who discuss Assimov's rules of robotics while totally throwing those rules out of the window. Also, many people are thrown out of windows in this film too.

Jack Scalia also turns up as a grizzled cop who's probably correct in assuming that the cyborgs are a little heavy handed as they manage to kill about half a dozen civilians while blowing Vernon Wells to bits. This causes a lot of talk about primary directives and such like but you know what that means: The robots go rogue, following their own crazy logic. Except for the one that buddies up with robot hating cop Scat Jalia. So we've got indestructible cyborg killing machines like Terminator and Universal Soldier not only discussing their mortality, but also indulging in a bit of pro-creation. I was hoping at this point the female cyborg would become pregnant for some extra brain damage but they just kind of forgot about all this very quickly.

Jack cranks up the robot racism but his heart melts when his cyborg buddy fixes his car, as you do. Then some other stuff happens that's also cool. And the main bad robot gets shot in the head but for some reason the bullet wound moves to the other side of his head for the last ten minutes of the film.

Totally derivative, low budget, and cheesy, T-Force is also awesome for trying to fit so much into an hour and a half. Loved it when they jumped in those buggies for a car chase.

Hmm.. I have memories.

[ChrisTreborn · 8/10 · 5 April 2005]

I first saw this movie years back when I was on 6.th grade or something. Well, till now I remember some of the things from this movie.

T-Force (Spoilers******)

Inspired from the Terminator movies, director Richard Pepin tells the sci-fi story of some kind of Robots (much like T-800 series) used by the government. When there is any highly critical condition like terrorist attacks or hostage situation the cops used to call the help of T-Force. It includes 4 or 5 members including a lady robot (Yahe, she's pretty!) But things one day get messed up when the Robots take up on their own charges. They begin a new war against the authorities resulting a bunch of actions, gun fights, and shoot outs. Who will win the war, watch out T-Force!

Yahe it's a low stage action films that came up with the ideas of Terminator, the smash hit of that times. But hey it has some cool visions from the writers Jacobsen Hart and Lenore Kletter one which shows virtual realistic girlfriend (yahe it was first seen on Total Recall, but this one really worked), that was later copied to Arnold's Sixth day. Also one unforgettable scene is the love making of Robots, huh Jennifer MacDonald (I really searched madly to find her name) make that scene unforgettable! Go and watch the movie for some lag in time.

T-Force = A memorable movie.

An Awesome Action-packed Sci-fi Thriller Blast!!!

[lukem-52760 · 8/10 · 28 February 2023]

Yes T-Force is a low-budget B-movie that went strong to video & TV back in the early 90's but it's way better than it probably should be.

Made by PM Entertainment, that Awesome cheap movie production place of the 90's, that created lots of truly awesome action-packed thriller's such as Zero Tolerance, Dark Breed & many, many more. Often their films were a mix of sci-fi action & thriller genres with lots of shooting, explosions & brutal killings & the excellent T-Force is no different. I'm a fan of PM Entertainment & their kick-ass output.

T-Force is a slice of action-packed Sci-fi with a mix of the buddy-cop genre & stars the cool Jack Scalia, he also made the Awesome Dark Breed & The Silencers for PM Entertainment, who plays a hard-ass Detective in a futuristic Los Angeles & isn't happy about all the Robots that live amongst humans. Jack Scalia has those looks of a chiselled 90's heartthrob but with a tough exterior & a sarcastic attitude, basically a perfect leading man for the video store era B-movie genre.

I felt vibes of Will Smith's Detective character Del Spooner from i,Robot (2004) here & T-Force came out well before so i,Robot definitely copied some stuff from this flick.

Jack Scalia is a decent actor that was a big TV star during the 80's & 90's & starred in many B-movies & i like him as he really looks like a hard-ass government agent or something lol. Scalia is great in Dark Breed & The Silencers, both kick-ass ultra cool sci-fi action thriller's directed by the same director of T-Force, Richard Pepin.

Scalia is a tough no-nonsense cop named Jack Floyd (i really liked his hardened character) who has to deal with a new Robot partner (fun buddy-cop stuff here) to track down & stop a team of super Robots called the T-Force (short for Terminal Force) that have gone rogue (Blade Runner style) & are on a killing spree against, what they believe to be a corrupted government. The Robots & wanting to be human stuff is done really well & the robot team of super soldiers that are called into handle terrorist situations are all well played by very well by the actors. Everyone took it serious in a way, there's a dodgy cheesy sex experimental scene between two Robots that is corny & there just for the steamy 90's Erotic stuff that 90's cheap movies did. This is actually a smart little film with that actually makes you think about what is the part that makes us...well us, is it the soul? Or our consciousness! This film asks questions & from the Robots side. Even the reason this crack team of Robot soldiers turn on their creators is done well. The T-Force are to be destroyed after a hostage situation goes wrong & some innocent people are killed but the Robots decide to fight back under "Self Preservation" that is one of their rights. These human looking Robots do not want to Die, just like a human wouldn't want to Die & would fight back. The Robots trying to understand humanity is done incredibly smartly & made me think. The material may be that of action & explosions but there's definitely something more heartfelt underneath it all. A damn good script is & top notch directing made T-Force a cult classic in my opinion. Great character actor Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2, Innerspace, Commando) has a little role as a terrorist at the Awesome explosive beginning action sequence.

I really liked the good robot soldier called Cain played by Bobby Johnston, he did a great likeable job & worked well with Scalia in an Alien Nation way.

There's lots of awesome 90's action sequences & a feel of Albert Pyun's Nemesis with a touch of Robocop & Universal Soldier & of course both Terminator films but T-Force deserves it's place up there with those as a cult classic piece of action sci-fi Entertainment.

I liked the music score & loved how the film looked, the cinematography is typically cool of PM entertainment with everything bathed in cool blue lighting with lots of smoke around & the combination works perfectly.

T-Force is a top action thriller with an awesome sci-fi sheen & a top hard-ass performance from Jack Scalia.

Fun Cheesy Movie from PM Entertainment

[deshan-78580 · 8/10 · 3 October 2015]

Before I start this review, let me let you guys know that this movie may contain some spoiler alerts, if you can't handle them, then don't read this review.

T-Force is a 1994 direct to video Action movie directed by Richard Pepin (the co-founder of PM Entertainment). The story follows a group of 4 cyborg soldiers being made to protect the law from terrorists then later the T-Force has gone rogue (except for Cane who ditched them) and start going on killing spree because they do not wanna be dismantled. So now it's up to our Lt. Jack to stop the rampaging T-Force from killing any more people. Overall, this was a cheesy, but fun movie, after all, what can I expect from PM Entertainment. Some of their films are cheesy fun, and others are cheesy boring (cough cough Cybertracker). So I'll give this movie a 8 out of 10. If you love cheesy corny movies like this, then I recommend watching this movie. End of review.

Rated R for violence, brief nudity, and some coarse language.

Only for action-fans

[Quakerz · 20 August 1999]

T-Force is one of these films you only watch one time. The acting is poor and the story ( typical Die Hard / Terminator combination ) is equally boring and equally unrealistic. The movie lives from his unnecessarily long and bloody action-scenes, especially in the beginning. All together: A typical PM Entertaiment Group film. Not worth to rent on video.

[spoilers] Something went Horribly Wrong....

[rdbake · 7 July 2004]

...with this movie, that is. But not quite wrong enough to be a delightful dose of pure cheesiness.

To be honest, I only caught the last hour+ of this movie, but I think that's about all that's needed. The saving graces are few and probably insufficient. Jack Scalia's actually enjoyable, Erin Grey's still hot, and the ending is actually pretty good. Otherwise, pretty much a complete mess. The lighting is just awful (to conceal dreadful sets?), continuity and even token realism take a back seat during the big finale action piece, and a lot of the acting is a notch below dinner theatre. This sort of thing could be forgiven if not for the wholesale, complete (and utterly unnecessary) theft of complete scenes from 'Terminator' - the police station scene and gun dealer scene, for two.

Probably not worth a rental, even for cheese aficionados.