Defense Play (1987) User Reviews

Lommel's cinematic water torture

[sormir2001 · 6 April 2003]

Teenies uncover CIA plot to arm robotic model airplane with weapons of mass destruction. The robot has a conscience (and a dopey cartoon voice) and enjoys escaping from its desert model airplane hangar to fly around the countryside (cue for massive amounts of stock footage). A movie that was made during an extended period in which director Ulli Lommel used lots of stock footage in his other movies, like Wardbirds and The Big Sweat. The teens race from their homes to the hangar and then back home, back to the hangar, fake out a bored security guard at the hangar, get in the hangar, have lengthy conversations with the robot, race home, hangar, home, hangar... You get the idea. There's a subplot in here somewhere about kids with disinterested parents who have too much time on their hands. The film itself is for people who have too much time on their hands. Unbelievable bore, much worse than any of Lommel's other previous record holders for worst films ever made (and there are several vying for that dubious honor).

Hope everybody had a backup

[zzz05 · 2/10 · 26 April 2016]

Apparently there was some sort of disk crash at a cloud-based video file storage service resulting in a several people's files becoming jumbled, including a bunch of documentaries about gliders, helicopters, the lyrical beauty of flight, etc.; one of those high school plays where the characters are all the same age; some sort of B movie involving redneck cowboys, a service station, funny mad scientists, and a 55 Chevy station wagon; trailers from the movies "War Games" and "Short Circuit"; commercials for Rold Gold pretzels and Pepsi-Cola; bad 1980s music videos; a game of Space Invaders; and the source code from some TRS-80 programs.

So bad its good

[fcoughu · 10/10 · 7 May 2016]

The stock footage in this film is sublime. Fantastic scenery unfolds before you as you are soaring over God's green Earth. The jump cuts are not distracting even though you are transported from the foothills of the Rockies for example, to a nighttime metropolis and even the Hollywood sign. My viewing included a commercial break with a Mobile Strike ad that began with a little helicopter attacking three guys at a table. You gotta love some tasty irony. The plot is bland at best. The acting is so bad. I mean horrendous. Its so bad it should win an award. There isn't much here, but thats OK. Sit back, enjoy, get ready to not pay attention.

Weird teenie sci-fi

[suchenwi · 7/10 · 20 September 2008]

This funny little film stars teenagers, and very often feels like it was written and produced by teenagers. Not so: Ulli Lommel had some decades of experience in the film industry when he made this.

Watching it, I had quite some fun, and felt 40 years younger. A toy helicopter (part remote-controlled, part flying on his own will) develops conscience, can talk ("Idiots!" and more), emit mysterious rays that knock guards unconscious, or make Max's parents reconsider their divorce...

Very weird piece, but it didn't bore me at all. 3 years after E.T., it seemed to have some similarities (though done much less convincingly). Still, it has its strange charms (as just one example, the "creature" is named Rem (for Rembrandt), and Max is seen to type REM into the BASIC program on the Apple ][ control computer... a cute inside joke, as REM starts a comment with no effect on the program's execution). Verdict: I would have loved this if I were a teenager in 1985, and I often felt like a teenager in 1985 when watching I.F.O. ... :^)