fedor8 Obviously written by an extreme left-winger and hater of the U.S. and capitalism in general.The main character is a member of Greenpeace (no less) whose death is arranged by the evil, so very evil secret government organization which turns him into a half-cyber-thing for - what else - military test purposes. They not only kill his wife (who got wind of the foul play) but planned to kill his daughter, as well. Why?! Because U.S. gov't people are extremely evil and appallingly brutal and bloodthirsty and totally psychopathic cold-blooded degenerates bent on killing any person they can whenever they get the slightest chance or have even the slightest half-reason to do so. The genius doctor behind it all has his moral qualms yet he had none when the whole experiment (inclusive multiple murder) was planned and carried out; yet, he has a human side, too, when he hides Hutton's daughter. Hmm. Not a very convincing or well fleshed-out character, I'd say. The premise is lifted from "Blade Runner" (memory implants), "Telephone" (brain control in spies), "Robocop" (obvious), and "Million Dollar Man", a cheap 70s TV series for kids. The movie is interesting in the first half, despite the nonsense, but gradually its B-movie roots start showing more and more as the clichés and silliness pile up.

The_Void Imagine the situation: you've just woken up in a strange place that you don't recognise, and after escaping, you return to the house that you, your wife and your daughter have lived in for the past few years, only to find that there's another family living there and, get this, nobody knows who you are; as far as they're concerned, you never existed! Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. You then meet your wife and, get this, she doesn't know who you are either! Oh my god! I know what you're thinking by this point; "oh my god, maybe I died in a car crash, had cybernetic implants that have made me half man and half machine so that I could overthrow some government on the orders of a secret corporation, just before I had actors act as my family and friends to create false memories which have now being implanted into my brain; thus causing me to be confused between what's real and what's false". And guess what; in this situation, you would be right. Well, Timothy Hutton actually is in this situation, and after finding out all that I've said so far, he says 'oh…ok'. Realism is this film's key aspect.Now, I know you probably doubt that this film could possibly get any cooler, but you don't know the half of it, as this movie features the man that is probably the hardest looking man in history, movies or otherwise; John Glover. You wouldn't want to meet him on a dark night, and neither would I, as this guy is nasty with a capital 'N'. He approaches his role as the action hero-esquire secret government agent thingy with gusto and really makes you believe that he has the hard man ability to run a corporation with an iron fist. This guy makes Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a fairy, he really does. In fact, if he were any harder; he actually would be made out of stone. Well, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that he is. As mentioned, his adversary is the half man, half robot; Timothy Hutton. Hutton makes a great impromptu action hero...ahem, not. His only role in this film is making John Glover look even harder, if that's even possible and I don't know if it is. Actually, I think this movie would be better without Hutton in it at all. Think about it; we could just follow the escapades of John Glover's character. If John Glover, or anyone else with stature in the movie industry would like to get in touch with me about the possibility of a trilogy of spin-off's (probably called 'The Chronicles of John Glover'), just drop me a line as I have some great ideas. Anyway, I don't know what happened in the end because I fell asleep with about fifteen minutes to go, but I like to think that it ended with a bunch of Hutton's mates coming into the final scene with a keg of beer, saying "April Fools", and then Hutton and his friends laugh the whole incident off while saying things like "I cant believe you thought that you were a half man, half robot assassin prototype; you didn't even doubt the story for a second!" etc. That would be great...wouldn't it?

Theo Robertson " Something is missing " whines John Larkin . I quite agree , an original script is missing , not to mention a big name star , a director who has made more than just TVMs , and a big budget . For the first ten minute of the film - oooopps sorry I mean TVM . There is a difference - the plot involves an everyman type suffering from strange dreams , finds his wife and lifestyle are not what they seem and discovers himself to be a hunted man . At any second I was expecting the line " If I`m not me then who the hell am I ? " to come out . Guess what film I`m referring to ? Sorry but Timothy Hutton isn`t big Arnie or Jean Claude Van Damme , but he`s not Steven Segal either so I guess DEAD BY MIDNIGHT could be worse and it does contain a mind blowing scene where the bad guy turns up at an orphanage and gives the long suffering TV viewer a good laugh with some of the worst acting I have ever seen

bob the moo John Larkin is snatched from his home leaving his wife and children behind. He escapes his captors and tracks down his wife only to discover that she is a doctor playing the role of his wife, all his memories are false and implanted into his programming and that he's part robot being trained to infiltrate a government overthrow it and then lead the country the way his programmers desire. He also discovers that if he goes missing for more than 48 hours a programme will automatically shut him down and wipe his memory clean forever.The overall plot for this has been done many times - part human part machine, realises what's going on and goes on the run - but it's been done better. Here it's all to predictable, too lazy and too boring. The story roles slowly along without going anywhere you don't expect and lacks any action, excitement or drama. It really is that poor - even though it less than 90 minutes it's difficult to get through it without getting bored. The story lacks any imagination and has nothing to make you think - even as the full extent of the conspiracy is uncovered it's still not exciting or even interesting.The TV direction doesn't help but neither do the actors. Hutton overplays the coldness he imagines a robot would have and overdoes the jerky head movements at times - he doesn't convince as someone who would fit in, he looks like a robot throughout. Suzy Amis is OK as his wife but always seems like a deer with her big eyes and gentle smile. John Glover is too eccentric as Dr Drake and would be better suited as the villain if this was a spoofy comedy film, but he doesn't fit in here. Grant Heslov plays the helpful cop but really needs to sort out his eyes - does he really need to look that tired?The film squanders good ideas and lacks any of the drama and tension that a film involving a guy being pursued by a Government conspiracy would usually have (enemy of the state?). It is consistently lazy in it's storytelling with thing like the cop turning up at the right place at the right time and explaining it by "I worked it all out". As if anyone would put together very basic clues to conclude that someone was breeding an android from an innocent man to become a killing machine! Also the ending relating to the memory loss is just so lazy that it's insulting to those of us wondering how the problem was going to be solved.Overall a lame drama with no obvious redeeming features.