Vice (2015)

1 Star (out of 4)

Mire and 'Vice'

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Director Brian A. Miller and star Bruce Willis previously gave us the terrible The Prince, and now they're back with an equally terrible entry. Vice steals ideas from things like Westworld and The Purge, but doesn't add any fresh ideas, nor, indeed, any ideas at all.

In the future, a shrewd businessman, Julian Michaels (Willis), has established an enormously successful resort, called "Vice," where customers can live out their most depraved and violent fantasies on extremely lifelike robots. While government kowtows to the business, benefitting from the money it brings in, local cop Roy (Thomas Jane) wants nothing more than to shut the resort down, thinking it only increases crime in the real world. When one female robot, Kelly (Ambyr Childers), becomes self-aware and escapes, he may just have his chance.

It seems bent on showcasing nasty violence against women, no matter that the women are robots and that the good guys are outraged; the violence is still there, and the movie can't seem to get enough. Besides being morally questionable, the movie itself is poorly made. The dialogue is painfully clunky and overly explanatory, and the actors -- whether newcomer or veteran -- can't make it work. Thomas Jane's performance is like a parody of acting, and Even Willis seems distressingly awkward, speaking his villainous plans out loud. The plot moves in disconnected fits and starts, and the action is sub-par. Be virtuous and avoid this Vice.