Chameleon

Chameleon

Internet favorite Bobbie Phillips (best known for her guest appearance on The X-Files as a foxy entomologist) stars in Chameleon as cinema's 4,000th android-with-a-conscience. This time, Phillips' photogenic sex-and-killing machine is assigned by an evil corporation to track down an important computer chip that has fallen into the hands of adorable 13-year-old moppet Eric Lloyd, whose resumé includes stints as "Young Sammy" in My Giant, "Young Bruce Wayne" in Batman And Robin, "Young Thomas" in Heart And Souls, and "Young Kevin Arnold" on The Wonder Years. Adequately directed by veteran B- and TV-movie director Stuart Cooper, Chameleon would be a lot more impressive if everything in it didn't seem recycled for the millionth time. You want futuristic rebels dressed like grungy Renaissance-fair rejects? Corporate fascists who look like yuppies run amok? A pretentious "What really makes us human?" theme derived from Philip K. Dick? A little kid teaching a killing android a valuable message about humanity lifted straight from Terminator 2? You're all set on all counts. For better or worse, but mainly for worse, Chameleon pounces upon virtually every futuristic-android cliché known to humanity. But what's even more damaging than the film's lack of originality is its moribund pace, which robs it of what little energy it possesses. Even as leering masturbation fodder, Chameleon is a dud, as Cooper's main contribution as a director seems to be his incredible ability to film sex scenes in a way that titillates no one and covers more flesh than a convent in Alaska.

 
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