Prototype (1983)

How sad is this?

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I am thinking of the 2016 "Arrival" as I watch this beautifully crafted story in which the military believes it is in charge of the "miraculous"--for the questioning mind of Michael, the laboratory-created being,is sensitive and creative. He processes both literature and experience, and asks questions. During his first venture into the world beyond the laboratory he is sensitive to expectations, and capable of wonder--seeing the toy train and being mesmerized by "the little puffs of smoke". The laboratory has produced something which is in fact a someone, a new person. And, as in "Arrival", the appearance of something not understood elicits two kind of response--the need to control it, and the need to understand it. I recognize that we are stuck with institutionalized fear in our military establishment--and by "we" I mean humans. Still crawling forward out of the primordial ooze. And now I'm going to finish watching the excellent movie which gave rise to this realization.

I think the other reviewers are right when they say this is a far underrated movie. What a great job from the writers, crew, director and cast! Definitely a keeper for my DVD collection.I think David Morse was excellent. "Michael" had just enough oddness that people would only think he was eccentric or maybe a bit mentally challenged. His movements were a bit unsteady, yet only in an awkward, overgrown kid sort of way, not mechanical-like.I'd read the quotes here on IMDb about the metal, but I wasn't at all prepared for the actor's voice breaking when he said the line. How heartbreaking!And Christopher Plummer! They scored such a wonderful performer because of the quality of the script, and he truly did it justice.Bravo to everyone involved in this production! A worthy effort.

That Terminator-like metal skull with the pointy teeth and glowing red eye has absolutely nothing to do with this movie. That was obviously just some ad executive's attempt to play on the popularity of "Ahnold's" film successes. Ditto for the tag line "The future is not friendly." Instead, "Prototype" is a thoughtful, well played drama about two character's struggles to understand and deal with the world around them. Christopher Plummer is on solid ground as the scientist who wants his creation to have a chance at life, and David Morse is spectacularly understated as the android prototype of the title.What makes this so compelling is the same thing that makes all of the best science fiction or fantasy work: The principle players take the situation and their part in it as real, without engaging in histrionics. As Michael, Morse indulges in neither the overplayed "childlike wonder" nor the hyper-mechanical stiffness so often poured into similar roles by lesser actors. Michael is "other" without being weird.Well worth a look.

Christopher Plummer plays Dr. Carl Forrester, who is part of research team experiment an android with artificial intelligence. David Morse plays Michael the android. When Dr. Forrester finds out that the team is using Michael for a soldier in military. He hides Michael and starts a new life but for how long? Well worth your time to watch.