Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Yvonne Jodi Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Coventry Some five years ago, around the time of his untimely and unfortunate death, my movie buddy and I watched quite a lot of trashy Robert Ginty B-movies such as "Warrior of the Lost World", "White Fire" and – of course – "The Exterminator". We watched them as a tribute to Ginty, but obviously also because they always guarantee low-brained and ultra-violent entertainment. It's too bad that we couldn't get our filthy little hands on "Programmed to Kill" back then, because this also would have made a great installment for a Robert Ginty theme night. Although, in all fairness, it isn't Robert Ginty who steals the show here, but cult wench Sandahl Bergman. Also known as "The Retaliator", the plot is highly derivative of "The Terminator" (and arguably also of "Robocop", but it looks as if this film got released slightly earlier the same year) but correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think anyone is looking for originality or groundbreaking new story lines in an '80s actioner like this! Although a rather blatant rip- off, the script is nonetheless engaging and fast-paced, with plenty of gratuitous violence and cheesy dialogs. Bergman stars as Samira, a terrorist from the Middle East most wanted by the CIA because she herself is dangerous and because she's engaged to the brain of the terrorist organization. Together with her posse, Samira kills a bunch of tourists in Lebanon and takes two young American children hostage, but the CIA recruits mercenary Eric Mathews to set things right. The heavily wounded Samira is brought back to the States, but there she's secretly transformed into a cyborg and programmed to serve as a weapon against her former friends. This all goes well at first, but Samira's new circuits quickly go haywire and she turns against her masters. Once again, the reluctant Eric Mathews is brought in to save the day. "The Retaliator" – I actually prefer that title – is definitely a lot of fun while it lasts and features a couple of reasonably impressive and well-staged action sequences/stunts. In my personal favorite scene, Samira calls a CIA boss and kills him through shouting in the horn until his ears bleed. The climax is also quite exciting with a massive amount of explosions, machinery action and POV executions through cyborg-vision! Admittedly the film also won't make an everlasting impression and suffers from a few dull and pointless sub plots, like Mathews' troubled family situation. By the way, Ginty's teenage son Jason is played by Paul Walker – who also sadly passed away already – in one of his very first roles.

JoeB131 But the only line I remembered was the joke about "an E-ticket in Khadafy-land".This could have been an okay movie, if it had people who could act in it. Robert Ginty looks like he wasn't even trying. I don't think Sandahl Bergman could ever act, so I give her a pass.The plot is that a hot female terrorist is rebuilt as a killer cyborg so she can re-infiltrate her terror cell and kill all the terrorists. But instead, he programming snaps and she goes after anyone involved in either capturing her or turning her into a robot.The movie has some interesting scenes, and some dumb ones. I think it could have been an interesting film with better dialog, better actors. It also looks like they ran out of money at the end, with the final scene being shot at a private airport. The scenes in Beruit (or wherever) looked really good. The scene where he's infiltrating an office building, not so much.

geminiredblue Cyborg movies were all the rage in the mid-80s after the release of THE TERMINATOR. That movie worked so well because it depicted a nightmarish vision of the future dominated by rampaging, killer machines. And while it had plenty of nifty sci-fi and cyborg effects, the human story was equally strong. Several years later, this movie came out. The version I saw called it THE RETALIATOR, but it's sometimes referred to as PROGRAMMED TO KILL. Personally, I like the shorter title better. But you can definitely see where the filmmakers wanted to cash in on the Terminator craze. Now then, the story: The movie opens in Crete where a group of terrorists open fire on innocent civilians and kidnap two children. The terrorists flee to Beirut with their hostages. So the CIA contacts a team of mercenaries led by the wooden Robert Ginty (from WARRIOR OF THE LOST WORLD, uh, fame?) to go in, kill the terrorists and rescue the children. In the course of the operation, they manage to rescue the kids and take a female terrorist as a prisoner. The terrorist, played expertly by Sandahl Bergman, is then subjected to a top-secret government project (aren't they all!) whereby they replace parts of her with machines, reprogram and transform her into a killer cyborg. The CIA then sends her back into Beirut to kill a top priority terrorist. As you probably suspect, not even two minutes after she completes her mission, the cyborg goes haywire and starts a rampage against her creators. So Ginty takes it upon himself to stop her. The kills are impressive, my personal favorite is the moment where she kills a guy using a car phone. But Ginty doesn't have much of a screen presence. Granted, he's mildly better in this one than in WOTLW, but that's not saying much. The biggest problem with this film is that it has a cheap feel to it. While it may not be all-that-cheap, afterall it was filmed in several countries, the movie looks and feels cheap. If you're just looking for some mild entertainment, then look no further. But if you want to really see the cyborg movie shine, go out and watch any or all of the following: THE TERMINATOR, TERMINATOR SALVATION, BLADE RUNNER, and ROBOCOP.

mobuc I believe this to have something for everyone. 1) The female lead 'kicks ass'! So advocates of females in action-dominant roles is well portrayed. Though this is common today this movie was made in the 1980's! 2)This is a great 'Sci-fi'/Action story! Complete with plots & counter plots! It's cerebral- not just 'T & A'. Think of it as the 'Original Universal Soldier' before Van Damnn. 3) Though it involves U.S. intelligence and foreign terrorist, it takes a passive position of the 'right & wrong' of the parties involved. So, government cynics (e.g. X-File types, etc.) will love the U.S. being a 'dark' good guy and does get their ass kicked along with the foreign guys! <LOL> 4) This movie really deserves to be re-done using modern methods and upgrade the story line to include current events. It's a great idea! 5) Lastly, did I mention the actress portraying our cyborg is a 'piece of a--' ... Well you get the idea! <VBEG>Baltimore, Md