Welcome back to Movie Recapped. Today I will show you an action,
horror, sci-fi film from 2016, titled Kill Command. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
In an advanced near future, we meet Katherine Mills, a cyborg working for the Harbinger
Corporation. She's working at the factory when she gets a sudden message delivered directed to her
mind: it's footage of the robot known as S.A.R. or Study Analyze Reprogram, having an anomaly at the
Harbinger I Training Facility. She reports this to her boss, explaining that there's been a reprogram
count: one and a half million just under one day, totally unprecedented. Her boss congratulates her
on it.We then cut to a military base, where Captain Damien Bukes is asking one of his men,
Drifter, for a report. He informs him they've been ordered to join a training exercise and that it's
pretty rotten out there. Bukes isn't happy with this news so, after noticing Mills sitting nearby,
he approaches the soldier in charge of sending them off to ask what's going on since his team has
already been on training the last four times out, he's told is only two days and they're looking for
marines with combat time, not many left of those. Bukes has no other choice but to obey, but before
he leaves, he's informed he's been assigned Mills as a tech. She follows Bukes outside to introduce
herself and explain there's hardware on the field they'll be training at, she'll be observing it
since she is from Harbinger. Bukes asks her to keep an eye on them, she says she must keep an
eye on both them and the hardware, which makes Bukes believe she's trying to work out what she
can save on. She explains that's not what her company does, they're vendors for the military,
not the military itself. Bukes cuts her off and tells her to keep up or she'll be left behind,
he also asks her to turn her eyes scanner off because he doesn't want to be scanned.
But Mills tells him it doesn't go off. Once they board the plane, Mills meets
Bukes' whole unit, which consists of Drifter, Sergeant Rory Robinson, Corporal Robert Cutbill,
Lance Corporal Martin Goodwin, Corporal Daniella Hackett and Corporal Sam Loftus. The plan takes
off and the crew keeps themselves busy on the trip: some of them sleep or do a crossword,
Mills learns about them by scanning them but also by hearing their banter - they're quite obviously
very close friends. She also learns that Bukes has killed 18 and that Robinson has tech implants
on his eyes. Robinson points his rifle at her and tells her he sees her, Mills just leans in
a bit and disarms the weapon by just looking at it, since that's all she needs to do to access
any machine. She points out she can even fire it from afar while he's checking the chamber.
As they get closer to the location, Bukes gives the unit the basic instructions and reminds them
the ammo is live and they'll be monitored. Mills discovers she cannot access the global network
anymore and she's obliged to change to the local one. Robinson tells Bukes that what she's got are
tools, like the ones on his own eyes, but Bukes tells him his don't go to his brain.
The plane lands in front of an old facility, the door opens when the lock's computer recognizes
Bukes. The computer also turns on the lights and repeats a welcome message,
but as Bukes makes his way inside, he realizes there's nobody around. This is
also noted outside by the soldiers, who wonder who will be monitoring them. When Bukes returns,
he tells them they'll get going, and Mills takes the chance to ask him if he has any ground support
or recon - he doesn't. Mills thinks they got off on the wrong foot, but he doesn't agree.
The plane leaves and the team makes their way through the facility while teasing each other,
eventually they make it out and into a forest. Bukes orders Cutbill to send up a drone then
reminds everyone they shouldn't let their guards down just because it's training. Once the drone is
set up, they get going, spreading out with Mills following behind after she sees an unidentified
drone among the trees. It doesn't take them long to find the location, so they move to get into
their positions, with Drifter following Mills and asking her to help him out with his boss.
Their conversation is interrupted when three strange surveillance drones arrive and stare
at them, Drifter is about to aim at them but Mills stops him - it seems she's trying to gain access
to them. Drifter informs his teammates of this encounter, Hackett reports she's found them too.
Mills tells Drifter Harbinger made what he calls these "new toys" but these ones have
been quantum-modified, they don't have operators. After Drifter comments on the fact they at least
know they're here, we see Bukes has also found these drones, but asks everyone to move on.
Moments later, their practice targets finally make an appearance: they're very rudimentary robots.
Bukes designs a plan of attack and everybody moves to their assigned positions, Mills once again
getting to follow Drifter after one more glance at the special drone. After a countdown, they attack
using bullets, rockets and explosives - a piece of cake for experienced soldiers like them. The weird
drones watch and record their tactics, and Mills decides to follow one deeper in the forest where
she finds a more advanced unit, a S.A.R. She isn't surprised to see it, but she does get shocked when
it turns around and there's blood on its head - the fact she can't access it also upsets her. She
does manage to see and download some footage from the robot, which contains images of it shooting
people face to face. She closes her eyes, trying to process all this, and when she opens them,
the S.A.R. is nowhere to be found. At that moment a message arrives from their captain: the day is
over, they've done well, time to set up camp. Later at night, the team has set up camp and
is sharing some war stories, but Mills sits on her own. Drifter can't help watching her,
and the others tease him for it, reminding him she isn't even human.
They also discuss the fact their targets were easy to get and rather basic technology. Meanwhile,
Mills is going through the footage she's acquired when Drifter comes to check on her. He sits
by her side and asks her where she had gone earlier, she only says she had to look around.
He also asks about communications, but just like them, she can't still reach out either. She
wonders why Bukes isn't talking to him himself, Drifter points out maybe Bukes simply chooses not
to like her, which Mills thinks it's unfortunate for her considering Bukes' killing record,
but Drifter says those are context-less figures, and that's why Bukes doesn't want to like her.
Drifter takes the chance to asked Mills about the story behind her getting chipped: it happened when
she was eleven, and without it she had paralysis. Harbinger sponsored it all and cured her. Drifter
decides to return to camp a moment later, where he finds Bukes staring at Mills. He asks Drifter if
she's told him anything, he replies she's said she's been blocked off and doesn't know why.
Drifter believes her, but Bukes doesn't: he thinks something's off with both the training and Mills.
While everyone gets ready for the night, Mills detects a bunch of drones in the forest,
and when she goes to sleep, the strange footage from the S.A.R. appears in her eyes again.
Meanwhile, Loftus -who is staying up to keep watch- is approached by one of the drones.
He tells it to get out of there and it does, but then he hears a noise:
when he looks up with this gun light, he finds the S.A.R. coming after him. Loftus starts shooting at
it but we suddenly cut back to camp, where Mills wakes up to hear everyone wondering about the
unexpected shot noises. Goodwin tells Bukes he saw Loftus up there but a second later he was gone, so
the team starts searching the forest to find him. It's already the morning of the second day when
they find their first clue: some blood on the grass. It only takes them a few steps
more from there to find Loftus' body, chucked against a tree. Cutbill freaks out at the sight
of his friend like this and wants to get out of there, his superiors tell him to shut up
as they all get in a defensive position for a possible attack. Mills tells them
they're standing on their targets' area from yesterday when a drone comes by to watch them,
the thing barely stays there a second before leaving right before Hackett gets shot and killed.
Bukes orders them to move and they do so, hiding behind trees as a bunch of robots shows up where
the unit took positions the day before, which Bukes notices. He and Drifter take out some
smoke grenades and throw them to cover the area with fog. Robots and soldiers start
shooting at each other as the unit keeps moving along, Bukes eventually manages to get closer
to the robots but they strangely back off and disappear when they see him. In the meantime,
Cutbill -who got separated from his team on the run- is trying to contact them to no avail.
A couple of drones come closer to watch him before flying away, only for a S.A.R.
to come out a moment later and kill Cutbill. Back to the team, Drifter asks Bukes what he's
seen. He explains the robots he's encountered are more advanced than those from yesterday,
their armor is incredibly good since they were able to take a shot from him without any damage.
Getting angry over losing his men, he demands Mills to tell him what she knows and to turn
those robots off. Mills says that while she's able to see them, she isn't capable of turning
them off - there's a programming error and she's running the possibilities. This gets Bukes even
angrier, but Drifter jumps in to defend her, saying she doesn't know and this is a programmer's
mistake. Bukes doesn't agree: mistakes aren't efficient. Robinson returns then - he had been
looking for Cutbill, but only found his helmet. So the team gets moving again to find him.
On their way through the forest, Drifter reminds Bukes Mills is useful because she can see things
they can't. Bukes points out that if she sees them that means they get to see her in return
and therefore they see the team as well, but Drifter says it doesn't matter because they
need all the help they can take right now. Bukes can't stop thinking about the attack
and wondering why the robots have let them walk, he thinks it may be because Mills was there with
them. She interrupts them to show them something in the forest: a huge amount of dead animals,
it seems the robots have been using them as target practice, like Loftus. Suddenly, Mills announces
they're being tracked from the ridge, just in time to see more robots show up. They waste no time
in opening fire, so the team starts running away as fast as they can. When a particular
shot is about to hit Mills, Bukes pushes her out of the way and drags her down with him,
which causes them to roll away and get separated from the group. Mills hits a tree and passes out.
Drifter tries to contact them to no avail, so he tells Goodwin and Robinson to get moving.
Night falls. Bukes manages to carry Mills back to the facility entrance and make contact with
Drifter. They tell each other of their situation and when Drifter says they'll go to him,
Bukes orders them to stay where they are - it's too dark and the robots could find them easily,
better regroup in the morning. Some hours later, a drone appears in front of Bukes. It leaves quickly
but the captain is already grabbing Mills and hiding behind the wall as a S.A.R approaches them.
The robot leans in and makes Mills open her eyes to connect with her before leaving.
It's morning when she finally wakes up. Bukes informs her she's been out for nine hours,
she asks him why he didn't leave her. Bukes says he doesn't know before telling her about
what happened last night, Mills replies they need to find that robot. When Bukes asks why,
she says she can't explain it. Bukes orders her to find a way before declaring they're leaving.
They regroup with the three remaining soldiers. Drifter says they weren't
tracked even if they could've done so easily, because they were everywhere
last night. Mills confirms it looks clear ahead and all the signals are behind them.
They decide to go back to the drop point and wait for transport to pick them up, Bukes will take
Mills to the door since she's the only one that can open it, while the others cover their backs.
The road is clear so they make it to the door with no issues. Bukes tries to get in
but the lock's computer doesn't identify him, and surveillance drones make their appearance then.
Mills takes over the door, working on hacking it open, when suddenly some smoke grenades are
shot in the area: the robots are copying them, and Bukes can't see a thing. There's no time to plan,
the robots appear and start shooting them, so the soldiers get moving. Drifter is shot
on the leg right before Mills manages to open the door. The soldiers need to stop and hide to
protect themselves from the heavy fire, so Bukes decides to go help them. They all hold onto each
other as they get moving again, but Drifter says back, shooting to give them a chance to escape.
He gets shot again, so the S.A.R. finds him and pins him down. Bukes notices this and goes back to
save him. Mills also notices so she runs and joins them, the robots stop shooting when they see her.
She tries to deactivate them but she can't, so the S.A.R. gets in position to cut Drifter open.
Mills is still trying to deactivate the units so she tells the soldiers not to shoot,
but since she isn't getting anywhere, Bukes shoots Drifter before the S.A.R can kill him itself to
save him from the torture. Mills cries out at the loss of her friend, Bukes grabs her and drags her
with him as they finally enter the facility again. Inside the building, Mills yells at Bukes for what
he did. She's sure she could've saved Drifter because she was the one that made these robots.
This makes no sense, so the soldiers point their weapons at her and demand answers. Mills says she
doesn't know why they are here, marines come here to train but she only knows they were requested.
She's the one that wrote the program and designed the prototypes, but the codes have advanced more
than they could imagine. She thinks that if she can understand it, she could control it,
but Bukes says it's too late for that. When asked exactly what they are, Mills tells them
they're their replacements, machines taking over human soldiers so no more lives are lost.
They learn and improve themselves, like people. None of the soldiers like this, and Bukes points
out his men are dead because of her. Mills is shown to be crying when he leaves the room.
The main door is slowly being cut open by the robots, so they need to find a better
defensive position. Mills gets the door to the personnel area open and turns on the lights,
what they find inside is worrying: a whole unit of S.A.R. models. Bukes tells Mills not to turn
them on, then asks her to open a new door: here they find the bodies of all the facility
employees. Mills uses a screen to connect to the local system, but she still can't manage to
communicate with the outside world. Bukes points out they're in a bottleneck and they could slow
down the robots from here. As the soldiers start setting up charges, Mills leaves the room, locking
the door behind her so they can't follow her. Since the S.A.R. units have power, she activates
one. They are all connected to each other, so when one wakes up, it will know what they all know.
She thinks she can get to them through this one. The robot wakes up and, after Mills turns on its
speech program, it starts answering her questions. Its orders are to run the human combat program,
which Mills tries to cancel, but she can't. It tells her it can't comply because of a human
error: the training subjects aren't performing as expected, so they need new motivated targets.
As the robot identifies who she is and the fact she doesn't have clearance,
Mills has a realization: it was the guardian S.A.R. that brought the marines here.
When she asks when training will be complete, the robot says it's unspecified. The soldiers tell
Mills to open the door but she doesn't listen, she wants to try to access the units again.
She isn't successful, and the guardian S.A.R starts activating the rest of the robots at the
same time the ones from the outside finally break in. Mills is being approached from all sides,
but Robinson manages to force the door open and drags her inside before closing it again.
The robots immediately get on working to cut this one open too.
The team returns to the bottleneck room, where Bukes is finishing setting up the charges.
The robots break in then, so they barely have time to escape before the bomb goes off, hitting them
as well. When they are down, Mills is hit again by an electromagnetic disturbance, making her
notice the robots carry EMP grenades with them. They all make it outside, where they find many
abandoned buildings and training equipment, plus more bodies. While the soldiers look at the ruins,
Mills enters a tunnel and takes an EMP grenade from one of the fallen robots. Afterward,
while the men divide the ammunition and take a position for a siege, she looks over the footage
of the death of her teammates, which makes her cry but also more determined to use the grenade.
While everyone waits for the robots, Bukes checks on Mills and discovers the grenade.
Mills tells him it should be able to deactivate the S.A.R., but its range is short, they'll
need a detonator. Hitting the S.A.R. leader should stop all the rest of the units as well.
She also explains that the reason why they haven't been killed yet is that the robots have
pushed them there on purpose for more practice, only the EMP can stop them. Bukes points out the
explosion may kill her too, or at least wipe her clean, but Mills thinks it's their only option.
They spend the entire night waiting, and it isn't until morning that the robots finally come.
Robinson is in charge of drawing them in from this spot as sharpshooter,
Goodwin must stay out of sight because he has the detonators. When the units enter the city,
Robinson and Burkes start a gunfight with them while Mills scans the area to indicate Goodwin
when to trigger the bombs they've hidden, which manage to make them lose quite a few robots.
Mills continues to guide Robinsong and Burkes safely through the city,
warning them of incoming attacks, but when Goodwin activates another bomb, the drones find him,
so he must leave his assigned spot. Robinson covers Burkes as he runs to help Goodwin,
who is being chased by a S.A.R. He manages to grab him and take him, Robinson dies covering
their backs. Once they reach a safe stop, Goodwin mentions he's dropped the detonator on the way,
so Bukes goes out under heavy fire to retrieve it and finds Mills already there,
picking it up as the robots come closer. Bukes tells her to run so she isn't hit by the EMP too,
but she refuses. The S.A.R. makes one of the smaller units shoot Mills,
but Bukes catches her as she goes down, giving her the opportunity to trigger the EMP grenade.
For a moment, it seems all robots have shut down, and Mills is about to as well.
But the S.A.R. suddenly wakes up and goes after them, so Bukes has to drag Mills away.
They enter a building and while Bukes starts shooting at the robot on the stairs,
Mills crawls into the room Robinson's body is at. Bukes is thrown inside by the robot soon after,
and he asks it to finish him, but the S.A.R. can't because it has orders and still needs more
data to complete the program. It goes after Mills instead, whom it still can't identify, but when
it's about to kill her, she activates Robinson's rifle and shoots the S.A.R. down. The robot
connects to her and downloads information into her brain before finally deactivating for good.
The movie ends with transport arriving to pick Bukes,
Goodwin and Mills up and get them out of there. As the soldiers board the plane,
Mills' eyes open, showing us the S.A.R.'s mission protocol has taken over.