D.N.A.
It's a clone indeed

  Straight-to-video movies never seem to figure out that there's a lot more to DNA than making The Perfect Killing Machine.  The title tells you everything in this movie, and don't you think that in a good and just world, a title like this would only tell you that it involves genetics?

There was a while where I thought I might actually like this movie.  The creature design, however Alien-derived, is pretty cool and is fairly well-done for low-budget CGI and full-body costume.  It takes place in Sarawak, which gave rise to my involuntary outburst "Hey, I've been there!"  For a while, it looks like star Mark Dacascos isn't going to hide his lack of acting ability behind his hair.  But then it starts to suck, and never stops.

Dacascos stars as Dr. Ash, a doctor in Sarawak (northern Borneo, if you were wondering) who is approached by his benefactor, Dr. Wessinger (Jurgen Prochnow).  Wessinger has a proposal to develop and perfect the immunity-boosting cure-all Ash has been working on; all he needs are the beetles from which the formula is derived.  So Ash takes Wessinger out into the jungle, finds the beetles, and is promptly shot for his trouble as Wessinger makes off with the beetles and also the skeleton of some deceased jungle beast.  Two years later (even though the film never leaves Sarawak, we're told in a second subtitle that yes, we're still there), a CIA agent (Robin McKee) arrives in town to catch up with Wessinger, who's disappeared, and she gets Ash's help.  What they find is that he has (duh) Created The Perfect Killing Machine But He Cannot Control It yaaaaaaaaaaawwnnnnn......

Yeah, once that "Two years later" part comes, Dacascos has all his hair back, though he blessedly waits until the movie's almost over before taking his shirt off.  All things considered, he does fine; he's not much of an actor, but he doesn't embarrass himself quite like, say, Roger Aaron Brown, who gets a "black guy from Jurassic Park" role with a "black guy from Terminator 2" exit.

Problems abound here, not least with the special effects which get shakier as more of the creature is shown.  Ash beheads an anaconda early in the film, and quips to the CIA agent, "I guess they don't have those in the simulators."  Maybe not, but I know they don't have those in Borneo.  The creature is said to be very sensitive to loud noises, so why does it keep making them?

The climax of this movie is a note-for-note copy of that of Predator; the creature, which sees in a modified kind of Pred-o-vision, is even discovered to be unable to see you under certain circumstances.  It is revealed to be capable of Predator-like camouflage.  Dacascos goes through the Arnold Schwarzennegger "setting up traps for the monster" routine, which even prominently features a collapsed tree-bridge.  There's even a big, long fall into a lagoon/river/whatever.

Man, if I wanted to see Predator, I'd watch fucking Predator.  At least one good thing this movie has that Predator didn't is one amusing scene which thumbs its nose at the mid-90's tradition of people being able to outrun explosions.

This movie sucks, not like you couldn't tell from the box.  

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