Yeah, it's a good question - and a rhetorical one too. Judging by the sub-SyFy Channel standard of A.I. ASSAULT, aka SHOCKWAVE, the answer's a definite "no", because this is Z-grade CGI trash through and through. The problem with A.I. ASSAULT is that it's saddled with an absolutely awful, lunk-headed script which starts nowhere and goes nowhere. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, the performances would stink in a porn film, and the direction is sub-par. In fact, the only thing good about the whole movie is a pair of alien robots which dominate the storyline.These creations are shamelessly lifted from Wells' original WAR OF THE WORLD, giant Tripod-things that go around butchering soldiers in various mildly gory (but inevitably cheesy) ways. They show promise, but the premise soon boils down to various characters wandering around an island somewhere, endlessly fighting them off and getting bumped off one by one. It's all very humdrum and by rote; the robots could be exchange for any movie monster in existence and it would all boil down to the same thing.The film's main selling point is the presence of a number of ex-STAR TREK actors who inevitably show up for brief cameos before disappearing again. An indelibly aged George Takei is here, along with Robert Picardo and Michael Dorn. B-movie favourite Tim Thomerson also appears as a stuffy army official. Sadly, none of these actors even come close to making A.I. ASSAULT anything approaching a decent movie.

Wow, you ARE a picky bunch, aren't you? Look, this is a SciFi (now SyFy) channel movie. We all know what we're in for before the movie even starts. You can't compare it to the 100-200 million dollar theatrical releases. SyFy cranks these babies out on the cheap, and you get what you'd expect; SFX that can be done on home PC's, B and C grade actors, and older actors that are now out of fame and just looking for something to do.In this case they did a cool thing and brought in Star Trek alum from three versions of the franchise; Takei, from TOS, Dorn, from NG, and Picardo, from Voyager. SyFy offers these guys maybe $25,000 for a couple days work on what are, essentially, extended cameos. They sit around between shots, sipping martini's and reminiscing over the old times. They give half-baked performances, get one or two minutes of screen time each, cash their checks and go home. Hell, I'd do it. For their part, SyFy gets to use their names for promoting the film.As SyFy channel movies go, this one was OK. Fact is, I thought the SFX were better than in many of these little time-wasters. They go cheap and don't worry about details, like captain's bars on their collar and sergeant's stripes on their sleeve (this from one of the movies I saw a couple years ago). My favorite from this one is that all the Special Forces guys are carrying M16A2's, except one guy, who's using a 50 year old M16A1. Not a chance this would happen in real life, but to be honest, I think they do a lot of that stuff on purpose, to give guys like me the fun of spotting those errors.It's just campy fun, like Snakes On A Plane, and if you watch until the first commercial break you'll know the entire plot, and after that you can go to the bathroom, grab another beer, or answer the phone and have no fear that you'll miss a vital plot point.So lighten up, people. This fluff won't kill you, and let's face it, the other 80 channels are all filled with stuff like Real Housewives of Barstow, Law & Order reruns from the 1990's, and Tory Spelling movies (Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?).I'd say this was an average SyFy channel effort.

Once again, I admonish anyone against sending Dave to the Blockbuster alone (see my comment on "Showdown at Area 51"). Dave, being a HUGE trekker (not a trek-EE, dammit!), decided that the presence of Robert Picardo and George Takei meant that this bad boy would be a sure-fire WINNER! I needed three 22-ounce screwdrivers (poured half-and-half) to make it though this snooze-fest. The best part was when Takei, in one of the most poignant spurts of film irony ever, yells with utter conviction, "WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON BACK THERE!?" God, have we gotten some mileage out of that quote! Other than that, this film, despite the presence of Tim Thomerson, has absolutely NOTHING to recommend it. Please, please, don't go down this path. You will feel like the morning after getting roofied at a party at Takei's house: strangely violated and emotionally dead.

Just flipping channels on a lazy Saturday, happened to catch this on HBO. Forget the magically - always fully loaded clips and people standing right in front waiting for robots to kill them. Even the heist was just badly done. Why can not the guy put the stupid bag down and just dump the money into it with both hands? Must be pretty awkward to hurry using only one hand! The guy kills the steward 'coz he gets to know his name! Couldn't they sand bag him and carried out the heist? And he kills him for knowing his name - what about the face? No ski-masks? Once out of the room - the only guy around is dead in the office. Why carry the guns in hand? To raise suspicion? I made myself watch it for 20 minutes... - and changed channels. If you plan to torture your enemies - show them this.