If You Like Sci-Fi Action Thrillers, ‘Screamers’ Is For You

Christian Duguay’s “Screamers” is an epic science-fantasy chiller, ferocious as a renegade mutant android and probably too prophetic for comfort. Think of it as a “Blade Runner” for the present day, and you’re not far from base.

Texan Peter Weller, long associated with films that challenge the status quo, top-lines the picture as a futuristic military honcho who, fed up with escalating atrocities in a seemingly endless war, undertakes to negotiate a separate peace as a free agent. The time is less than a century hence.

Of course, between Weller and the enemy’s digs lies a deadly wasteland, where the commander must confront some demons of his own: The most treacherous pitfalls in this no man’s land come from the very war machines he had helped to create.

Bleak and embittered yet possessed of an energy ideal for the screen, “Screamers” derives from a Philip K. Dick short story called “Second Variety.” The screenplay, dating from 1980, involves such writers as Dan O’Bannon, of the 1979 smash “Alien,” and Miguel Tejada-Flores, co-author of 1989’s “Fright Night Part 2.”

Canadian director Duguay is better-known in Hollywood as a master operator of the Steadicam, that unshakable device that has transformed the way the industry photographs its crucial scenes of mobility and action. Duguay honed his directing chops on two recent “Scanners” sequels; he tackles this more ambitious “Screamers” project with confidence and a secure grasp of character-driven storytelling. England’s Rodney Gibbons, a master of stirring pictorial composition and occasional director in his own right, runs the cameras here.

Weller is quite in his element as a haunted, reluctant hero at large in a poisoned land. None of that whiny “world he never made” hogwash: The role is classic-manner film noir, minus the traditional fedora and overcoat, and Weller’s confrontation with his misdeeds, magnified, is right up there with his unnerving contributions to “Firstborn” (1984) and “Naked Lunch” (1991).

The backup cast starts small - just one scared trooper, played by Andy Lauer - but gradually expands to include a lost child (Michael Caloz), two fugitive enemy troopers (Roy Dupuis and Charles Powell), and a mysterious “femme fatale” (Jennifer Rubin). The suspense is of the old-fashioned “who’s next?” variety.

Oh, yes: The title refers to a noisy race of mutated monstrosities that exist solely to wipe out humanity. Of course, humanity has already come a long way toward wiping itself out by this time.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “Screamers” Location: Lincoln Heights, North Division and Coeur d’Alene cinemas. Credits: Directed by Christian Duguay; starring Peter Weller, Roy Dupuis, Jennifer Rubin, Andy Lauer Running time: 1:47 Rating: R