Cops-and-robots thriller by Michael Crichton, in the slightly futuristic vein favored by him. There are a wide variety of domestic, industrial, and criminal robots, highlighted by a "poisonous spider" model, plus a few other gizmos such as a guided-missile pistol, a "floater camera," and moving-picture mug shots -- but the world into which these inventions are sprinkled has otherwise not changed much from our own. Tom Selleck is the uniformed police officer who heads up the robotics squad -- to arrest and rehabilitate errant robots -- and who, incidentally, has a problem with acrophobia. Well, maybe not so incidentally: you will not be surprised that the sweaty-palmed climax, after a long-drawn-out manhunt, occurs at a high-rise construction site, with Selleck having to rescue his son from a villain (Gene Simmons, of the rock group Kiss) who is routinely described as "evil" and certainly looks, acts, and sneers like it. With Cynthia Rhodes. (1984) — Duncan Shepherd
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