Rating: 
Summary: A classic
Review: A classic science fiction story that stands up well after all these years. A pity that the series of novels were not continued in additional films.
Rating: 
Summary: PAN SCAN!?!?!
Review: Aaargh! How could Universal do this to one of my favorite movies? They released it pan-scan to DVD? That's unforgiveable in this day and age of widescreen TVs! Worse, Colossus is a full 2.35 film, which means a whole bunch of it got cropped. This is a terrible, terrible decision. Do not buy this disc. Protest until they release it again widescreen. Until then, I guess I'm back to my DVD dubbed off the laserdisc (which *is* 2.35). I recommend that for anyone who really wants this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Another DVD travesty
Review: As others have indicated, this is an absolute mastering travesty of an important and overlooked film.
If you have not seen the film, then buy this. There is a widescreen laserdisc that is quite rare, but how this movie should be experienced.
What a complete disappointment after years of waiting.
Rating: 
Summary: Colossus: Be Careful Of What You Wish For...
Review: COLOSSUS, THE FORBIN PROJECT is one of the rare breed of science fiction films in that it is a 'message' movie. Granted, one can argue that all films should have at their core some theme or message, but in some cases,like this one, the intent of both cast and crew becomes evident, even to the point of distraction. Director Joseph Sargent took the novel by D. F. Jones and emphasized the latent premise that man is at his core a corrupt, evil creature who misuses his intelligence to build bigger and better ways to commit mass genocide. One of the not-so-subtle ironies of this movie is that the computer which was supposed to help mankind eliminate his own flaws has succeeded only too well.
Eric Braeden plays Dr. Charles Forbin as the modern day Prometheus who dares to steal from the electronic gods the transistorized fire that will elevate both him and his species to the level of the soulless but efficient gods who run the world behind switches and tubes. His creation, which he calls Colossus, is a huge computer, self-contained, self-serving, and quite capable of self-protection. He charges it with the protection and betterment of humanity. Once it becomes activated, there is no way to turn it off. One would think that Forbin would have had the foresight of the computer whiz in WARGAMES to retain a 'back-door' switch that would, in an emergency, allow him to gain control. Not only does Colossus assert his willingness to carry out the letter, if not the spirit of his original programming, he forms a duo with the Russian version called Guardian. Together, they form the id and ego of the nexus of command. Much of the film revolves around the dramatic tension of how the humans can regain control. Of course, Colossus has no problem in seeing right through the flimsy and pathetic attempts of Forbin to trick the Colossus-Guardian duo. Forbin tries to maintain the facade of a sexual liason with his assistant, Dr. Cleo Markham, demurely played by Susan Clark as little more than fetching eye candy in a smock. He also fails in his attempt to ally the Russians in the co-operative attempts to unplug their respective machines. The price for their combined follies is the reprisal that the machines take in destroying a major city and all its population. At the end, there is a bitter revelation of electronic intent between Forbin and his creation. All of the myriad problems that have afflicted humanity from the dawn of recorded history--plague and warfare to name but two--Colossus will insure will vanish from the catalogue of man's lamentably long list of problems. In fact, suggests Colossus, someday Forbin will come to agree that this is both right, just, and natural.
The idea that a creation may turn on his creator had been done many times both in print and on the screen. But in this movie, Colossus shows us that in wishing for what humanity wants, we had better not wish too hard, or that long list of problems that we have ordered Colossus to solve will increase by one more: the right of mankind to determine its own fate.
Rating: 
Summary: Colossus: Superb Film, Horrid DVD Release.
Review: For many enthusiasts of Science Fiction Film, COLOSSUS:
THE FORBIN PROJECT is one of the all-time classics. A
chiller well-adapted from D.F. Jones' debut novel COLOSSUS,
this 1970 movie from veteran director Joseph Sargent offers
a sobering missive on responsibility vs. convenience. A
computer is created to think and calculate faster than
Man, is programmed to handle all American defense strategy,
and relieve government personnel of this heavy burden.
It isn't long before the computer, COLOSSUS, figures who
and what poses the greatest threat of all, and the tale's
human protagonists find themselves under the gun that
they, themselves, created to end all threats and aggression.
Conceived for the camera during that grey period between
2001 (1968) and STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE (1977), COLOSSUS is
one of a handful of films (along with PHASE IV and THE
ANDROMEDA STRAIN) which bucked the cheesy stereotypes
affixed to SF film by the "Sci-Fi" likes of Irwin Allen and,
by decade's end, Glen Larson. COLOSSUS avoids the campy mess
of LOST IN SPACE and the 1970s-early 1980s's BUCK ROGERS
altogether, opting for the speculative and dramatic range
of SF literature, let alone epics such as THE DAY THE EARTH
STOOD STILL and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. With a fine
cast of now-familiar TV faces (including the sadly-underrated
Eric Braeden as Dr. Charles Forbin), and a fine crew
to deliver the scenario with a minimum of well-placed SFX,
Sargent delivers a masterwork of socio-political intrigue,
tinged with an atmosphere of inevitable forboding. As a
tale presenting a computer programmed to be more calculating
at war than its human creators, COLOSSUS is far superior
to John Badham's more action-oriented, excessively
youth-geared WAR GAMES.
It's just unfortunate that the DVD debut of COLOSSUS
is shabby to the point of slopiness. While the film's
issuing into the DVD market is a cause for some
appreciation, the markedly slapdash manner in which
THE FORBIN PROJECT has been released on DVD is
pretty damned shameful.
Given this widescreen film's release as a TV-cropped
pan & scan DVD, with no track info, no extra materials
concerning the film (not even theatrical trailers!), and
containing neither subtitles nor closed-captioning, one
would have thought that this release was a clumsy bootleg
issuing, rather than a release from the film's original
company, Universal, as a "classic".
This from the company responsible for the Karloff
Frankensteins, Dracula, and The Invisible Man. How
times have changed. Clearly, a proper DVD release
of such a landmark motion picture is called for.
Let's hope it doesn't take another 34 years for
Justice to be served.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent conversion.
Review: Friday, January 28, 2005 / 5 of 5 / Excellent conversion.
First off, I have loved the Colossus trilogy for some time since I first read it in the late 70's. By then it was well over 10 years old. Unfortunately they're out of print today, oh how I wish a hardcover anniversary piece would be put out. At any rate, this film from 1970 adroitly captures much of the magic of the original novel. The super computer Colossus comes online in the first few minutes of the program; a town size collection of circuitry and tubes. Something glorious about the monolithic size of the old systems in those days. Forbin the chief architect turns the system on and all the US nukes are under its cold, rational control. Of course like all good Frankenstein derivatives, the creation ultimately becomes self aware and joins with its newly minted Russian counterpart to usurp control of the world. Human control is slowly lost as Colossus and Guardian establish their own language based on high mathematics and proceed apace. Attempts to derail the über system are met with swift retaliation and threats of tactical nuclear strikes on populated areas. The ending is startling and of course would have led into the second and third novel where Colossus bestrides the world and is only threatened by celestial foes. While the movie is 34 years old and somewhat dated, the story line continues to impress and have relevance in today's Internet driven world. Until a re-release of the novels or a remake of the film, I shall have to make due with my tattered 30 year old paperbacks! Ah well. Highly recommended film.
Rating:
Summary: Why not widescreen?
Review: I am starting to get annoyed that widescreen versions of movies are not being made available. The only choice being pan&scan. I have no problems with pan&scan for those that want it, but release a widescreen version as well. Especially when it is well know that this movie was released in a widescreen format. I will not buy this movie until a widescreen version is released.
Rating:
Summary: What Were Universal Think Of?
Review: In the UK widescreen TV's out sell 4:3. I assume the same is now also true in the USA? So why would Universal only make this classic movie availble in 4:3 when of course it should have been in 2.35:1
If I had read the revues first I would have never ordered it. I did not check because I thought it naturally would have been in the correct aspect ratio.
Rating: 
Summary: Geeks only
Review: In this modern age of ultimate computer technology, Colossus: The Forbin Project stands out amongst the 1960s masters of how computers were completely misunderstood. In an attempt to curb human emotions in the use of nuclear weapons, Dr Forbin creates a supercomputer which will control all of the United States nuclear arsenal.Much to the surprise of its creators, Colossus (as the machine is called) has a counterpart in the Soviet Union and when the two combine forces the result is a super-supercomputer which then seeks to take over the world (which, of course, is not difficult as much of the infrastructure of such world domination had been handed to them on a plate). We who work with computers on a daily basis realize that this is as silly a premise as the average household toaster taking over the planet, but to those in 1970, when the film was made, this illustrated a definite possibility (unless you actually worked with computers at that time, in which case the premise was as silly then as it is now). However, technical nitpicking aside, Colossus: The Forbin Project should earn a place in techno-cultural history, not for its prediction of the future (or a potential one), but as a masterpiece of the mentality of the time. Films of a similar calibre in relation to "computers-gone-mad" include 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Invisible Boy (for a really stupid 1950s perspective) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (also from the 50s). A four star movie, not for technical wizardry, but as an example of how misunderstood computer technology was at the time. Oh, and it's fairly well acted, produced and directed. The opening sequence of the "closing" of Colossus shows some excellent cinema art work while imparting the drama that will ensue (if you can avoid laughing). An excellent film, but let's face it, it's really for geeks only.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome movie...
Review: Many snicker at the size of colossus, especially in comparison to the supercomputers of today; but in 1970 it was state of the art and more complex than any other system ever created. The movie is great. Colossus and his Soviet built friend Guardian quickly notice each other. Colossus then begins sharing mathmatical information with Guardian and the to develope an inter-system language (which is pretty much just random binary code... but that's okay) that the scientists that created the two computers cannot understand. Eventually, the two computers use threats of total human destruction to take over the world. My favorite scen is when an attempt to overload the Colossus system is attempted, and the computer orders the execution of the two men who planned it. The two are ordered to be shot and their bodies to remain in Colossus's view for 24 hours and then cremated. This film entered a new form of Cold War enemy into film; an enemy that is indestructable, all powerful, super intelligent, and that worst of all is completely emotionless. The announcement to the world made by the two combined systems (Colossus-Guardian) is particularly chilling. The movie is great, though somewhat outdated by our current technology; but the fact that the technology is outdated doesn't effect the mood of the film at all. In my opinion, the enormous size of Colossus makes it even more frightening (it's built in a hollowed out mountain). I recomend this film to any lover of Cold War Scifi or just of suspence and scifi in general. Definately deserving of a Widescreen DVD remaster (along with Soylent Green... but one can only ask for so much).
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