Neon City

While I won't pick out the articulate details of the movie, or take an active defense as to why I thought this movie is good, I will say I really liked this movie. This has to be one of the better sci-fi movies I've seen.

Imagine it, you traveling across the continent to a safe-haven - the ONLY one left on Earth. Your transportation; a shoddy-looking bus with others, crammed like sardines. Your obstacles; everything. From crazed bandits to violent solar storms, this leaves you imagining yourself in place of one of the characters on that bus. Quite a thrill, isn't it?

Food is heavily rationed, medical aid is meager, and death is engulfing. Great, great setup for a storyline (which could have been better in several ways, although I'm fine with it as-is).

Neon City (1991) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a not too distant future where the sun has scorched the Earth leaving small pockets of inhabitable land. A group of survivors try to make their way across a Baron waste land to a metropolis known as Neon City where they hope to start a new life. This movie is directed by Monte Markham (We Are Still Here) and stars Michael Ironside (Total Recall), Vanity (The Last Dragon), Lyle Alzado (Destroyer) and Valerie Wildman (Salvador). The storyline, look, feel, props and weapons all have a super strong Mad Max feel to it. The vehicles scenes as well as the shootouts were awesome...the hand-to-hand combat scenes, not so much. Ironside is awesome as the main character and I love his demeanor and constant sternness. The final action scene and shootout across the snow wasteland is awesome and has a classic 80s/90s action feel to it. Overall this is far from perfect but entertaining if you enjoyed Mad Max. I'd score this a solid 7/10.

Okay, I for one liked this movie. Now granted, it doesn't compare to the special effects that are around today, but overall, I enjoyed it! It had an interesting plot, lots of action, nice character development, and an excellent performance by Michael Ironside. This movie held my interest all the way through until the last scene. It is categorized as science-fiction; however, there was very little scientific lingo, so it is easy enough for anyone to follow. I especially enjoyed how the characters began as strangers in the movie, and slowly melded together into a sort a renegade troupe, determined to stay alive. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who can get there hands on it!

There was a time, after seeing Cronenberg's SCANNERS, that I wanted to see every possible movie starring Michael Ironside. I pretty soon stopped this silly quest when I realized the man had already starred in way too many boring below-average B-features of the police/thriller-type. NEON CITY, however, is one of his better B-movies, and it's actually one of the better MAD MAX-clones out there.

In the year 2053 the ozone-layer is destroyed and earth's population is divided in diseased mutants and healthy people. The wastelands are ruled by the merciless Skins and earth's ecosystem is completely out of balance. Outbursts of 'brights' can incinerate a person and poisonous Xander-clouds can suffocate you within seconds. There are safe-havens throughout the wastelands, Neon City being one of them. A group of 8 persons begins a journey in an armored vehicle towards Neon city.

Fans of Michael Ironside should see this flick, 'cause he plays the type of character that we love to see him play: A ruthless bounty-hunter with a soft spot inside. His prisoner, Reno, is played by Vanity, and knowing this lady you might expect her to show some skin, but she pretty much doesn't. The acting is pretty average, but it was fun seeing Juliet Landau before her BUFFY-period. The good thing is that all the characters have a bit of background and some of them turn out not exactly what they appear to be. The bad thing is that this movie could have used a bigger budget, especially in the special effects-department. The 'bright'-outbursts are just some silly colorization-effects and I expected to see an impressive futuristic Neon City in the end, but we see almost nothing of it. The action-scenes of Skins on motorcycles attacking the armored transport are average and certainly not as impressive as in MAD MAX 2.

But still, this movie manages to hum along nicely and you do wonder about who'll make it in the end and who won't. It's not an excellent movie, but it's not bad either. Worth a watch, especially for Ironside-fans.

As previously stated, this flick doesn't stand out for good or for ill, it has a few shining moments, but for the most part it seems to be one long star trek reject script about how screwing around with the atmosphere (particularly ozone) will have dire consequences. Possibly considered a potential star vehicle for "Vanity" (remember her?). Has some of the strangest dialogue I've ever heard: "I was in private school in Sweden. We lived underground in caves. They eat chocolate & they're bloated & they never see sunlight & they're pasty pale..."

I can't imagine this *EVER* went to theatres; it must have been direct to video; it's too sickly even for made for cable!