Les gladiateurs de l'apocalypse

I read somewhere (in a fairly panning review) that this is something of a live-action mecha anime, and I think they're on the right lines. I first watched this movie when I was very young and I've been dying to see it again, and when I finally did just recently all the memories came flooding back. I don't think this is to be taken too seriously - it's just a bit of good old 80's almost-a-TV-movie fun (it is set against the backdrop of a fairly dark future, although this point isn't stressed too much). What I admired most about this movie was that the dialogue didn't sound generic - no clichés, no predictable lines - all in all just good fun! Maybe time hasn't been kind to this little movie, but still I can find appreciation for it in me. It's by no means perfect, but it's entertaining and doesn't try to be anything other than that. Let the nerds and comic-store-guys worry about technicalities - who cares? See it for yourself and make your own decision. No-one else's opinion matters.

In the future all national battles are settled on the robotic battlefield by ten story robots commanded by human robot jox. The battle is on for Alaska's resources and it is up to USA's Achilles (Gary Graham) to take it to the evil Russian rep and dirty fighter Alexander (Paul Koslo). This was Stuart Gordon's fourth film for Charles Band's Empire and the most expensive (rumored to be $10 million) in the company's short history. Was it the film that broke Band's bank? Possibly. It was filmed in 1987 but didn't get released until 1990 (via Triumph theatrically and RCA/Columbia on video) after Empire had gone bankrupt in 1988. Regardless, it is still a pretty entertaining film and - even though I've never seen a single second of Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS films - I know it is a better film. The screenplay by sci-fi author Joe Haldeman touches on some good stuff, like genetic engineering and the gladiator mindset. Sure, there is some really cheesy stuff ("we can live"), but the cast is all game and you have to love Koslo's villain. The stop motion effects by David Allen are the real showstopper and they hold up pretty well. The miniatures are great too. Look for Stuart Gordon in a cameo as a bartender and Jeffrey Combs as an overly excited bystander. Crash and burn, my friends, crash and burn.

It's not Stuart Gordons best movie but it's still an absolutely fantastic movie. Terribly bad acting. Weirdly placed music. A script that would of killed itself if it was sentient.

All adds up to one of the best movies of the time.

I've often wondered if Ray Harryhausen ever saw this because it's probably one of the last best movies to feature stop motion.

This is the best movie in human creation. From the millisecond the movie began to when it ended, I could not stop urinating my pants. The movie was simply incredible. Don't try eating Milk Duds while watching it, you will choke on them. Sure, I jacked up my trousers, but it was worth it for this fine film. I couldn't take my eyes off the movie screen, even when there was a car accident outside and the movie theater caught on fire and my eye was gauged out by a falling beam. I spilled my beverage all over the ground, but I didn't care. The movie was too good. Even the guy that couldn't speak English sitting next to me enjoyed it. He kept yelling "ME GUSTA EL ROBOT JOX!" It is obvious that the film is an international masterpiece. We should all appreciate Stuart Gordon for creating this masterpiece. He should have won a Nobel Peace prize for this marvel of robotdom. Oh man, I have to change my underwear every time I think about Mr. Gordon. He makes me proud. His vision of robot battle was something I will never forget. And don't forget: NO GUTS, NO GALAXY! THE RULES OF THE ROBOT JOX. VIVA LOS ROBOTS DE JOX!

This under-budgeted film has the kind of stuff I like to see in sci-fi movies: A cool premise (two factions using giant Mech-warrior type robots to fight for land or politics in an arena), two-dimensional characters and great miniature filming!

The story's about a soon-to-be-retired jock who drives giant robots and slugs it out with the other faction's jocks and robots. He is unwillingly replaced by a novice girl he cares about or something, and she tries to fight the old jock's nemesis. Before this guy kills the girl, the old jock gets a chance to mount a robot and fight his enemy until both robots are done with.

The fight sequence are nice to see, the miniature filming is top-notch, and the story breezes through without been noticed (believe me, it's not important enough to notice)... The space-fighting scene at least has an honest-to-God true fact about space fighting: no sound!! (for the first time in Sci-fi movie history, except of course for "2001: A space odyssey", but they had no space fighting in "2001...").

For sure, a fun grade-B movie.