User reviews

It's 2087, 75 years after the start of the final war. It lasted 15 years and left the world devastated. It hasn't rained for 50 years. Lost Wells is a settlement in the desert that actually has water. The peaceful villagers welcome Derek Abernathy (Adam Ant) and his cult followers. Abernathy immediately massacres and enslave many in the settlement. Ethan (Bruce Dern) rises to challenge him. Ethan takes school teacher Angie Banning (Catherine Mary Stewart) to the big city and find a barbaric world desperate for water. Ethan recruits his old partner George Landon (Michael Paré) and others to battle Abernathy's cult.

This takes the style of 'Mad Max 2' even including the white outfits. They're throwing hubcaps like the boomerang. The plot is pulled from 'Seven Samurai' like many other movies such as Steve McQueen in 'The Magnificent Seven'. However it's nowhere near the same vision or quality. Adam Ant is not the most imposing villain but he fits the low quality camp. I always like some Catherine Mary Stewart and Bruce Dern is one of the great actors of our times. Michael Paré is an oddity of the 80s and I've never understood his leading man appeal. The setup is clunky. The dialog isn't much better. It's a poor production pulling elements from other better movies.

World Gone Wild is one of those many Mad Max clones produced in the 80s after the success of George Millers first strike, but don't get me wrong, if you want a well written story and some excellence regarding cinematic techniques, or top notch special effects and stunts, World Gone Wild is for sure no movie for you - Mad Max just plays in another league quality wise. But for the right audience (like me) World Gone Wild is fun trash. So what do you get? Besides some action and explosions, the world of World Gone Wild is filled with crazy people and lots of crazy ideas, Hardrock guitars scream in the background, and human life is not worth a sip of water and blood easy spilled. Verdict: tasty cheese this is, touched gently by queen nostalgia, and better than most post-apocalyptic (teen drama) movies we get these days. Exact rate: 4 + 2 for the extra cheese.

Bruce Dern stars as a hippie who gets his son (Michael Pare) and a bunch of other mercenaries to help fight of Adam Ant (Who starts a church of Charles Manson) in this strange post apocalypse action flick. The thing that makes this weird is the cast which includes Bruce Dern, Michael Pare, Adam Ant, Julias Carry, Catharine Mary Stewart and Anthony James who all are offbeat actors with different styles of acting. All that was missing was Wings Hauser. Still I must admit this was a lot of fun due to it's sheer weirdness. The movie has mutant cannibals, a church of Charles Manson and Bruce Dern as a pot smoking hippie fighter who leads a civilization of flower children. The romance angle between Pare and Stewart is extremely amusing mainly due to the fact that it is just so unlikely. Stewart is of course the resident babe found in these type of movies. Although I was amused to see Stewart scold Michael Pare and Co. for killing mutant cannibals and then laughing about it, to which she goes in a long winded speech about how they are all animals, to which gets (quite understandably may I add) the mercenaries to laugh even harder. The action sequences are for the most part well staged and Adam Ant is really good in the role as the bad guy who is the priest of the church of helter skelter. World Gone Wild is such a bizarre movie one only wishes that this would have turned out to be a television show or at least established some sequels because right here could have been the greatest TV show ever. You could have Pare and Dern protect these villagers every week from some new villain and develop the silliness of the relationship between Stewart and Pare. World Gone Wild is no classic but this is perfect fodder for the B.movie fan who has an appetite for guilty pleasure post apocalypse movies.

* *1/2 out of 4-(Pretty good)

A great eighties film forgotten by people. Adam Ant portrays a great little villain in a surrounding of horror and endurance. A great array of oddball characters banded together as a team is wonderful to watch.

In some ways it reminds me of Battle Beyond The Stars, another great film along the same lines - a group of very different people set against a venomous evil. World Gone Wild - Highly Recomended film.

This is a 1980's Mad Max rip-off, with bad acting, cheesy writing, inane violence and a transparent plot. The "name" actors in the film must have been forced to do this film as some sort of contract fulfillment or, if not, they needed to fire their agents (and probably did after filming this dreck). Don't waste your time and, for heaven sake, definitely don't fork over any money to see this drivel.

It was SO bad that I considered that maybe the viewer needed to be stoned in order to appreciate it but I decided that even stoned this flick is garbage. The film makers should be stoned ... and I mean with boulders!

Wish I could have the time back I put into watching it.

This is a good movie with a lot of great and believable scenes because of the good actors...but, the movie, overall (the script), is something that only a teen like me would like at a Drive-In back in the 1980s!

The premise of this movie is silly - these people, overall, without rain for fifty years have little water, but, those in the 'city' are still walking and having babies; and, have oil and gasoline (and, coolant!?!?) for their vehicles in the midst of a water shortage!?!? And, those who live in the desert all seem to be quite healthy with water and have clean clothing (Bruce Dern with his new t-shirts, and, the motorcycle cult in bright white outfits!?!?); but, where are the crops and animals to maintain this lifestyle in this 'desert?' Also, where are the guns at the beginning of this movie to protect this vital water source and way-of-life that these desert-people have!?!? It makes no sense!?!?

But...it doesn't have to!

If you were a 'Drive-In Nut' as I was in the 1980s, you didn't care about any of these technicalities...you loved to see hot women in B-Movies. Catherine Mary Stewart was among these hot women for teenage boys; but, if there's no water...how is she still so hot!?!? And, if so, with a woman this hot, isn't it stupid to allow more sex-starved men into this camp?

What about the men already there!?!? Two new men to the camp came-on to her, and, one of them tried to rape her...DUH! In a normal world, she's hot! In this world, she's a goddess! She's more rare than the water!

I especially like how Catherine Mary Stewart's character kept a framed-photo of Steve McQueen and said how handsome he is; and, how Michael Paré's character said how that photo of Steve McQueen gave him the creeps!?!? Ha-ha! :D Steve McQueen was the best! :)

This is a good movie that if given a higher budget and a better script, would have been great. The script is awful, but, the acting and certain scenes are great!

I give this Drive-In Classic seven stars! :) I give Catherine Mary Stewart's presence and loveliness 11 Stars! ;)

There's not much positive to say about this film.

It's a post-apocalyptic film that borrows heavily from Mad Max and The Seven Samurai with a little Escape from New York thrown in for good measure but it lacks the vision of any of those films. It has a clunky script and two-dimensional characters that seem to exist just to make idiotic decisions at every turn. Almost every action sequence abruptly stops without any actual resolution. Every idea, interaction, set piece and scene feels frustratingly half-baked.

You can see what they were trying to do. They wanted to make a dark comedy/ensemble action film (tonally like The Expendables) but set in a magical realist post-apocalyptic wasteland. And had they actually delivered that, it would probably have been enjoyable. Sadly, they repeatedly and wildly missed the mark. Instead, we ended up with a patchwork of half-thought ideas, ham-fisted dialogue, pointless character arcs and general incoherence.

They have no water but they have plenty of booze. I'd love to see how they make alcohol without water. Society has gone to hell for 50+ years but apparently petrol, ammunition and dynamite is still plentiful. Everyone still uses pop culture references and listens to music from a hundred years ago. It's just a mess.

Adam Ant played a passable bad guy (even if his character did do dumb stuff constantly). Bruce Dern was okay, though it often seemed like he was playing a character from an entirely different film.

Whoever was in charge of the pyrotechnics did a great job.

There's not much else to say. Even as a fan of b-movies and post-apocalyptic films, this one was a real slog to watch.

The Seven Samurai serie B version in an apocalyptic future.

It's honest, unassuming, old school, fun and politically incorrect.

I recommend it to those nostalgic for 80s cinema.

Chances are, if Michael Pare is the star of the movie, it is cheesy. Not necessarily bad, but cheesy. "Streets Of Fire", in my opinion, was great, but cheese notwithstanding. This movie is of the Mad Max ilk, but instead of fuel, it's water that is coveted. Adam Ant plays a Manson-type cult figure who is trying to rob Bruce Dern's town of its water/treasure, and Michael Pare comes in to help Dern with a pretty motley bunch. Adam Ant was quite good, and Bruce Dern was funny. Michael Pare was....well...Michael Pare. No one will confuse his body of work with DeNiro or Pacino, but if you like him, as I do, well, it doesn't make us bad people, does it?

If you are looking for "Saving Private Ryan", this ain't it. If you are like cheese, this beats Velveeta.

I remembered Michael Pare and Adam Ant as heart-throbs from my highschool days in the early 80's, and so snapped up this so-called futuristic action flick when I saw it on the cheap shelf at my local video rental shop.

The cast are a notable list of where-are-they-now's doing their best with a rather unimaginative Mad Max clone.

Worth seeing for a few dazzeling action sequences, and some amusing one-liners, if you've nothing better to do on a weeknight. Just don't expect Thunderdome.

Ok It's true, the only character in this film experiencing any magic is Bruce Dern's, but it really is a fun trip. And if you can get over the cheesy music, and lame graphics in the opening credits, you will probably enjoy some of the bizarre humor it offers. The characters are memorable, and almost invite you to laugh along with them.

Yet another Seven Samurai ripoff--did you notice the picture of Steve MacQueen in Michael Pare's hovel, just in case we didn't get it? This thing has two things to reccomend it--Bruce Dern being more or less as crazy as always, which has been a great thing to watch since The Cowboys at the very least, and Adam Ant proving that he should have done more movies because he is really entertaining. I wonder if they've done it on MST3K.