My review was written in October 1990 after watching the movie on AIP video cassette.
This futuristic cold war drama is simple and effective, playing as the feature equivalent of a "Twilight Zone" episode. It's a direct-to-video release by the prolific filmer David A. Prior.
His brother, Ted Prior, stars as an ill-fated sergeant sprung from Leavenworth prison to represent his country in a mano a mano battle against the Russian designee, man-mountain Robert Z'dar.
Premise is to resolve an international crisis (the Soviets have launched a nuclear first strike) via battle between single warriors, rather than killing millions of people in war. Of course, the governments are corrupt and by film's end Prior and Z'dar are nearly buddies once they've tired of beating each other's brains out.
Their battling is low-budget, staged in the woods near Mobile, Alabama, but lead's forceful thesping makes it work. Renee Cline is forceful and sympathetic in the limited rule of Prior's advisor and sounding board, connected to him by a communications implant in his head.
