Sci-fighters

This is a low budget B movie with three interesting actors as its main attraction: Piper (who established himself well in They Live), Drago (who unfortunately never seems to get a role worthy of his abilities) and Heitmeyer (though inconsistent, she had her moments in TV's Earth Final Conflict). Piper and Heitmeyer must find a way to work around their differences and their sexual tension to defeat Drago and the army of alien virus carriers he is spawning through rape and murder.

The film starts out strong - with Drago getting into a fight with a fellow prisoner in a lunar prison and introducing the audience to his nihilism, sadism and psychosis. He dies in prison, but has been infected with an intelligent alien virus which reactivates his nervous system and uses him as a host to spread itself. Piper plays a member of an elite security force, and Heitmeyer plays a microbiologist brought in to study the virus as Drago begins his killing spree. The plot becomes more elaborate as the film progresses, and eventually takes on some details which really challenge believability. For example, it turns out that Heitmeyer vaguely resembes somebody who had been between Drago and Piper when they were in the academy together, and this is used as a device to permit a few gratuitous and silly bra scenes where Heitmeyer distracts Drago from his murderous intentions. Although the actors pull off their performances well enough, and the cinematography is relatively good for the genre, the plot is too thin to be sustained.

The bottom line is that this is not a suitable film for anybody who is NOT a fan of Piper or Drago. Heitmeyer fans will likely find this disappointing. It has little going for it besides decent acting, a reasonable script and a reasonable action-pace.

Cops that shoot like the a-team. bad guy monsters that can't be killed and exhale methane. Probably some good movie in there somewhere if you can sleep through the boring bits.

OK, why do people who have soo many Hi expectations about Z flicks. When I bought this movie (for 3.99) I thought "this movie will probably blow", but what the heck, I haven't seen roddy in a flick since "They Live" or "Hell Comes to Frog Town" This one was awesome. I couldn't believe people railed it so. Notice how some of these morons say stupid, idiotic things like........."Oh, the cinematography was horrible" What? who the hell cares, When I'm kicking back with my bass guitar practicing at night with some "Trees" I enjoy watching flicks, been doing this for 10 years so I know an entertaining movie when I see one and this one had me very very entertained. The acting was above average, really and the story line wasn't that hard to understand. Those who mention Logic in their review need some logic.....Logic like "It's a movie Genius". I enjoyed this movie even though people state some very stupid claims. watch it with an open mind and enjoy yourself great late at night when your solo.

Picture a bleached out, acid washed dime-store version of Blade Runner on a shoestring, bargain budget and you'll have some notion of Sci Fighters, a silly futuristic flick starring lovable wrestler 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper and B Movie stock villain Billy Drago. By most standards it's a miserable little exercise in schlock, but if that's your thing to begin with, it's a pearl. So it's set in 2009, and the film was made in 96', which going by a combination of the math and the severely bleak atmosphere, the filmmakers didn't even stretch their timeline barely past twenty years from their date, showing either amusing carelessness in writing or even more amusing cynicism for where we're headed, and how fast. The setting is Boston, and it's a goddamn slum, with perpetually overcast skies, garbage heaps everywhere and a general sense that people have given up. Piper is Grayson, a hard boiled detective on the trail of a somewhat unusual killer. Far above earth in a filthy off-world prison on the moon, criminal Dunn (Drago) has encountered some weird alien parasite which hijacks his gaunt frame and torpedos back stateside to start a murder spree. Drago vs Piper in a sad-sack, disease ridden Boston is pretty much the suitable logline, and it's not half bad. Piper makes a more grounded leading man than the film deserves, while Drago is straight up certifiable (nothing new) especially when the extraterrestrial, who has a garbled and endearing speech impediment, is controlling him. Effort is put into the atmosphere to some degree, but I feel like the success in achieving mood was probably also by accident of just leaving shit lying around set. A true peculiarity, worth it only for fans of the two actors and schlock-hounds alike.

You'd think that a film like this would really suck, but to be honest, it's really pretty good. Billy Drago is terrific in this role, and has a lot of presence. Roddy Piper is fine. The rest of the cast is made up of homegrown talent from here in Montreal.

There's nothing terrible about the film, and nothing magnificent either. Sets look fake, acting is fine, script is a tad weak, but overall this film really delivers on action.

6.5/10