Robot Jox (1990) Directed by Stuart Gordon
This movie features a quite ridicules concept of a post WW III apocalyptic world in which wars are being outlawed (yeah right, like that will work) and instead nations let huge robots battle each other to settle disputes and to win land from each other, in stadiums with a crowd and referees and all of that. Nevertheless, because of its quite ridicules concept it also is a really pleasant movie to watch. The movie surely brings some good B-movie entertainment.
Yes it's ridicules but it's also quite awesome at the same time. Seeing 2 huge robots battle each other with all kinds of different weapons and gadgets is an awesome sight and something that always speaks to the imagination of basically every guy.
It's of course a big B-movie with its story and characters and all but it really isn't a bad looking movie. It's special effects, miniatures and its stop-motion effects are all quite good looking, with the exception of a couple of sequences. At least it's all better than your average "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers", like you would perhaps normally expect from a movie like this.
Too bad that the action is sort of being limited. Surely from a movie with such a concept some more fireworks was to be expected. Of course this is mostly due to its quite limited budget of around ten million dollars. Nevertheless it was enough to cause the bankruptcy of its production company. Because of this it also took several years for the movie to be completed and released. When released it also wasn't a great box office success. Nevertheless a sequel got made several years later, called "Robot Wars".
It isn't the best written story but its all interesting enough to hold your interest. Of course the movie is quite formulaic, which also makes it predictable but that is also sort of part of its B-movie charm. The story got written by director Stuart Gordon, who also is responsible for the similar genre movies "Fortress" and "Space Truckers", as well as the cult horror classic "Re-Animator". He currently is working on a new Re-Animator movie, called at this moment "House of Re-Animator", which he is attached to, to write and direct.
It of course also doesn't feature the best actors. Most actors involved with this movie mostly played and still play in television series and not really any big blockbuster productions. Nevertheless this movie really doesn't feature the worst acting you'll ever see in a genre movie such as this one. I especially liked Paul Koslo, who goes deliciously over-the-top as the movie its very stereotypical Russian villain, with his insane, often random, laugh.
Quite enjoyable for what it is.
6/10
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