This is a post-Apocalyptic Italian version of Rambo.
There really isn’t a lot more you need to know about it.
Sure, there’s a lot of talk about nuclear war, and the familiar warlord type trying to rule what’s left of the world, but you know sooner or later, the big, bare-chested guy is going to be running around with a machine gun, mowing everyone down.
Which fills up a huge chunk of the film — at least the last third — as the hero, Rush, shoots things, runs about, fights hand to hand, drives vehicles in circles, shoots more things, blows things up and, naturally, does even more shooting.
And for some, strange reason, despite the fact that we are living in a barren world where plants are, after many long years, barely able to survive in the wild, most of the final chase takes place in a forest!
Only in Italy, right?
The only familiar face is Gordon Mitchell, an American-born weightlifter who appeared in a lot of these sorts of Italian films (including such favorites as The Giant of Metropolis and Endgame – Bronx lotta finale). He gets to play the villain and seems to be enjoying himself. I have to wonder whether he was inspired by George C. Scott in Patton.
For some reason or other, there’s no nudity. The two women whom we expect to be vying for Rush’s affections get so little screen time that it hardly matters which one he likes — and the bad girl doesn’t even get her big moment with him, clothes or no clothes.
We do, however, get some science fictional ideas that never really get worked out, like the robotic (maybe) untouchables, who get a moment or two at the beginning and are never mentioned again.
After all, we’ve got all that shooting, running, driving, climbing, setting off explosions and doing crazy stunts to get through (not to mention some more shooting). How else is one guy going to take out an entire army single handed?
Oh, well. There are worse Italian post-Apocalyptic films.
But with this one, you get what you get: cheap Rambo. With a hint of Mad Max.
And without that little bit of extra craziness that saved so many of these Italian SF films…
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