There probably are movies out there which have been copied more often than The Road Warrior.
Not many of them, though.
It’s not that hard to understand why that is: after all, there are more than enough deserts, decaying buildings or abandoned factories and mines to keep every film crew in the world busy until the end of time. It certainly is a cost-effective way to portray the future.
And, let’s face it, we’ve all been expecting everything to break down all around us any day now.
The end of the world came, and only a few people survived.
General J.W. Quantrell was one of them.
But he wasn’t satisfied with just surviving. He wanted to rebuild the world.
In his own image, of course.
So he started a gang called the Death Riders, which has now become an army for his new government, The United Regime.
At the little town of New Hope, the town’s founder also had the vision of rebuilding society, only he planned to take a pile of waste — old tires — and turn it into a valuable resource.
I’m not exactly clear what they’re making, and I noticed a few other reviewers seem equally in the dark.
Frankly, I’m not sure we’re ever told what it is.
But I suppose it doesn’t really matter.
So, in a massive burst of violent action, the Death Riders take the town in a matter of minutes.
Now the rest of the film is familiar, to put it mildly. A loner runs afoul of the gang and they drag him into town. And before we know it, we’re in the middle of yet another unacknowledged remake of that Akira Kurosawa Samurai classic, Yojimbo.
Or A Fistful of Dollars. Take your pick.
Although, to be fair, Kurosawa claimed that he’d borrowed his story from Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest.
PM Entertainment specialized in movies with lots of action, and they do seem to have spent a bit of money on this one. Not only do we have a lot of gunfights, but we actually have two big-scale road battles and the biggest thing that ever exploded in a PM film.
I can’t say I’m too impressed with Joe Lara, who starred in a lot of direct to video action films. He’s supposed to be a tough, Eastwood-esque Western Movie-style hero, complete with beard, but he seems a bit young and soft for the role. With his long hair and beard, I wondered at first if he was going to be a Christ figure, but before the film gets too much further, he’s blasting away at people with the machine guns built into his super motorcycle. Instead, he’s very much in the “Man With No Name” school of enigmatic Western Movie heroes.
However, we do at least have Brion James, who showed up in dozens of these films (and as one of the replicants in Blade Runner) but is always fun to watch.
Unfortunately, after that first big attack on the town, he goes off to prepare for his next set of conquests and doesn’t return until it is time for the big action finale and final Boss fight.
But at least we have Bo Svenson to take his place. He’s quite good as the world weary Chief Lieutenant of the gang, and yet you can’t help thinking that his character needed just a bit more development.
And perhaps a better end.
It does seem odd that we have not one, but two weird and eccentric minor characters — one for the gang, and one for the town. They are a sort of staple in post apocalyptic films, so maybe they thought “the more the merrier.”
I suppose I would rate this one as “competent but unexciting.” It has a great (stolen) story (although others have done it better), two charismatic villains, several interesting gimmicks aboard the hero’s motorcycle, some well staged action, a few car chases, an exploding tower, and a little bit of a twist at the end.
It could be worse.
But it does help if you know what to expect.
And keep your expectations low…
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