Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone |
  • USA / Canada • 1983 • 90m •   • Directed by: Lamont Johnson. • Starring: Peter Strauss, Molly Ringwald, Ernie Hudson, Andrea Marcovicci, Michael Ironside, Beeson Carroll, Hrant Alianak, Deborah Pratt, Aleisa Shirley, Cali Timmins, Paul Boretski, Patrick Rowe, Reggie Bennett. • Music by: Elmer Bernstein.      In the year 2136, galactic bounty hunter Wolff answers a distress signal which leads him to the plague-ridden planet Terra Eleven to rescue three beautiful young women. Before Wolff arrives, however, the women are captured by the evil half-man/half-machine Overdog. As Wolff tries to track the captive women, he must fight various mutants and monsters. Along the way he meets Niki, a tough orphan who aids him in reaching Overdog's menacing scrap-metal kingdom.
|
Trailers:
| Length: | Languages: | Subtitles: |
Review:
The two stars of the show are a wooden Peter Strauss and an irritating Molly Ringwald, who share lots of light banter. Same old story...the pair initially hate each other but eventually grow to love one another. Like we haven't heard that one before. Strauss' character is a blatant copy of Han Solo, right down to the same cocky manner and clothing. Ringwald plays some kind of desert urchin who hooks up with Strauss as a guide and manages to put herself in all sorts of danger.
The location shooting is nice, offering up a realistic-looking alien planet, although sadly the inhabitants are less than convincing. Things kick off with Strauss riding around in his dune buggy (did I mentioned MAD MAX as another influence?) then discovering a Viking longship flying down a railway line (?!). A laser fight immediately ensues, the first of a couple in the film, which are really quite impressive. Some poor extra gets it ("we have blood loss here...") and Strauss loses his female helper, who turns out to be an icky android who melts at the touch of a button.
From then on, it's one thing after another, with Strauss pairing up with Ringwald and together meeting all kinds of monsters and strange characters. An incredibly young, bald Ernie Hudson wanders around in a space suit and drives a shoddy-looking bulldozer which belches black smoke into the planet's atmosphere (can't be doing much for their ozone layer). A group of amphibious Amazons (!) wander around in little clothing and try to capture our heroes in giant nets - and fail. A patently plastic-looking dragon (not so much a dragon as a cardboard head on a wooden pole) puts our befuddled hero into yet another dangerous situation, while some obese rubber-suited people provide lots of mirth. In another unexplained incident, mutant children lob Molotov cocktails at our heroes from the top of a cliff.
After these amusing incidents, our characters eventually arrive at Overdog's castle. Overdog is a menacing (ridiculous name aside) character, a cyborg with a human face and gigantic pincer arms. He's played by genre staple Michael Ironside, although you wouldn't recognise him under all that makeup. He's devised a tricky maze where unwilling contestants must face dangers like pools of acid, fire, pits of spikes, and giant swinging circular saw blades while being pursued by a giant steamroller. Inevitably, Ringwald finds herself in the maze and is luckily able to conquer it before being captured by Overdog, who has a thing for women you see. At the end, action man Strauss saves the day by electrocuting the baddie and shooting lots of thingspeople. The entire place explodes in a huge display of pyrotechnics which was also a convenient way to use up any of the budget that may have been left over.
So, as adventure films go, this isn't bad at all. That is, as long as you know what to expect - fans of decent, high budget fare may think otherwise. For me, a film with plentiful action, a sprinkling of violence, and all manner of weird costumes and effects definitely passes the time in an entertaining way.
Review by Leofwine_draca from the Internet Movie Database.
Movie Database