Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983)

the audience applauded

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good movie but grossly overrated

Admirable film.

Dung-colored science-fiction (originally released in 3D), set in the bleak 22nd century, concerns three female survivors of a destroyed space cruiseliner overtaken by hostile natives after landing on the barren planet Terra XI (whose inhabitants drive what appears to be a cross between a pirate ship and a tank); scruffy, randy salvage operator Peter Strauss and android engineer Andrea Marcovicci attempt a rescue. Threadbare "Road Warrior" wannabe with a brash personality, unintelligible dialogue, messy action and variable performances. Molly Ringwald (pre-"Sixteen Candles") plays a nomad (or "Scav") who hitches a ride with Strauss to act as his tracker in The Zone, which is ruled by Michael Ironside's menacing Overdog; she's teenage-mouthy and prone to screaming, but hasn't been given anything witty or clever to say. Strauss and Marcovicci have some nice, easy chemistry in the early scenes, but that promise is cut short. Lamont Johnson directed, Ivan Reitman produced, but the talented players behind the cameras are as wasted as those in front of them. * from ****

Three women made an emergency landing on a planet plagued with a fatal disease, but are captured by dictator Overdog. Adventurer Wolff goes there to rescue them and meets Niki, the only earthling left from a medical expedition. Combining their talents, they try to rescue the women....Another one of those films that people must have fond memories of, when they saw it all those years ago. But seeing that I saw this for the first today and at the age of 34, it's a big disappointment for the first hour. It reminded me of that awful film from 1985 called 'Land of Doom' or something.The first two acts are just people walking thought the desert, pointing things at the screen because of the 3D, searching for three women. It's a chore to sit through, Molly Ringwald turns up, but she whines, and then Ernie Hudson turns up, but he isn't Winston, and you start to despair.But then all of a sudden the final act really ups the ante, and we get a cross between The Crystal Maze and Duran Durans Wild Boys video.It almost makes the rest of the film worth watching.But then you cannot see this part on it's own, as it would be really difficult to comprehend what was going on.Another case of the title being better than the film...

The effects are not great, it must be said, but given the budget and the fact it was made in 3D; I'll forgive that. What it has in its favour is a half decent story and a cast that actually (for me anyway) make it work. I must say I love the performance of the, quite young, Molly Ringwald as Niki; I thought she was great! I also thought Peter Strauss did a decent job as Wolff; yes, he borrows heavily from Harrison Ford as Haan Solo, but (again) I can forgive that. Other noteworthy performances came from; Ernie Hudson as Washington, Andrea Marcovicci as Chalmers and Michael Ironside as Overdog.A film that is not available on DVD here in the UK (much to my dismay), I catch it almost every time it makes it to the TV screens. As I've already said, the production is not the best, but (for me) the story and the performances hold it together. Yes, it does try a little too hard in places and some of the dialogue is a little strange, but I'd still rather watch this than 'The Phantom Menace' any day! If you haven't seen it I urge you to give it a go… If you have (& didn't like it)… Give it another chance, it grows on you!... RECOMMENDED.My score: 8.0/10IMDb Score: 4.8/10 (based on 2,419 votes at the time of going to press).MetaScore: No Data: (Based on 0 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 20/100 (based on 5 reviews counted at the time of going to press).Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 24/100 'Want to See' (based on 2,988 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.

Spacehunter is a strange science fiction adventure film. Wolfe, the lead character is played by Peter Strauss in a role similar to Han Solo and at times he even sounds like Han Solo. He's got to be at least 40 here and he's very handsome. The problem though is that Nikki who is played by Molly Ringwald is probably 16. Their relationship is tough to decipher. At moments it seems as if she might be trying to court him in her own strange way. She manages to snuggle up close to him while he is sleeping-twice! Her desire to be with him is never really made clear-she says she's his partner but he tries to save her from the Overlord and later hugs her as he prepares to leave the planet they are on. I'm not insinuating anything here but sometimes it is unclear what her feelings are-or his too for that matter.The special effects are splashy and slightly amateurish although the sets and lighting are actually very good. Obviously there was money available in the budget for this film-they didn't scrimp on production.I do enjoy this film and am always surprised how great it looks on film and how good the vehicles and sets are. I just think that the team who made this deliberately left the relationship between the two a bit blurry and that in itself is rather interesting to try to figure out.