Robot Jox (1990)

Absolutely Fantastic

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The first thing I ever heard about this movie was the soundtrack. That first thirty seconds is one of the most triumphant themes I think I've ever heard in movies. The rest of the soundtrack (for the most part) never really lives up to those first few moments. It's never bad, but never that memorable again. The movie itself is really enjoyable, with cheesy dialog and giant robot fights that look like stop motion. The film itself takes place in the future where all conflicts are decided by giant robot battles, and it follows the story of a character named Achilles who fights in these battles. The ongoing conflict between Achilles and the main villain of the movie, Alexander, seems to symbolize or represent the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. There's nothing in the movie that is really bad film-making, but it's obviously not a masterpiece. The movie seems to know what it is and if you go into it with the right mindset then you'll probably enjoy yourself. If you're a fan of giant futuristic robot fights with cold-war type undertones, then this is the movie for you.

It is post-World War III. War is outlawed. In its place, are matches between large robots called Robot Jox. These matches take place between two large superpowers over disputed territories. The main character Achilles is a pilot in one of the large Robots. The plot revolves around him and a match for the state of Alaska.Although I would consider myself a bigger than average Stuart Gordon fan, this was a film I never got to see until now (2015). And what a strange addition to his career. The robot fights, though perhaps "retro" or dated, are pretty great, and indeed the highlight of the film. (Why they start off just punching when we later see them fighting in space is unclear.) The acting is pretty cheesy, especially the actor who plays Tex. I would love to have seen more of the robot fights and less of the human interaction, which seemed forced. None of the people are particularly likable. How the female lead went on to be as big as she is after this is unclear.The film began shooting in Rome in 1986, inspired by the Transformers and Macross, as well as "The Right Stuff" (which Gordon used for visual cues). The plot mixed in aspects of the "Iliad" and the story of Achilles, and the cast included Robert Sampson ("Re-Animator"), Hilary Mason ("Dolls"). This was a mix of classic Gordon elements and something all too futuristic. For the fans of this (or Gordon's career in general), Shout! Factory has packed their new Blu-ray so full they did not even have room to write on the case what it contained. It says "two audio commentaries" and "new and archival interviews", which does not really sum up just how much is on here... you can hear some incredible stories from Gordon, Band, Koslo and others about the Italian crew, the budget issues, and the limits of pre-digital technology. Although the movie itself is not my favorite, the disc is a must-own for any fan.Perhaps most interesting is the story about the bank that financed all the failing companies (including Empire and Cannon). The financial difficulties of Empire, Wizard and more or less everything Charlie Band touches are legendary. But who knew the problems were tied in with European finance and a handful of other seemingly-unrelated movie companies?Pick up this disc from Scream! Factory, watch the heck out of it, and then watch "Pacific Rim". Gordon thinks the way the robots are controlled has been borrowed by others, including "Pacific Rim", and when seen side by side it is hard to argue with him. Although largely forgotten, "Robot Jox" is more relevant than ever and it is time to give it the place in science fiction history it deserves.

For some odd reason, this film is rated pretty low. But don't let that deter you for a second. In recent years, especially video games, the word "Mech" has become a buzz word. Numerous games out there feature giant robotic, mechanical battle suits that allow players to hop inside and fight. Back in the early 90s, director Stuart Gordon along with producer Charles Band, set out to make a neat story about athletes who compete in robot battles. Acting is pretty good. The human sub-story isn't all that interesting. But the real selling points would be the remarkable stop-motion robot effects. They are seamless and fluid. Each battle soon turns into a grueling fiasco as the robots tear each other apart. And who couldn't agree with the last line of the movie: "We can both live!" So please gentle viewers and/or Mech fans, hunt down this under-appreciated classic!

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.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/