Raiders of the Sun (1992)

Pretty Good

Admirable film.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I've seen a number of low budget post-apocalypse movies, and the majority of them haven't been that good. I have also seen a number of movies directed by the prolific Filipino director Cirio H. Santiago, and the majority of them haven't been good. "Raiders of the Sun" is a Cirio H. Santiago post-apocalypse movie, and it's a bit better than average for both categories. The production values for the most part aren't bad, with sets and props that obviously took some time to build, and other attributes like dozens of extras. Also, some of the action sequences are fairly decent. However, the movie has some big problems. There isn't much of a story here, and even at just 80 minutes there is a lot of padding. Also, not much is given to flesh out Richard Norton's hero or the main bad guy. You shouldn't go out of your way to see this movie, but if you are finding it hard to find a better movie and this movie crosses your path, it'll help 80 minutes of your time pass by relatively painlessly.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The point of the movie is that there is a shortage of gunpowder in a futuristic nuclear waste land, however throughout the whole movie gunpowder is just shamelessly wasted. Mortar shells are used on helpless peasants, and each person is shot over 10 times. Also the sound and stunts are so off that people fall over dying before shots are even fired. The side love-story is also a complete joke. Also why is it that only football pads survive nuclear war. Not a single bulletproof vest exists in this movie. If you have the choice of killing yourself or watching this movie, killing yourself might be the better choice.

Goofball reworking of MAD MAX that seems strangely competent for Cirio Santiago, but it's still a mess. Instead of gasoline, warring factions battle for gunpowder. It's all highly watchable and relatively painless, and actually contains some lively characters. Who would have thought? It's still a big mess, though.....

Bloodthirsty factions rule the barren earth. It's the 21st Century and a biological disaster has ruined the planet. Here, in a world where gunpowder is more valuable than gold, a few hundred survivors wage the final conflict for power and control. Yet among them rises a new warrior, destined to shape the aeons which will follow -- a man who stops at nothing to achieve his ends, and for whom courage is the only thing.