Deathlands (2003)

Beautiful, moving film.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Being an avid Deathlands (book series) reader as well as Outlanders (follow-up series) for weeks I looked forward to seeing this movie when I heard it was coming out on the Sci-Fi Channel.I was sadly disappointed in not only the acting, but the details of the characters, environment, and such low budget it made Mad Max look like an Emmy winner.Let me say I am a detail-oriented person, and I realize Hollywood takes certain liberties, and or can re-write stories that ruin them, but this is not that, it is fully down to people who have no business making movies.I'll list my complaints : 1) The Book Becomes A Movie : they based this movie off of isn't even the 1st in the series, if memory serves, it was the 5th book in the series, so starting out on the wrong foot altogether. Probably to drastically reduce their budget. But a quality company would've found a real budget and made it into a blockbuster starting with the 1st book in the series and made 3, 5, even 10 movies out of the book series.2) The Characters : Spano did an okay job as Ryan Cawdor, his acting though is reminiscent of the early days of William Shatner, which SUCKED.I'm not going to go into detail about all of the actors as it's not their fault.But there are two characters which conflict with their book description, "character" of personality, and or totally are wrong.2b) John Barrymore "J.B." Dix : It's like the script writer and or actor didn't bother reading the book series, because there are numerous complaints on this one.J.B. is not a heavyset and or dumpy man, he's lean, mean, and ready to rock, according to the book series.Neither is he a whiny snotty person, the portrayal makes this man seem a wimp.J.B. is an armorer, a guy who can do almost anything with a gun.And his persona is one of almost total confidence only 2nd to Ryan Cawdor, and he's a very quiet man, too much dialogue for him.Wikipedia : J.B. Dix - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathlands#Main_characters"John Barrymore Dix: J.B. Dix, also known as The Armorer, has been Ryan Cawdor's closest friend and travelling companion since both men worked for and travelled with the Trader. He is a thin, wiry, tough man who wears wire rimmed spectacles and a brown fedora. He is very quiet, never using four words when three will do. He is a living encyclopedia on weapons from pistols to tanks to missiles. He is also an explosives expert and good hand to hand combatant, although only an average shot. He carries a large canvas satchel containing his explosives and other weapons at all times." (Wikipedia's typos aren't my fault, copied and pasted directly)2c) Jak Lauren : He's even leaner than Dix to the point of being like a "wolf", they even describe him like that in the books, and his glasses were overdone to be totally stupid, not to mention the actor was too old."An albino distinguished in the books by his unusual syntax when speaking. Jak was introduced in the third book, Neutron Solstice. He is a young man, in his late teens, and is an extremely capable hunter and warrior. His signature weapon are his leaf bladed throwing knives, of which he has between 8 and 12 hidden on him at all times, and often uses them as thrown weapons or for melee when guns are inappropriate. He comes from the suburb of West Lowellton in Lafayette, Louisiana, where the group first meet him. At the time,he is leading a group of rebels against an extremely sadistic baron known as Tourment. When Ryan and the other's first met him, and saw just how skillful of a fighter and leader he is, they are surprised to find he is only 14 years old."I'm going to stop there as even talking about how bad this movie was makes me want to puke.If the writers, directors, and or anyone connected to this movie had read the books, or hired an enthusiast, or a consultant who knew the book series inside out, it MIGHT have been high enough to grade as a B movie.If they had even read the basic Wikipedia on it, it might have been better.Not to mention they actually forgot a character.I'll leave his name out so if you do your own basic research you will see for yourself.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeathlandsUnfortunately, it doesn't even rate a B rating, and that's bad.

SPOILERS I began with the Outlanders series of books and just recently started reading the Deathlands series. James Axler, or the conglomeration of writers using his name, are erratic story-tellers at best. You aren't reading Poe or James when you open an Axler book, just mindless post apocalyptic cheese. I really don't understand the bad reviews written here. I entered the film with trepidation - what with the combination of Traci Lords and a Sci-Fi Channel production (which spell disaster) - but this was actually quite entertaining although minus some ingredients from the book - which can be overlooked by the casual fan of the series but not the fanatic. Traci Lords didn't kill the picture and this is handedly the best Sci-Fi original ever produced.VIOLENCE: $$$$ (There is one scene that glorifies bloodletting, when Ryan saves Jak and blows a group of slow-on-the-uptake baddies to bloody pieces. This scene was sensationalized and didn't need all the damn blood - filmmakers seem to subscribe to the excess-is-best theme nowadays. The final shootout scene was terrible though. Ryan and his group basically enter into an ambush but no one even gets close to being hit by gunfire).STORY: $$$ (Although it doesn't follow the Deathlands book verbatim, the screenwriters do a passable job. Many of the lines that are prevalent in the books are used - such as Kyrsty referring to Ryan as "lover" and everyone employing the typical series curses like "fireblast" and double-stupe" which are far preferable than the usual X-rated dialogue we get with tasteless flicks like Scarface).NUDITY: None, this is a Sci-Fi original but there is a plethora in the book series).ACTING: $$$ (The acting could have been better, as well as the casting. Dix was easily the worst casting job in the film but Cliff Saunders did a good job with what was given him - he's just not J.B. Dix. When reading the books I always envisioned David Keith as Ryan but Vincent Spano did a fine job in the lead, although the wardrobe department needs a swift kick to the backside with that Elton John feathery coat he sported. Jenya Lano did a stellar job as Krysty. She has come a long way as an actress, having first seen her in Full Moon's terrible horror film Shrieker in which she did little beyond looking pretty. I must say, her trading the blonde mane for a red one sure enhances her appeal. The kid who played Jak was fine - I was eager to see how they were going to portray Jak and the filmmakers did better than I had expected. Traci Lords adds the name to the picture and to be honest, although campy, she did a fine job in her role.

The best part of this movie was the end credits. Really, I am so serious! The ironic thing is that I don't actually believe the people who worked on it were incompetent, just... misdirected somehow. The credits are so good, and a few points in the movie show so much thought, that I have to say this was a case of writer/director/budget incompatibility, or something.I wasn't aware that Deathlands is a novel series (80 strong at that), but it seems to me that whoever made the move wanted to do a Roman Empire or King Arthur-esquire era picture, but got told that Sci Fi is all the rage now, so pretend it's set in the future. It just felt like the story was out of place with the setting, and the setting itself was ambiguous.It's possible that the IP of Deathlands could make a really good series, but this movie doesn't demonstrate that: it more demonstrates what not to do. It was even worse than "Darklight", and I didn't think that was possible.DO NOT WATCH THIS. Watch anything else, see my voting list for hints.Better (but so far I haven't reviewed them) are: the Robocop movies, the Mad Max movies (although I didn't watch any properly yet, the portions I saw were much better), and "The Postman". Actually, Postman was the best futuristic type movie that comes to mind offhand.

I watched and taped this movie because i thought it would be great to spend "time" with Ryan and the others. Unfortunately, the person who did the screenplay can't possibly have read the books and could therefore easily convince someone unfamiliar with them that they're not worthy of reading. First of all, Krysty doesn't get wild-eyed when she calls on the Gaia power and would never show fear before it as she did in the movie when Jabez was going to attack her. Jak is not crazy. In the books, being an albino gives him a crazy look to some people and he has long white hair, adding to the effect. JB is not chubby and doesn't look like a geek. I like Vincent Spano as Ryan. He did a great job, although I'd mention to the writers that I don't remember him ever calling Krysty "baby" or refusing to argue with her. They're a true team, but he's not under her control in any way. As to the other writer's comments about how people wouldn't let themselves be ruled by a crazy baron, I ask you to remember "Baron" Hitler and his sec force, also known as the SS; "Baron" Kruschev and his sec force called, the KGB and let's not forget "Baron" Castro although I don't know the name of his sec force. Fear and intimidation rule well. Everything in Deathlands is not red either. There are places that are quite nice. In short, if you didn't like the movie but think that it may have had some interesting moments, try the books. They've been around a long time and are very popular with a strong following. In the books, you'll also meet Dr. Mildred Wyeth, a 'freezie' and JB's lover, and 'Doc', aka Dr Theophilus Tanner, a time traveler, made crazy by too many experiments by the 'white coats'. When he returns from being kidnapped by his mother, Sharona, you can meet Dean, Ryan's 11 year old son. Hope Ryan kills the bitch when he gets the chance. But i do enjoy the movie just for the fun of being with the group. You have to suspend your disbelief long enough to get past the mistakes. And it should have been longer to do it justice.