Great Film overall

Awesome Movie

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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

In a post-WWIII future, all wars have been outlawed. The major superpowers have now devised an amusing way of settling differences: putting daring pilots inside massive bipedal robots, which then fight each other in rural settings. In this case, two superpowers clash over control of Alaska. Our hero is Achilles (Gary Graham of 'Alien Nation'), and his rival is the maniacal Alexander the Russian (Paul Koslo, "The Omega Man"). Scientists have also created what are known as "test tube babies", people genetically engineered from birth to be robo-warriors. One of these is Athena (Anne-Marie Johnson, 'In the Heat of the Night'), a challenger to Achilles's throne.While admittedly a minor item on the resume of celebrated director Stuart Gordon ("Re- Animator"), "Robot Jox" is lightly engaging sci-fi entertainment. On occasion, there are flashes of skin, and bits of gore, but it's mostly harmless PG rated stuff. It's nowhere near the brilliance of some of the directors' H.P. Lovecraft adaptations, but it's not exactly trying to be. Enhanced by typically impressive David Allen stop motion effects, it provides a nice diversion for any person eager to see giant robots doing battle. Production design, lighting, costumes, and music are all well done on a low budget. Gordon begins the movie with a bang, and ends it with a similarly rousing big confrontation between Achilles and Alexander.Gordon appreciably finds acting roles for some of his old hands, like Robert Sampson, Jeffrey Combs, Ian Patrick Williams, and his wife Carolyn, although some of them really don't have a lot to do. Michael Alldredge ("The Incredible Melting Man") is good fun as a dude named Tex Conway. "Karate Kid II" villain Danny Kamekona, Hilary Mason ("Don't Look Now"), prolific voice over artist Jason Marsden, and Thyme Lewis ('Days of Our Lives') co-star.This decently paced escapism kills time for an agreeable and painless 85 minutes.Followed by "Robot Wars".Six out of 10.

The antagonism between Haldeman and the director is easily understood: one wanted a thoughtful conjecture about robots, faithfully transposed on screen; the other wanted mindless fun, and the director got his wish fulfilled, won. It was a clash of intentions and views. But regardless, the flick can very well be enjoyed for what it is, a yarn about robot jockeys. In terms of low—budget Sci—Fi, it's likable and exciting. Merely ordinary low—brow Sci—Fi; I used to search for such things. (Remember the Hauer Sci—Fi, the Van Damme Sci—Fi? Well, it's as mindless, and as likable.) Haldeman feels his chance was wasted. So give the director a break. It's not as if he had betrayed some matchless script; anyway, Haldeman's script can still be shot by another director. There are other two robot flicks from the early '90s, unrelated—but enjoyable as well.In his autobiography, 'Interim Report. An Autobiographical Ramble' (which every Sci—Fi fan should read), Haldeman wrote at length about the movie; he seems only moderately grudging. He enjoyed working with the leads—Graham and Mrs. Johnson.

There are a number of problems with this movie, but the bottom line is that it tried to do too much with too little. The base story is quite good, but the money just wasn't there to do the story justice. The non-existent budget really killed this movie. Stuart Gordon (the writer/director) has writing credit on 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids', which was a box office smash. However, that movie had some serious cash backing from Disney. Honestly, this is a good example of when to not make a movie. Had he waited a few more years, technology would have made it cheaper to do many of the effects. (not to mention he could have found a company with money.)

Robot Jox tries hard, but is fundamentally a series of fight scenes strung together -- robot against robot, man against man, man against woman. The premise had potential, but it seems the script wasn't really given the couple of more drafts it needed. Still, it was fairly good, for a science fiction action movie. Part of it was because the script was by Joe Haldeman. For those who aren't familiar with the name, Haldeman wrote the award-winning science fiction novel "The Forever War." It's considered one of the very best powered battle armor novels, right up there with Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" and John Steakley's "Armor." And this movie is really more like a giant powered battle armor movie, rather than giant robots. It's closer to what fans would have wanted instead of the travesty that was Paul Verhoeven's "Starship Troopers," which bore only a passing resemblance to the novel it was based on.Despite some assumptions, this really isn't based on Homer's "Iliad." A couple of names are all they had in common. Achilles having his robot's foot blown off had no parallel in the Iliad, which didn't include Achilles' death. Nor was the ancient Achilles a noble warrior. He was the mightiest, but also vengeful and petty. Even the robot jock killed off in the first scene doesn't fit. He was named Hercules, while the Greek Iliad would have had Herakles.The effects were fairly good for the time and the budget. True, it wasn't comparable to "Terminator 2" a year later, but that movie cost ten times as much. The stop motion was almost as good as the robotic walkers in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." Better, in fact, than a lot of Ray Harryhausen animation, which is highly regarded, but quite dated.Don't bring high expectations into this and you probably won't be disappointed. It's better than a lot of other low-budget flicks and even some big-budget blockbuster wannabes that have better effects but far worse scripts.