So much average

How sad is this?

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Right after World War III in the year 2025 A.D. nuclear devastation has made the world a really tough place to live in. Murderous marauding hordes of rot-faced scavengers roam the streets, telepathic mutant misfits are harshly persecuted by the ruthless kill 'em all on sight totalitarian government (is this a possible allegory on the Holocaust?), and the masses are kept pacified by a televised gladiatorial bloodsport called Endgame, in which one lone man has to fight to the death with three expert hunters for a shot at the grand prize (I'm sure any similarities between this film and "The Running Man" are purely coincidental. Or are they?). Ron Shannon (the ubiquitous Al Cliver of Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" fame), reigning Endgame champ and butt-whupping warrior supreme, decides to help a group of ostracized mutants get out of the city. Shannon rounds up a crack team of almighty kick-a** tough guys -- lithe Al Yamannouchi as a stoic, silent, swift-kicking kung-fu ace (Al's also the token Asian dude in "The New Gladiators," "2020: The Texas Gladiators," and "2019: After the Fall of New York," which basically makes him the bargain basement Bruce Lee of Italian post-nuke cinema), grizzled Leonard Nimoy lookalike Gus Stone as an aging, crossbow-hefting nomad, burly Mario Pedone as a humongous Viking-like mountain of bullish brutality, and so on -- to assist him and the mutants on a risky, perilous trek across the vast, arid, dangerous desert terrain, fending off such exotic threats as deadly, cowled sword-swinging blind monks (!), predatory apeman freaks on motorcycles, machine gun-sporting government goons in shiny black leather coats, and Shannon's former good buddy turned bitter, venomous rival Karnak (the towering George Eastman in turbo-charged mean, massive and intimidating mode), a cold-blooded SOB with an old score to settle with Shannon concerning who's the one and only Endgame champ (did "Highlander" rip this movie off as well? Could be, man).Although a bit flaccid and meandering (the film would have benefited from tighter plotting and a quicker pace, especially in the rather laborious opening third), "Endgame" still rates as a pretty satisfying, exciting, action-packed, ultra-violent and exceedingly gory Italian post-nuke sci-fi outing. Joe D'Amato's competent direction, the trim script by Terry Hall and Steve Benson, Frederico's lively, smoky, atmospheric cinematography, and Carlo Mario Cordio's spare, shivery, spooky John Carpenteresque synthesizer score make the most out of the movie's low budget. Moreover, the action scenes are plentiful and briskly mounted (lots of screaming, hyperactive extras scurry about firing guns and wielding various sharp implements with lethal, blood-spilling abandon), the tone remains appropriately stark, grim and melancholy throughout, the set and costume designs are fairly lavish, and the sporadic pauses for wistful reflectivity effectively establish audience sympathy for the mutants' sorry plight. The bearded, bushy-haired, solidly built Cliver makes for a credible and commanding action hero: relaxed, taciturn, confidant, and dead serious, a rugged fellow who's fast on his feet and one hell of a fit, physical, kick-your-teeth-down-your-throat ferocious hand-to-hand combat fighter. The stand-out supporting cast includes the ever-lovely Moira Chen (a.k.a. prolific longtime favorite soft-core sexploitation queen Laura Gemser) as a compassionate mutant telepath who gets raped by a fat, warty, disgusting blue-skinned humanoid fish creep, the great Bobby Rhodes (the cool, suave pimp in the flashy "Superfly" threads in "Demons") as a crafty, agile Endgame stalker (Bobby sports both a gleaming Telly Savalas-type bald chrome-dome and a simply snazzy flowing red cape), and stone-faced block-of-granite Gordon Mitchell as the evil, fascistic Colonel Morgan. Michele Soavi was the assistant director and has a cameo as a jerky TV station monitor. Sure, it's not without its flaws, but overall "Endgame" still passes muster as an admirably ambitious, arguably influential and hence above average end-of-the-world sci-fi/action item.

Fifty years after the Nuclear holocaust of World War Three, New York is one of the few cities still intact. It survives in isolation catering to the craving of it's population for violence. There is live T.V. coverage of the 'Endgame Championship' that is based on the gladiator duels of ancient times. 'Endgame' began in 2012 and is now the most popular show on T.V. The show's host (David Brown) recaps the rules for the listening millions. Three 'hunters' are set loose to track down and kill the 'prey'. All the contestants receive one firearm and two additional weapons of their choice, if they are found with anymore the contestants are automatically disqualified. The 'prey' is given a 30 minute head start and is allowed to surrender but will lose points if he does so.. The 'zone' chosen to hold the contest lies between 22nd and 33rd Street. The hunters this time are Woody Smith (Bobby Rhodes), Kid Hitchkoc (Al Waterman) and Karnak (co-writer George Eastman). The prey is Shannon (Al Cliver). Shannon manages to kill both Woody and Kid. During a fight with Karnak a telepathic mutant named Lilith (Laura Gemser as Moira Chen) helps him to win. The films bad guy, Colonel Morgan (Gordon Mitchell) is a high ranking official in the SS which stands for security service. They see Shannon on T.V. with Lilith who he recognises as a telepathic mutant and wants them both, for some reason I really don't know as it's never explained properly. Lilith introduces Shannon to Professor Levin (Jack Davis) who asks Shannon to lead him, Lilith and a group of telepathic mutants out of New York City and to a rendezvous with a helicopter that will fly them to safety, in exchange for lots of gold. Shannon agrees and assembles a team of men to help. A guy with an eye-patch named Bull (Gabriele Tinti as Gus Stone), a ninja called, well Ninja (Al Yamanouchi), a big fat man named Kovack (Mario Pedone), a guy with really fast reflexes and is quite useful with a knife named Kijawa (Nello Pazzafini as Nat Williams) and lastly a driver called Stark (Franco Ukmar as Frank Ukmar), these guys wouldn't exactly fill me with confidence but there you go. The men and mutants set off. During their travels they come across blind telepathic monks, various general low-life's, deformed mutants, Shannon's old friend Karnak returns for seconds plus Colonel Morgan and his team of heavily armed SS troops! Will Shannon be able to lead the unfairly persecuted telepathic mutants and Professor Levin to safety? Will Shannon be able to stay alive long enough to collect his gold? You'll have to watch it if you want to find out. This Italian production was co-written and directed by Joe D'Amato under the rather unimaginative pseudonym of Steve Benson, and it's easy to see why he wanted his name off the credits as this film is consistently awful. The script by Amato and Eastman as Luigi Montefiori brings nothing new to the genre. It's tediously slow and dull as well as being very unambitious. The film as a whole left me with the impression no one associated with it was the least bit interested in creating a good film. The New York settings look like they were filmed under seedy railway bridges and in abandoned factory's. No effort is made to include any props or even make the locations look like a futuristic Manhattan, I'd be very surprised if this was actually filmed there. Once they leave Manhattan it's just fields and more industrial factory's that look very contemporary! The weapons, cars and costumes are bland and forgettable, once again I just felt very little effort or money was put into the look of this film. There isn't much gore or violence in it, a brief shot of an axe in someones head is about it. There is a sequence where a blue half man/half fish mutant (Pietro Ceccarelli as Peter Brighton) rapes Lilith, while doing so he says "look at me while I rape you damn it!", need I say more about how tacky and cheap this film is. The action scenes are poor to say the least. They basically consist of people shooting guns and then the camera cuts to stunt people falling off motorbikes or just falling over. There is little variety in them and they become extremely boring very quickly. There are a couple of fight scenes but they aren't that well choreographed or particularly exciting. Acting and dubbing is poor all round, Al Cliver makes for a very bland and uninteresting hero and Laura Gemser isn't much better as the leading lady. Big George Eastman is fun to watch though, as usual. And check the ending out, one helicopter lands and about 10 people get inside and take off, after the two pilot's it's a two seater at most and it's tiny! There's no way on Earth that all those people got into it and it took off, absolutely no way. Please do yourself a favour and avoid this, watch Sergio Martino's 2019-After the Fall of New York (1983) instead, believe me you'll be glad you did as it's far superior to this in every department possible. Total rubbish.

I really don't like using the word "cheesy", but it seems to be the one that applies best here. "Endgame" is likely to be picked up only by post-apocalyptic fantasy fans, or Joe D'Amato completists. So what do they have to look forward to? Some good ideas (the hero at one point acknowledges that men like him, living by their fists and guns are "the past"), some cliched ideas (the hunting game that's the most popular show on TV, the "Magnificent Seven"-type enlisting of the hero's sidekicks), and some weird ideas about telepathy: apparently the hero is not telepathic, and he can't read people's minds, yet he can communicate telepathically with a "gifted" woman. Get it? (*1/2)

Okay, this mix of "Escape from New York" and "Le prix du danger" could have been better, especially if they chose a better actor as the "hero" But. there is the typical appeal of Italian B-movie and the physical presence of George Eastman. Michele Soavi plays a doctor at the end. Saw this in France when I was young (!) and again at the Paris cinémathèque, though some bits of film were missing. Not as good as Sergio Martino's "2019 Dopo la caputa di New York", but worth a look.