Warrior of the Lost World Movie Review

Title: Warrior of the Lost World

Format: VHS

Year: 1983

Label: Thorn EMI

Back to some good old Italian Post Apocalyptic trash. This one is ridiculous and I loved every minute.

The cast is superb. Not the actual acting, but the pedigree of actors is brilliant and makes the whole thing even more ridiculous. Everyone just seems to be having a great time. Rumor is that the director was not given a script or story, just a poster and told to make a film to match. And what a film he made.

Our lead actor, I'm not sure if he had a name, rides a bike similar to street hawk with an onboard computer with a character which can only be described as the bastard child of R2-D2 and kit. Our anti-hero is a bit of a rogue in the style of Han Solo and gets roped into a rebel attack on the evil empire called Omega by the princess ( maybe not really a princess but she might as well have been. ) to save her father. An epic journey begins in the style of King Solomons Mines - The Richard Chamberlain Indiana Jones rip off, but far more messed up with far worse jokes.

But this story is irrelevent really. It's all about the characters, costumes, vehicles and sound effects.

The rebels are made up of various gangs best described as the characters of Street Fighter II breaking out of the screen and having an orgy. There's a Kung Fu gang, all dressed as Ryu, GI Joes, Black Nazis, Punks, Prostitutes and wrestlers.  It's amazing. 

The head of the baddies is basically Blofeld, Dr. Evil before Dr. Evil. His henchmen are nazi storm troopers all carrying MP40s. But this is a strange thing. All of the guns in the movie are vintage with the exception of a few chrome pistols. They all fire bullets, but it seems that they must have originally planned to use lasers, or at least someone came up with a laser sound, and they just stuck with it. It doesn't fit at all, but I love it!

The effects, sets and locations are very good. Some look a little rushed, like an open well kept green field with random burnt out cars, but most are great. The constant changing of locations does keep you entertained while nothing much is happening, from indiana jones style caves with spiders and snakes to futuristic bars and vast  military compounds.

The direction is a little heavy handed, but who cares. It's a wham bam thank you mam of a film. It shoes glimpses of genius and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love the fact that the director was thrown into this, obviously took the challenge on and decided to have a good time doing it. They asked for a film to go with the poster. That's what they got. So he then has the gall to

leave the end begging for a sequel. Brilliant. If you like this genre, you have to see this movie. Even if you hate it, you'll have a good time hating it. What more can you ask for. Everyone's a winner.

UK Films Rating: 8/10
Release Rating: 7/10 - Great picture for a 1983 VHS
Did James like it? Yes