Review By-Johan Melle
Cast: Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson, Paul Koslo, Michael Alldredge, Robert Sampson, Danny Kamekona, Hilary Mason, Thyme Lewis, Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Jeffrey Combs, Larry Dolgin, Geoffrey Copleston
Directed by Stuart Gordon. Written by Joe Haldeman. Story by Stuart Gordon.
Source: MGM dvd (USA, NTSC Region 1, 85 minutes)

The instant money-making success of the Hollywood film Transformers (2007) revived interest in the old Japanese Transformers franchise from the 1980s. However, it wasn’t the first time Hollywood had attempted to make a live action movie cash-in on the highly successful Japanese franchise. An earlier attempt was the more modestly budgeted Robot Jox, a now largely forgotten film. The plot is set in post-World War III, where the world has been outlawed. Now, all conflicts between the world’s two superpowers – The Confederation (the Russians) and The Market (the Americans) – are settled not with wars but through one-on-one battles between giant robots. The robots are controlled by human pilots – so-called jox. Achilles (Gary Graham) is a popular and so far undefeated American jox with one final fight (his tenth) left on his contract. He is to battle Russian champion Alexander (Paul Koslo) for the territory of Alaska but Alexander is a brutal and ruthless fighter known for frequently breaking the rules and cold-bloodedly killing his fallen opponents. Unfortunately, the battle for Alaska ends in catastrophe as Achilles’ robot crashes into a grandstand and crushes 300 spectators to death. Thus the match ends in a draw and a re-match is appointed. But Achilles refuses to fight Alexander again due to feeling guilty for the deaths of the innocent spectators, so he gets replaced by so-called ‘tubie’ – tubies being test tube humans genetically created for the sole purpose of being trained to become robot jox. This particular tubie, however, is a very eager female by the name of Athena (Anne-Marie Johnson), who Achilles has somewhat fallen for. Not wanting to see her get harmed, Achilles decides to meet Alexander in a re-match after all…

Robot Jox was produced by Charles Band’s company Empire Pictures, a small-scale production company based in Rome that hit its peak in the mid 1980s through the box office success of such low-budget horror films as Re-Animator (1985) and Ghoulies (1985). Work on Robot Jox was started as early as in 1986 and was Empire’s most expensive and ambitious project. By recruiting Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon to direct, Band probably hoped to secure another box office hit and invested many millions into the film. Unfortunately, the film instead became the end of Empire, which went bankrupt before the film was finished. The rights were then bought by Transworld, which finished the film and finally released it in theatres in late 1990. Unfortunately, the film did little business and never became the hit Empire had hoped it would be.

One can point to many reasons for why Robot Jox failed but its biggest fault is unquestionably the rather bad timing. The film’s main point of inspiration was The Transformers, the Japanese toys of colossal robots that could transform into vehicles and various other objects. The Transformers franchise was extremely popular in the 1980s and spawned animated series’, comics and video games, but when the film was finally released in 1990, the Transformers craze had died down and there was no real interest in seeing a live action film about colossal robots. Ironically, the 2007 Transformers live action version of the popular animated series was released to very big business. It just goes to show how important the right timing really is in the film industry. Furthermore, there’s the plot point about the two world superpowers, the American Market and the Russian Confederacy, battling each other. This Cold War analogy in a post-nuke setting with robotic battles wasn’t really a bad idea, as it uses a futuristic setting to comment on and criticize a serious topical situation in the world society. Well, it wasn’t a bad idea when the production started at least. By the time it was finally in released in 1990, however, the Berlin Wall had already been torn down and the Cold War was effectively over. As such, the subject matter in Robot Jox was outdated even before its release. Once again bad timing deals the film a serious blow.

Of course, Robot Jox may not have been a great success even if it had come out a few years earlier, because it is in all honesty not a particularly great film. It’s poorly made in many departments, it was outdated even when it was brand new, and it is also the kind of film that doesn’t age very well either. If one can look past this, however, one might find a flawed film that is actually pretty enjoyable if one is in the right frame of mind. The big robot fighting machines are actually quite cool-looking and fun. As noted, they are obviously modeled after the Transformers robots, and fold up and change shape in much the same ways. But whereas the Transformers where robots that could think and feel, the robot machines in Robot Jox are simply that: machines – controlled with various mechanisms by the humans inside the machines. The robot jox move around, punch, kick etc, and the large robot machines simultaneously repeat these movements. This wasn’t exactly a great idea. The massive size of the robots somewhat work against the film, as one gets the feeling that the battles could have been more exciting and better staged if they were somewhat smaller.

The actual robot battles (filmed in a desert landscape) are rather impressively made, though. David Allen’s special effects are quite elaborate for such a moderately budgeted film and several different techniques are employed, with somewhat varying results. The stop-motion animation with miniature robots is very well done and looks really cool. The matte work on the other hand is poorly executed with all too visible matte lines and differences in color. Admittedly, the robot battles are rather brief and not as exciting as they ought to be. The robots simply stand still much of the time as fire away various weapons at each other. Fortunately, the final climatic battle between Achilles and Alexander is somewhat more action-filled and manages to generate some good suspense and makes for a worthy end battle.

There are other positive aspects to the film as well. In addition to the enjoyable miniature effects, the film also boasts good-looking photography by Mac Ahlberg (who shot many of Empire’s films), and nice-looking production design by Giovanni Natalucci (who also worked on Tinto Brass’ Caligula (1979) and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America (1984) among others); including some space cars and futuristic-style apartments. But most importantly, the film never really takes itself too seriously. A bit of mildly amusing humor is present, and there is something rather charming about the burgeoning relationship between Achilles and tubie babe Athena, who has been raised with the exclusive purpose of becoming a robot jox, and thus sees the world in completely different eyes than those raised under more traditional circumstances. An interesting sub-plot involving a spy within the Market also enriches the film somewhat but could have been elaborated on a bit.

But in spite of certain good ideas, the screenplay by Joe Haldeman, a noted science fiction author, leaves a bit to be desired as far as dialogue and characterization goes. Many of the characters are simply clichéd cardboard types that fail to ignite much interest or sympathy from the audience. Furthermore, the actors playing these characters are a very mixed bag.

Gary Graham, from the popular Alien Nation TV series, is a rugged and handsomely good-looking guy who makes a pretty likable and decent hero that the viewers can root for. Unfortunately, he’s surrounded by a stack of mediocre and unconvincing co-stars. Good-looking Afro-American actress Anne-Marie Johnson is incredibly sweet and appealing as far as looks are concerned (even providing a brief rear nude scene on her way to the showers) but she delivers a uniformly bland and un-emotive performance. Johnson is usually a versatile actress able to do both comedic roles in stuff such as Keenan Ivory Wayans’ I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988) and the cutting-edge sketch TV show In Living Color, as well as dramatic roles in series such as In the Heat of the Night and Melrose Place, so it’d odd that she manages to make so little dramatic impact here. It may well be that the role was written this way, as she plays a test tube human raised without any loving parents. Still, the uninvolving fashion in which she plays the part just doesn’t work at all. It is thanks largely to Gary Graham that there is some bit of spark between the pair.

While Johnson’s performance may be called somewhat inexpressive, there is more than evened out by other cast members who deliver overly expressive and highly exaggerated performances. Michael Alldredge is utterly unbelievable and impossible to take seriously as Tex, Achilles’ trainer and mentor who always wears a cowboy hat. And Paul Koslo is completely ridiculous as the cartoon-like, über-clichéd, Vodka-drinking Russian villain with the standard nasty laugh and evil grin as he spouts dialogue such as “I kill you dead” with an unconvincing Russian accent.

On the plus side, there are a couple of interesting people in smaller roles. Director Stuart Gordon himself cameos as a bartender, and Stuart regular Jeffrey Combs has a minor role as an enthusiastic spectator rooting for Achilles during the robot battle. Since Empire Pictures had its studios in Rome, the film also features several actors from Italian genre cinema in smaller roles, and many viewers will no doubt have fun spotting them. There’s Dubbing expert Larry Dolgin, who provided English-dubbed versions of numerous Italian films and Japanese anime as well as sporadically appearing in films such as Caligula: The Untold Story (1982) and Top Line (1988), has a decently sized role here as the head referee of the robot battles. Another dubbing expert, British-born Geoffrey Copleston, who served as dubbing director for the English versions of many Italian films, makes one of his many on-screen performances with a small role as the head of the Russian Confederacy. The eagle-eyed will also have fun spotting Alex Vitale, the pumped-up beefcake from cheesy Italian action films such as Urban Warriors (1987) and Bruno Mattei’s Strike Commando (1987), and Japanese-born action favorite Al Yamanouchi from 2019 – After the Fall of New York (1982) and Endgame (1983); both playing some of the tubies. Even the oft uncredited James E.R. Sampson, best known from his role as the friendly black stagehand in Stagefright (1987), has a very tiny role as a control board technician.

In spite of all the film’s faults, you can easily tell that the makers behind the film had good intentions with the film and their hearts were in the right place. Because of this it is impossible to really dislike the film. It may not be great but it’s a good try, and if one overlooks the most glaring flaws, one will get a decent hour and a half of B-movie entertainment. MGM brings us a very fine dvd release of Robot Jox; presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with anamorphic enhancement. The picture quality is sharp and good-looking, and one gets good opportunity to view the special effects in all their glory – with the excellent picture quality showcasing both the good and not so good effects work. The Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack in English is clear, crisp and problem-free. We are also given the advantage of optional subtitles in English and French. Only in the extras department does MGM’s dvd disappoint. There are no extras at all – not even a theatrical trailer. Considering the film’s troubled production history, some sort of interviews with the makers about the original ideas behind the film and how it was realized would have been most interesting but this is a strictly barebones affair. To sum it up, Robot Jox is a well-intentioned flick that is bogged down by a sloppy screenplay, sub-par acting and a subject matter that was outdated even before the film was released. It redeems itself, however, with some decent production design, a well-crafted finale, some familiar faces, and by simply not taking itself very seriously. MGM has done such a satisfying job with the dvd’s picture and audio that one can somehow forgive the lack of any extras. Recommended for fans of miniature action and goofy B-movie fun.

 
 
STORY/FILM- 2.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
PICTURE- 4/5 BITCH SLAPS
AUDIO- 4/5 BITCH SLAPS
EXTRAS- 0/5 BITCH SLAPS
OVERALL DVD- 3/5 BITCH SLAPS

2008 @ Cinema Nocturna