It's basically a more entertaining Children of Men complete with ripoffs of Mad Max, the Warriors, and Escape from New York. I would say that this is the darker and more post-apocalyptic, rather than dystopian version of 1982: the Bronx Warriors. Sergio Martino gets the most you can get out of a $1 million budget with Mad Max like armored car death matches, ape-like gangs, sci-fi laser guns, the most obvious miniature flying ships, plenty of blood squibs and violent moments, and some awesome fistfights, and Italian action B-movie king Michael Sopkiw. I'd rather watch this than Children of Men anytime.
Synopsis: The good losers of World War III send a hero (Michael Sopkiw) and his sidekicks to find the last fertile woman (Anna Kanakis) on Earth.
The film starts with an awesome narrative voiceover explaining that a Eurac monarchy composed of Africa, Europe, and Asia went to war the with the Pan American confederacy which resulted in a nuclear holocaust. That rendered all women sterile and no new kids have been born in 20 or so years. This is all intercut with foggy, dark footage of New York miniature cityscapes. Guido and Maurizio De Angelis's score set a great tone as always. The Euracs, dressed a little like Teutonic Knights, except with a cheap football helmet you could find at a store, go in and massacre some mutants in New York City. Meanwhile, Parsifal (Sopkiw), an ex confederate soldier wins a motorized death match somewhere in Nevada. There are some good stunts in the sequence and I'm impressed with how decked out some of the armored cars are. At one point Parsifal is forced out of his car and has to fight. Whether or not Sopkiw is doing his own stunts the way this character's physicality is filmed throughout is great. The fight scenes in this, especially involving him make great use of athleticism and the fights are never boring.
Some of the cool laser guns and animation in this movie. Michael Sopkiw looking awesome.
After Parsifal wins the death match he also gets a woman and this leads to funny dubbing moments. This woman says stuff like "I never knew that person was a cyborg until I made love to him." Someone fakes an accident on the roads and Parsifal is captured by the Confederacy. The confederacy's base is in Alaska, and it looks like something out a Gamera movie with the miniature ships and the black background. The Confederacy's leader (Edmund Perdom) tells him he will get a spot on the ship bound for alpha centauri if he can find and bring to them the one fertile woman in New York City. He is given Bronx, (Vincent Scalondro) a man with a hook for a hand and has a map of New York City in his head, and Ratchet (Romano Puppo) for help. Apparently the confederacy killed all their cyborgs.
Once in New York City the men run into the Harlem Hunters, a street gang. They also run into some scavengers lead by the Rat Eater King (Hal Yamanouchi). This leads to some awesome fights and Ratchet getting out this mace that he uses quite effectively. The Euracs eventually show up and capture the three men and kill the Rat Eater King with a gory axe to the face. The Eurac captain Ania (Anna Kanakis) tries to seduce Parsifal for more info. He says that a woman with the scavengers, Giara (Valentine Monnier) is the fertile woman. They eventually find a way to escape with help from Shorty (Louis Ecclesia) a member of a group of little people. Bronx sacrifices himself. There is an awesome action sequence where Parsifal gets some help from Ratchet and Romano Puppo does a backflip which may be his own stunt.
After the group escapes they are trapped by a sonic sounding weapon before Ratchet gives them all wax to put in their ears to block the sound. They are cornered by the Euracs after but are saved by Big Ape (George Eastman) and his gang. There is an awesome kill here where Big Ape slices a man in half and his intestines come out of his armor. There are some fun things during this sequence like one of Big Ape's men and Parsifal fighting after the one ape wants to have sex with Giara to which Parsifal objects. Parsifal wins the fight and him and Giara later have sex. Shory out of nowhere seems to know where the fertile woman is.
George Eastman in orange as Big Ape
Shorty leads the the group to a bunker where a professor put his daughter, Melissa into a stasis life support system, thus making her fertile. While the rest of the group goes to armor their car to get through the checkpoints at the Lincoln Tunnel, Big Ape knocks out Giara and impregnates Melissa. Shorty is forced to sacrifice himself so the others can get back to the bunker. This leads to an awesome car chase throughout the tunnel including an awesome part where Big Ape throws a sword decapitates a few guys. Big Ape is eventually vaporized by a weapon which leads to a cool skeleton effect. Ratchet is revealed to be a cyborg. Parsifal kills him, but not before he stabs Giara. She makes Parsifal promise to continue the human race. Parsifal gets the Confederacy president's spot on the rocket ship and flies away as Melissa wakes up.
This is one of the most fun and most violent of the Italian post-apocalyptic movies. I love all the different gangs, I like the story, and it's never boring, a crime that some of these movies commit. While it's just as low budget as any of the Italian genre movies it does the best it can doesn't hold off on the squibs, chase scenes, and gory moments. The fights are good as well. If you want an Italian post-apocalpytic movie with some payoff this is it. I do like how it shows that both sides, the Euracs, and the confederacy are both bad in different ways. The confederacy doesn't seem capable of doing anything and has others do their work while the Euracs are oppressive and evil. It makes sense that Parsifal, who actually gets stuff done is the one who would continue humanity. I also enjoy some of the sci-fi sets that look like abandoned buildings and stage sets.
Rating: 10/10 Make this my second favorite Italian post-apocalyptic movie. Just pure entertainment.
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