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Reviews
Robot Wars (1993)
Definitely a B
(This movie is totally unrelated to the BBC combat robot competitions, the incorrect DVD cover being shown above.)
All in all, this is the sort of production I would have expected to come from the 1970s, as a cheap, time-slot alternative to something like Six Million Dollar Man, not something made in 1993.
The technology they used to put the movie together must have been picked up cheap at another production house's clearance sale, allowing them to do more than they could have with modern equipment, while staying within their shoestring budget.
For sets, there was the usual use of pipe-filled basements, panels of unlabeled, illuminated switches, and lots of camera shaking to simulate movement. Due to the cheapness of the sets, doors for elevators, or passenger compartments always opened and closed off-screen, with the exception of one special effect.
The plot was disjointed, but if you ignored the unexplained, and great leaps of faith, it more or less held together, although it certainly could have done with a lot more robots to qualify as a war.
If you like a "good" B movie, this one qualifies.
Robotropolis (2011)
If you are into C grade, this is a delight. Otherwise....
Spoilers? First, even if I told you the entire plot up front, I couldn't spoil it for you. It manages to do that all by itself in its opening scene.
The timing on this is all wrong. They just didn't get it to flow where needed. If you are somehow able to stay through the first, very boring, half hour, chances are you'll last to the end, as the pace does pick up a little.
The whole production screams "no budget". It appears to have been filmed on location at "anywhere they would let us film free of charge". Seriously, it had the same look and feel as those awful home made commercials that sometimes make it onto commercial TV.
Loose ends abound, not that you actually care about them.
Computer graphics? Obvious. Plot line? Obvious. Those who will survive and those who will die? Obvious. The "sinister twist" at the end? Well, I have to admit I didn't see it coming, but that was because there was absolutely nothing there to suggest it was... oh, who am I kidding. The end seemed like a classic case of "oh dear, we forgot to have a reason behind all this. Let's throw in a 30 second scene to explain why we had all of those 5 minute scenes where nothing much happened.
And those were the good points.
Now for what I actually enjoyed about the woeful thing -
1) I only paid $2 for it.
2) As pathetic as their whole news reader/news reporting style behind this thing was, it was true to life. In real life I have been interrupted 5 minutes before the climax of a movie by the station cutting to 'breaking news' where 'experts' babble on about what they think might be happening in a zoomed in shot of a deserted street where allegedly a terrorist had done something minutes before. They captured this mindlessness perfectly.
3) Female lead: "Oh, the little girl I hid here a minute ago is missing. Let's go find her in this town filled with homicidal robots." Male lead. "No, she's gone. Forget it. Let's run." They ran. Hooray! For once the realistic path was chosen, instead of the one-in-one-million long-shot that always miraculously succeeds.
That was refreshing.
4) It somehow actually held my attention to the end. But then, I do deliberately go looking for woeful science fiction at the pawn shop because it amuses me.